TOBY KEITH

'Toby Keith Covel' (born July 8, 1961) is an American country music singer-songwriter who has enjoyed commercial success throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Five of his albums have reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums chart, and he has had fifteen Number One singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts. In addition, he starred in the 2006 film ''Broken Bridges''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal convictions and controversies

The Angry American song

Feud with the Dixie Chicks

Discography

Albums

Singles

Notable awards

Notes

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Toby Keith Covel was born in Clinton, Oklahoma. His family moved to Moore, Oklahoma (a suburb of Oklahoma City) when Keith was young. His grandmother owned a supper club and Keith became interested in the musicians who came there to play. He got his first guitar at the age of eight. Keith attended Moore High School where he played on the football team.
Keith graduated from Moore High School and, in 1979, went to work as a derrick hand in the booming oil fields of Oklahoma. He worked his way up to become an operation manager. At the age of 20, he formed the ''Easy Money'' band and they played local bars as he continued to work in the oil industry. At times, he would have to leave in the middle of a gig if he was paged to work in the oil field.
In 1982, the oil industry in Oklahoma began a rapid decline and Keith soon found himself unemployed. He fell back on his football training and played defensive end with the semi-pro Oklahoma City Drillers while continuing to perform with his band. (The Drillers were an unofficial farm club of the United States Football League's Oklahoma Outlaws; Keith tried out for the Outlaws but did not make the team.) After two years with the Drillers, Keith decided to try music full time. His family and friends were doubtful he would succeed, but in 1984, ''Easy Money'' began playing the honky tonk circuit in Oklahoma and Texas. The band cut a single titled ''Blue Moon'' and the song received some airplay on local radio stations in Oklahoma.
Also in 1984, Keith married his wife, Tricia. He is the father of three children; Shelley (born 1981; adopted stepdaughter), Krystal (born 1984), and Stelen (born 1997). An avid University of Oklahoma football fan, Keith is often seen at Oklahoma Sooners games and practices.

Career

In 1993, Keith went to Nashville, Tennessee. Keith hung out and busked on Music Row and at a place called Houndogs. He distributed copies of a demo tape the band had made to the many record companies in the city. There was no interest by any of the record labels and Keith returned home feeling depressed. Keith had promised himself to have a recording contract by the time he was 30 years old or give up on music as a career. He had already passed that age without any prospects for a recording contract.
Fortunately for Keith, a flight attendant and fan of his gave a copy of Keith's demo tape to 'Harold Shedd', a Mercury Records executive, while he was traveling on a flight she was working. Shedd enjoyed what he heard, went to see Keith perform live and then signed him to a recording contract with Mercury. His debut single, "Should've Been a Cowboy" (1993), went to number 1 on the Billboard country singles chart, and his self-titled debut album was certified platinum. Other hit singles included "A Little Less Talk And A Lot More Action" and "Wish I Didn't Know Now".
Keith moved briefly to Polydor Records and released his next two albums, ''Boomtown'' (1994) and ''Blue Moon'' (1996). The albums went gold and platinum respectively. In 1996, Keith was also featured on the Beach Boys' now out-of-print 1996 album ''Stars and Stripes Vol. 1'' performing a cover of their 1963 hit ''Be True to Your School'' with the Beach Boys themselves providing the harmonies and backing vocals.
Polydor folded and Keith moved back to Mercury Records (now called Mercury Nashville), and released his fourth album, ''Dream Walkin' (1997). The album featured a duet with Sting, "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying", which had previously been a hit for Sting himself.

Keith began work on his next album ''How Do You Like Me Now'' (1999) at Mercury but purchased the rights to the album and moved to DreamWorks Nashville because of creative differences with Mercury. The first single off ''How Do You Like Me Now'' failed to make the Top 40 on the country charts. However, the follow-up single, which was the album's title track, went on to spend five weeks at number one, helping boost the album's sales to double platinum.
Keith also began doing a series of television advertisements for Telecom USA for their discount long distance telephone service 10-10-220. Because of the ads and his latest hit album, Keith became a superstar and household name. He also starred in Ford commercials, singing original songs such as "Ford Truck Man" and "Field Trip (Look Again)" while driving Ford trucks.
Keith made an appearance at the very first Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (then NWA-TNA) weekly pay-per-view on June 19, 2002, where his playing of ''Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue'' was interrupted by Jeff Jarrett. He would later enter the Gauntlet for the Gold main event specifically to eliminate Jarrett from the match. He would appear the next week, on June 26, and help Scott Hall defeat Jarrett in singles action.
Keith was the subject of the January, 2005 issue of ''Playboy Magazine's Playboy Interview. That year, Keith toured with rock guitarist Ted Nugent, whom Keith met in Iraq while they were both performing in USO-sponsored shows for the coalition troops.
On August 31, 2005, Keith parted ways with Universal Music Group- which had since bought DreamWorks- and launched his own record label called Show Dog Nashville. Its first release was Keith's album ''White Trash With Money'', followed by the soundtrack to ''Broken Bridges''. ''Big Dog Daddy'', the album that birthed his single ''High Maintenance Woman'', was released on June 12th, 2007. The album debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 charts, his third album to reach this feat, after "Unleashed" and "Shock'n Y'all"
In the Autumn of 2005, he filmed ''Broken Bridges'', written by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld, and directed by Steven Goldmann. This feature film from Paramount/CMT Films was released on September 8, 2006. A contemporary story set in small-town Tennessee, Keith plays Bo Price, a country musician whose career has seen better times. The movie also stars Kelly Preston, Burt Reynolds, and Tess Harper.
In 2005, Keith opened Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill in Bricktown, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Keith is continuing his Hookin' Up & Hangin' Out Tour, sponsored by Ford trucks, in Albany, New York, with guests Flynnville Train, Lindsey Haun, and Miranda Lambert, which wraps up in Hartford, Connecticut
Keith is currently writing a script for a movie based on his and Willie Nelson's 2003 hit Beer for My Horses.[1]

Personal convictions and controversies

Keith considers himself "a Conservative Democrat who is sometimes embarrassed for his party." He endorsed the re-election of President George W. Bush in 2004 and performed at a Dallas rally on the night before the election. Keith also endorsed Democrat Dan Boren in his successful run in Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional district and is good friends with Democratic New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.
In a January 2007 interview with ''Newsday'', Keith was asked whether or not he supported the war in Iraq and responded with "Never did." He favors setting a time limit on the occupation. He also said, "I don't apologize for being patriotic.... If there is something socially incorrect about being patriotic and supporting your troops, then they can kiss my [ass] on that, because I'm not going to budge on that at all. And that has nothing to do with politics. Politics is what's killing America."
[2]

The Angry American song

On March 24, 2001, Keith’s father, H.K. Covel, was killed in a car accident. That event and the September 11, 2001 attacks prompted Keith to write the song "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)", a song about his father’s patriotism and faith in the USA. At first, Keith refused to record the song and only sang it live at his concerts for military personnel. The reaction was so strong that the Commandant of the Marine Corps James L. Jones told Keith it was his duty as an American citizen to record the song. Courtesy Of The Red, White & Blue: Singer Talks About His Defiantly Patriotic Songs As the lead single from the album ''Unleashed'' (2002), "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue" peaked at number 1 over the weekend of July 4.

ABC invited Keith to sing "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue" on a patriotic special it was producing. However, the host of the show, newsman Peter Jennings, requested Keith soften the lyrics of the song or choose another song to sing. Keith refused both requests and did not appear on the special. The rift gave the song a considerable amount of publicity, which led to many national interviews and public performances of the song.

Feud with the Dixie Chicks

Keith had a public feud with the Dixie Chicks over the song "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue", as well as over comments they made about President George W. Bush on stage during a concert in London. The lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, Natalie Maines, publicly stated that Keith's song was "ignorant, and it makes country music sound ignorant."[3] Keith responded by belittling Maines' songwriting skills, and by displaying a backdrop at his concerts showing a doctored photo of Maines with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. On May 21, 2003, Maines wore a T-shirt with the letters FUTK on the front at the Academy of Country Music Awards. [4] While a spokesperson for the Dixie Chicks said that the acronym stood for "'F'riends 'U'nited in 'T'ruth and 'K'indness," many including host Vince Gill took it to be a shot at Keith ("'Fu'ck 'T'oby 'K'eith"). In August 2003, Keith publicly declared he was done feuding with Maines 'because he's realized there are far more important things to concentrate on'.[5] However, he continues to refuse to say Maines' name, and claims that the doctored photo was intended to express his feeling that Maines' criticism was tyrannical and a dictator-like attempt to squelch Keith's free speech.[6]
In the 2006 film ''Shut Up and Sing'', Maines confirmed that the FUTK shirt was in fact a shot at Toby Keith, after once claiming that it meant Freedom Understanding Truth and Kindness. In an October 2004 appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, Natalie finally acknowledged that it was indeed an obscene shot at Toby Keith, and that she didn't think her fans would get it.^[1]

Discography

Albums

'Year'	'Title'	'Chart positions'		'US Certification'
		US Country	US 200
1993	''Toby Keith''	17	99	Platinum
1994	''Boomtown''	8	46	Platinum
1995	''Christmas to Christmas''	-	-	-
1996	''Blue Moon''	6	51	Platinum
1997	''Dream Walkin'''	8	107	Gold
1998	''Greatest Hits Volume One''	5	61	2x Platinum
1999	''How Do You Like Me Now?!''	9	56	Platinum
2001	''Pull My Chain''	1	9	2x Platinum
2002	''Unleashed''	1	1	4x Platinum
2003	''20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection''	5	45	Gold
2003	''Shock'n Y'all''	1	1	4x Platinum
2004	''Greatest Hits 2''	2	3	2x Platinum
2005	''Honkytonk University''	1	2	2x Platinum
2006	''White Trash with Money''	2	2	Platinum
2007	''Big Dog Daddy''	1	1

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions		Album
		US Country	US Hot 100
1993	"Should've Been a Cowboy"	1	93	''Toby Keith''
	"He Ain't Worth Missing"	5	107	''Toby Keith''
1994	"A Little Less Talk and A Lot More Action"	2		''Toby Keith''
	"Wish I Didn't Know Now"A	2		''Toby Keith''
	"Who's That Man"	1	102	''Boomtown''
1995	"Upstairs Downtown"	10		''Boomtown''
	"You Ain't Much Fun"	2		''Boomtown''
	"Big Ol' Truck"	15		''Boomtown''
1996	"Santa I'm Right Here"	50		''Christmas To Christmas''
	"Does that Blue Moon Ever Shine on You?"A	2	112	''Blue Moon''
	"A Woman's Touch"	6		''Blue Moon''
1997	"Me Too"	1		''Blue Moon''
	"We Were In Love"A	2	116	''Dream Walkin'
1998	"I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying" (w/ Sting)	2	112	''Dream Walkin'
	"Dream Walkin'"	5		''Dream Walkin'
	"Double Wide Paradise"	40		''Dream Walkin'
	"Getcha Some"	18	102	''Greatest Hits Volume 1''
1999	"If A Man Answers"	44		''Greatest Hits Volume 1''
	"When Love Fades"	44		''How Do You Like Me Now?!''
2000	"How Do You Like Me Now?!"	1	31	''How Do You Like Me Now?!''
	"Country Comes to Town"	4	54	''How Do You Like Me Now?!''
2001	"You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This"	1	32	''How Do You Like Me Now?!''
	"I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight"	1	27	''Pull My Chain''
	"I Wanna Talk About Me"	1	28	''Pull My Chain''
	"Old Toy Trains"	57
2002	"My List"	1	26	''Pull My Chain''
	"Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)"	1	25	''Unleashed''
	"Who's Your Daddy?"	1	22	''Unleashed''
	"Rock You Baby"	13	66	''Unleashed''
2003	"Beer for My Horses" (w/ Willie Nelson)	1	22	''Unleashed''
	"I Love This Bar"	1	26	''Shock'n Y'all''
	"I Can't Take You Anywhere" (Scotty Emerick w/ Toby Keith)	24	91	''The Coast Is Clear'' (Scotty Emerick album)
2004	"American Soldier"	1	26	''Shock'n Y'all''
	"Whiskey Girl"	1	31	''Shock'n Y'all''
	"Hey Good Lookin'" (''Jimmy Buffett w/Clint Black, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith and George Strait'')	8	63	''License to Chill'' (Jimmy Buffett album)
	"I Love NASCAR" (Cledus T. Judd w/ Toby Keith)	48		''Bipolar and Proud'' (Cledus T. Judd album)
	"Stays in Mexico"	3	51	''Greatest Hits, Vol. 2''
	"Midnight Rider" (Willie Nelson w/ Toby Keith)			''It Will Always Be'' (Willie Nelson album)
2005	"Mockingbird" (w/ daughter Krystal)	27		''Greatest Hits, Vol. 2''
	"Honkytonk U"	8	61	''Honkytonk University''
	"As Good As I Once Was"B	1	28	''Honkytonk University''
	"Big Blue Note"	5	55	''Honkytonk University''
2006	"Get Drunk and Be Somebody"C	3	47	''White Trash with Money''
	"A Little Too Late"A	2	53	''White Trash with Money''
	"Crash Here Tonight"	15	96	''White Trash With Money''
2007	"High Maintenance Woman"	3	67	''Big Dog Daddy''
	"Love Me If You Can"D	6	56	''Big Dog Daddy''

'Notes':


★ ^A Reached #1 on Radio & Records country chart.

★ ^B "As Good As I Once Was" also charted on the US Digital charts at #39, and charted on the US Pop at #54.

★ ^C "Get Drunk and Be Somebody" also charted on US Digital charts at #56, and charted on the US Pop at #64.

★ ^D Current single.

Notable awards

★ Academy of Country Music (ACM) - Album of the Year (2000) ''How Do You Like Me Now''

★ Country Music Association (CMA) - Male Vocalist of the Year (2001)

★ Academy of Country Music - Entertainer of the Year (2002)

★ Academy of Country Music - Entertainer of the Year (2003)

★ Academy of Country Music - Top Male Vocalist (2003)

★ Academy of Country Music - Album of the Year (2003) ''Shock'n Y'all''

★ Academy of Country Music - Video of the Year (2003) ''Beer For My Horses'' (with Willie Nelson)

★ Country Music Association - Video of the Year (2005) ''As Good As I Once Was''

Notes

1. video of Dixie Chicks appearing on Real Time with Bill Maher

References

★ Gilbert, Calvin. (1998). "Toby Keith". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 276-7.

★ "Past Winners." Academy of Country Music. Retrieved Aug. 20, 2004.

★ "Toby Keith." Country Music Television Web Site (www.cmt.com). Retrieved Aug. 20, 2004.

★ "Toby Keith Lyrics." Toby Keith Lyrics. Retrieved Sep. 23, 2004.

★ Toby Keith talks some politics

External links

★ Toby Keith official website

★ Toby Keith Music Videos

★ Keith, Toby - AOL Video Interviews, music videos, and live performances.