Kenny Chesney

Birth Name:Kenneth Arnold Chesney

Born:March 26, 1968 in Knoxville, TN

Genre:Country

Years Active:'90s, '00s, '10s

Biography

Contemporary country star Kenny Chesney didn't have the immediate breakout success that many of his peers enjoyed upon signing with major labels, but gradually built up a significant following via hard work, pop-friendly ballads, and a likable, average-guy persona. Chesney was born in Knoxville, TN, in 1968 and raised in the nearby small town of Luttrell, better known as the home of Chet Atkins. He grew up listening to both country and rock & roll, but didn't get serious about music until college, when he studied marketing at East Tennessee State University. He received a guitar as a Christmas present and set about practicing, and was soon performing with the college bluegrass band. He soon started writing songs as well and played for tips in local venues — most often a Mexican restaurant — every night he could; additionally, he managed to sell 1,000 copies of a self-released demo album. After graduation in 1991, he moved to Nashville and became the resident performer at The Turf, a rougher honky tonk in the city's historic district. While he gained experience, it wasn't the sort of place where he'd be discovered, and in 1992, he moved on to a publishing deal with Acuff-Rose. From there he landed a record contract with Capricorn and released his debut album, In My Wildest Dreams, in late 1993.

Unfortunately for Chesney, Capricorn wasn't much of a country label; not only was the album underpromoted, but the label's country division shut down completely not long after its release. Still, it sold 100,000 copies and caught the attention of several big-time major labels. Chesney ended up signing with RCA subsidiary BNA, which released All I Need to Know in 1995. The album gave him his first two Top Ten hits in the title track and "Fall in Love." His follow-up, 1996's Me and You, became his first album to go gold, thanks to two number two singles in the title track and "When I Close My Eyes." Released in 1997, I Will Stand was another gold-selling effort that gave Chesney his first-ever number one hit in "She's Got It All," plus another number two with "That's Why I'm Here." His big-time breakthrough, however, came with 1999's Everywhere We Go, which sold over two million copies and spawned two number one hits with "You Had Me from Hello" and "How Forever Feels"; it also featured another Top Ten single in "What I Need to Do," and another, "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy," that just missed. In 2000, Chesney issued his first Greatest Hits compilation, and two newly recorded songs — "I Lost It" and "Don't Happen Twice" — went to number three and number one, respectively.

Greatest Hits became Chesney's second straight double-platinum release and topped the country LP charts. He followed it with the all-new No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem in early 2002, which gave him his strongest commercial performance yet. It, too, hit number one on the country album charts and spun off four Top Ten singles in "Young," the number one "The Good Stuff," the Bill Anderson co-write "A Lot of Things Different," and "Big Star." A Christmas album plugged the gap for 2003, and he returned strongly with 2004's When the Sun Goes Down, which won in the Album of the Year category at the Country Music Awards. He repeated the win, this time as Entertainer of the Year, with Be as You Are (Songs from an Old Blue Chair). Chesney found himself the subject of much tabloid fodder in 2005 with his surprise marriage to actress Renée Zellweger (he had composed 1999's "You Had Me from Hello" after watching Zellweger in the 1996 film Jerry Maguire). The pair split that same year, citing irreconcilable differences, and Chesney released the chart-topping The Road and the Radio in November. In the years that followed, Chesney kept busy, releasing Live: Live Those Songs Again in 2006 and Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates in 2007. In April 2010, Chesney and director Joe Thomas released the 3D concert film Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D. Taken from his 2009 Sun City Carnival Tour, the film included 23 songs from six stadium shows, shot in 3D, interspersed with interviews and home movies. A completely new studio album, Hemingway's Whiskey, named after a Guy Clark song, also appeared in 2010. 

After many years as a mid-level country artist, Kenny Chesney fused arena-size country with Caribbean rhythms to become one of the genre’s biggest stars of the 21st century.
Born and raised in East Tennessee, Chesney didn’t seriously start pursuing music until he was in college, despite being an enthusiast his entire life.   While continuing his studies, Chesney played in a bluegrass band and for tips at a Mexican restaurant.  He managed to finance a demo album and moved to Nashville in 1991.   He played at a local honky-tonk called the Turf, and eventually landed a publishing deal in 1992 that led to a record deal with Capricorn in 1993.
His debut for the label, In My Wildest Dreams, found little success, but it laid the groundwork for a new deal with BNA Records.  His second set, All I Need to Know, put him on the map.  Throughout the nineties, he slowly built a career at radio and retail, as his songs inched higher on the charts and he moved from gold, to platinum, and then to multi-platinum sales by the end of the nineties.
Still, there was little to indicate that he was about to explode into superstardom.  But as his live shows gained greater attention, Chesney began to incorporate Caribbean sounds into his music, styling himself as an island singer in the same vein as Jimmy Buffett.  Through stronger song choices that helped repair the novelty act image that had been created with hits like “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy”, Chesney began to earn critical acclaim for his work.
By the mid-2000′s, Chesney was the biggest act in country music, selling millions of copies of his albums and more concert tickets than even the biggest pop and rock acts of the day.  He dominated the awards circuit, and even managed to sell big numbers of indulgent side projects like Be Who You Are and Lucky Old Sun.
Today, Chesney remains a top concert draw and a core radio act. He is currently prepping another studio album and a co-headlining tour with Tim McGraw.
Essential Singles:

• That’s Why I’m Here, 1998
• The Good Stuff, 2002
• Anything But Mine, 2005
• Who You’d Be Today, 2005
• Beer in Mexico, 2007
• You and Tequila (with Grace Potter), 2011

Essential Albums:

• I Will Stand, 1997
• No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems, 2002
• When the Sun Goes Down, 2004
• Be as You Are: Songs From an Old Blue Chair, 2005
• The Road and the Radio, 2006

1. Kenny Chesney - The Boys of Fall
   ► 8:15► 8:15	www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlXDo5WhQXI23 Jul 2010 - 8 menit - KennyChesneyVEVO Album: Hemingway's Whiskey (2010)

2. Kenny Chesney - Somewhere with You
   ► 4:06► 4:06	www.youtube.com/watch?v=n56hFE9Aquc8 Apr 2011 - 4 menit - KennyChesneyVEVO Album: Hemingway's Whiskey (2010)

3. Kenny Chesney - Reality
   ► 4:10► 4:10	www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sD2BjnbveM17 Okt 2011 - 4 menit - KennyChesneyVEVO Album: Hemingway's Whiskey (2010)