Garth Brooks

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Garth Brooks, 2019

Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962 in Tulsa , Oklahoma ) is an American country musician , singer and songwriter . Since starting his career in the early 1990s, he has become one of the most successful artists in the United States, with over 160 million records sold.

Life

Childhood and youth

Garth Brooks is the youngest of six siblings. His father, Troyal Raymond Brooks, worked as a technician and designer for an oil company. His mother Colleen Carroll Brooks was a singer who appeared in the 1950s on Red Foley's television show Ozark Jubilee and released four singles on Capitol Records .

In 1966 the family moved to Yukon, a small town southeast of Oklahoma City . As a student, Brooks formed several bands. In addition to country music, he was interested in folk and bluegrass , but also rock music . By 1980 he graduated from high school . He then took up a sports degree with a focus on athletics at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. He later switched to marketing and advertising and completed his studies in December 1984. In addition, he performed at music events in and around the university.

Career start

In the early 1980s, at the time of the urban cowboy movement , when country, rock and pop mixed together, Brooks heard George Strait's debut song Unwound for the first time . He then decided to play this type of music himself, which was musically more oriented towards classical country. He married Sandy Mahl in May 1986 and moved to Nashville a year later . He initially worked in a western clothing store, but also tried to establish himself as a songwriter and produced demo recordings . His future managers Bod Doyle and Pam Lewis became aware of him, and Joe Harris, a seasoned music agent, organized gigs and concerts for him, at which he eventually aroused the interest of a talent scout in the record industry.

Successes, family

Garth Brooks

His first album, Garth Brooks , produced by Allen Reynolds, was released in April 1989. His second album No Fences , released in August 1990, became one of the most successful country music albums within the next eight years with 16 million copies sold. In July 1992 his first daughter was born. Also in 1992 was Beyond the Season , a collection of Christmas carols.

In 1994 a collection of 18 hits was released. In Fresno , California , a radio station has been renamed K-Garth and only plays its songs under the motto "All Garth, all the time". Brooks sold over 60 million albums in six years. In May 1994 his second daughter was born. He participated in the published in June 1994 Kiss - tribute album Kiss My Ass and took for the song Hard Luck Woman with Kiss on.

Several setbacks followed. His image among his target group was damaged by the discovery of extramarital affairs in 1994. The album Fresh Horses , released after a year-long retreat, did not meet the high commercial expectations. Also, his managers split up and his longtime agent died. There were also disagreements with his record company. Brooks complained of insufficient support in the production of the album Sevens . The delayed album then sold five million copies within five weeks. In the end, Brooks stayed with his previous label .

His third daughter was born in July 1996. The three-year world tour started in 1996 was another great success. The November 1998 album Double Live became the most successful live album in the United States. In 1998 Brooks reached three positions at the top of the Billboard album pop charts , which Elton John had last achieved in 1975. In 1999, Brooks started a children's charity. In September, the pop album In the Life of Chris Gaines went on sale under the pseudonym " Chris Gaines " . It fell short of commercial expectations, with two million copies sold in the US. The album shows a new side of the artist. It should show the musical development of the fictional rock star Chris Gaines and prepare for the film The Lamb , which was never produced because of the failure.

Withdrawal and comeback

Garth Brooks, 2009

In October 2000 Brooks announced his retirement from the music business. He said he wanted to see his children grow up and wouldn't tour again until they grew up. With around 100 million albums sold, Brooks was the most commercially successful solo artist in the United States at the time, ahead of Elvis Presley and the well-known musicians of the 1990s such as Michael Jackson and Madonna . Only the Beatles had sold more albums. Brooks is little known outside of North America. Today it is number 2 on the RIAA bestseller list with over 160 million albums sold in the US, behind the Beatles (178 million albums sold in the US). It is followed in third place by Presley with 136 million and Led Zeppelin with 111.5 million.

Brooks' marriage ended in divorce in 2001. His mother died that same year, and he rarely appeared in public. Brooks now lives with country singer Trisha Yearwood , whom he married in late 2005. In late 2005, Brooks released the song Good Ride Cowboy on the occasion of Chris LeDoux 's death ; but no further album followed. In January 2008, Garth Brooks played five benefit concerts in Los Angeles for the McCormick Tribune Foundation's FIRE campaign . In January 2009, Brooks performed in a concert to mark President Obama's inauguration in Washington. Brooks was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

Brooks has been on tour again since 2014. In November 2014 his new label RCA Records released the studio album Man Against Machine , which went platinum in the USA. The album Gunslinger followed in 2016 .

Brooks' music

Garth Brooks' music combines elements of rock , pop and country music. He uses instruments such as pianos , acoustic and electric guitars and fiddles , but also banjos and harmonica . Different musical influences can be felt on each album, although they are not as far removed from the classic country baseline as for example Tim McGraw or Keith Urban .

Brooks is considered to have pioneered the success of other artists of a new generation of mainstream country like Shania Twain , LeAnn Rimes and the Dixie Chicks . His style of music developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, defining commercial country music for the next decade: New Country . In 2002 the Irish pop musician Ronan Keating sang Brooks' ballad If Tomorrow Never Comes for his album Destination and made Brooks known in Europe.

Albums and popular songs

The first album Garth Brooks only sold hesitantly at the beginning. However, the first single Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old) quickly made it into the top ten of the country charts . The song mentions former rodeo rider and singer Chris LeDoux , at whose concerts Brooks played in the opening act. He made his big breakthrough with the ballad The Dance .

A controversial music video was produced for the song The Thunder Rolls from the album No Fences . There are only two verses on the album . The third verse, which turns the betrayed wife into a murderer, Brooks originally only played at concerts. The murder is explicitly portrayed in the accompanying music video. Some of the conservative, family-oriented country TV channels boycotted the song. For Brooks this "scandal" was a successful advertisement. Another successful song from the album was Friends in Low Places .

In September 1991, the album Ropin the Wind made it to the top of the Billboard country and pop charts when it went on sale. On this album Brooks tried to venture into new musical directions. Shameless is a song by Billy Joel that Brooks played frequently in live performances and which has now been included in a cover version of his album.

Five million copies of the fourth album, The Chase , had already been produced in advance for release in September 1992. That was a new record in music history, which was broken six years later by Brooks' Double Live with 6.8 million pieces. We Shall Be Free is a song with a gospel choir that was written under the influence of the unrest in Los Angeles last year and calls for tolerance . Quote: “When the last thing we notice is the color of skin, and the first thing we look for is the beauty within, then we shall be free” (“As soon as the skin color is the last thing we notice, and we first seek inner beauty, then we will be free ”). At Christmas 1992 the album Beyond the Season went on sale.

The album In Pieces was released in August 1993 and contains the hit single Ain't Going Down ('Til the Sun Comes Up) . A year later a sampler with 18 hits was released. Fresh Horses , published in November 1995, fell short of sales expectations. The autobiographical song The Old Stuff is a recap from a successful star who remembers the old days when he was still an unknown musician. Sevens , the seventh studio album, was released late in December 1997 due to disagreements with the management of Capitol Records . The play In Another's Eyes was as a duet sung with Brooks wife Trisha Yearwood.

In May 1998 the collection box The Limited Series began to be sold , which contains the first six albums and an additional six new songs in a limited edition. Double Live is not a concert recording, but a double album with a collection of pieces of music that were recorded at several concerts. Over a million copies were sold in the first week of sales. In 1999 the second Christmas album The Magic of Christmas was released , which was recorded with a large orchestra and a big band . The album sold a million times.

In November 2001, Brooks released Scarecrow . The song Rodeo or Mexico takes up the classic country theme rodeo that can be found on many of his albums. In the ballad Pushing up Daisies , Brooks deals with the death of his mother. In the same year a new edition of his Christmas album from 1999 was released, entitled Songs from Call Me Claus . This is also the soundtrack to the TV movie Just call me Nikolaus with Whoopi Goldberg . The Christmas comedy was produced by Brooks.

The concerts

In his shows, Garth Brooks engages with the audience and communicates with his fans. Show performances, where he swung across the stage on ropes and also smashed guitars, used to be an integral part of the events. Garth Brooks has performed with the band Stillwater at concerts : Dave Gant (keyboard), James Garver (lead guitar), Mark Greenwood (bass), Jimmy Mattingly (violin), Steve McClure (steel and electric guitar), Debbie Nims ( Guitar), Mike Palmer (drums). Garth Brooks' sister Betsy (bass) was part of the band, as was Ty England (acoustic guitar), an old friend from university. His brother Kelly worked as a concert manager.

In January 1992, the national television station NBC aired This is Garth Brooks . The show was a portrait of the musician and at the same time a compilation of several concerts from Dallas . By using elements from stage shows by rock stars and because of his charisma, Brooks was able to inspire many people who were actually alien to country music. At the 1993 Super Bowl , Garth Brooks sang the US national anthem .

In 1994 he filled the largest halls in the USA at his concerts. The 65,000-seat concert at Texas Stadium in Dallas sold out within 92 minutes. Then two additional concerts were scheduled, which were also sold out after around 90 minutes. In Ireland the tour was also very successful. In 1996 Brooks began a tour of 347 shows in 99 locations. The biggest concert took place on August 7, 1997 in Central Park , New York City . According to the police, 980,000 people attended the concert; it is the biggest concert that has ever taken place there. In October 1996, 140,000 tickets for eight concerts were sold in Chicago within four hours.

Most important awards

The Academy of Country Music Awards gave Garth Brooks his first major award in 1990 with the title Entertainer of the Year . He himself says that being accepted into the Grand Ole Opry in October 1990 was the greatest honor of his career. After Brooks had already won three prizes at the American Music Awards in 1996 , he turned down the title of Favorite Artist of the Year because he had done nothing that year to deserve the award. In May 2002 he received an award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers ( ASCAP ) in recognition of his outstanding work as an artist and songwriter.

Discography

Studio albums
  • Garth Brooks (1989)
  • No Fences (1990)
  • Ropin 'the Wind (1991)
  • The Chase (1992)
  • Beyond the Season (1992)
  • In Pieces (1993)
  • Fresh Horses (1995)
  • Sevens (1997)
  • Garth Brooks in ... The Life of Chris Gaines (1999)
  • Garth Brooks and the Magic of Christmas (1999)
  • Scarecrow (2001)
  • The Lost Sessions (2005)
  • Man Against Machine (2014)
  • Gunslinger (2016)

literature

  • Michael MacCall: Garth Brooks - A biography. Bantam Books, New York 1991, ISBN 0-553-29823-2 .
  • Edward Morris: Garth Brooks, platinum cowboy. St. Martin's Press, New York 1993, ISBN 0-312-08788-8 .
  • Matt O'Meilia: Garth Brooks - The road out of Santa Fe. Univ. of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1997, ISBN 0-8061-2907-7 .
  • Phelan Powell: Garth Brooks - A real-life-reader biography. Lane, New York 1999, ISBN 1-58415-004-1 .
  • Jo Sgammato: American Thunder - The Garth Brooks Story. Ballantine Books, New York 1999, ISBN 0-345-43107-3 .
  • Stacey L. Stauffer: Garth Brooks. Stacey House, Philadelphia 2000, ISBN 0-7910-5232-X .

Web links

Commons : Garth Brooks  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/garth-brooks-sells-51-000-tickets-for-edmonton-shows-1.3889633
  2. ↑ Dale Sherman: Black Diamond 2 - The Illustrated Collector's Guide to Kiss . Collector's Guide Publishing, 1997, ISBN 1-896522-36-X , pp. 78-80
  3. ↑ gactv.com ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Garth Brooks: Induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame . CMN. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  5. ↑ riaa.com
personal data
SURNAME Brooks, Garth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brooks, Troyal Garth (full name); Gaines, Chris (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American country musician
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Tulsa , Oklahoma , USA