George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for igniting the neotraditional country movement, famed for his authentic cowboy image and roots-oriented sound at a time when the Nashville music industry was dominated by country pop crossover acts. His influential and record-breaking legacy of his pioneering neotraditionalist country style has garnered him as the “King of Country Music.”
- Background information
- Birth Name:: George Harvey Strait
- Date of Birth::May 18, 1952
- Nationality:: Poteet, Texas, U.S.
- Origin:: Pearsall, Texas, U.S
- Genres:: Neotraditional country, Texas country, Western swing, honky-tonk
- Occupations:: Singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, rancher,
- Years active:: 1976–present
- LabelsMCA (MCA Nashville)
- Website:: www.officialgeorgestrait.music.blog
- Formerly member of Ace in the Hole Band
Strait’s success began when his first single “Unwound” was a hit in 1981, signaling the mainstream ascendance of the neotraditional movement and rebuke of pop-country. During the 1980s, seven of his albums reached number one on the country charts. In the 2000s, Strait was named Artist of the Decade by the Academy of Country Music, elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and won his first Grammy award for the album Troubadour. Strait was named CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 2013, and ACM Entertainer of the Year in 1990 and 2014. He has been nominated for more CMA and ACMawards and has more wins in both categories than any other artist.
By 2009, he broke Conway Twitty‘s previous record for the most number-one hits on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songschart when his 44 number one singles surpassed Twitty’s 40. Strait has amassed 60 number-one hits. “Give It All We Got Tonight” was number one in 2013, breaking a record also previously set by Twitty. Strait currently holds the record for most number one songs on all charts by an artist in any genre of music.
Strait is also known for his touring career when he designed a 360-degree configuration and introduced festival style tours. For example, the Strait Tours earned $99 million in three years. His final concert for The Cowboy Rides Away Tour at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in June 2014, drew 104,793 people, marking a new record for largest indoor concert in North America.
Strait has sold more than 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His certifications from the RIAAinclude 13 multi-platinum, 33 platinum, and 38 gold albums. His best-selling album is Pure Country (1992), which sold 6 million (6× platinum). His highest certified album is Strait Out of the Box(1995), which sold 2 million copies (8× Platinum due to being a box set with four CDs). According to the RIAA, Strait is the 12th best-selling album recording artist in the United States overall selling over 69 million records across the United States.
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During his college years, Strait joined the country band Stoney Ridge, answering a flyer the band posted around campus looking for a new vocalist. Strait renamed the group the Ace in the Hole Band, and quickly became the lead; they began to perform at different honky-tonks and bars around south and central Texas, traveling as far east as Huntsville and Houston. They gained a regional following and opened for national acts such as The Texas Playboys. Soon, his band was given the opportunity to record several Strait-penned singles, including “That Don’t Change The Way I Feel About You” and “I Can’t Go On Dying Like This” for the Houston-based D label. However, the songs never achieved wide recognition, and Strait continued to manage his family cattle ranch during the day to make some extra cash.
While he continued to play with his band, without any real connections to the recording industry, Strait became friends with Erv Woolsey, who operated one of the bars in which the Ace in the Hole band played, and who had previously worked for the major label MCA Records. Woolsey convinced some of his Music Row (Nashville) connections to come to Texas and to listen to Strait and his band play. Impressed with the performance, but concerned that they could not market the Western Swing sound that the band featured, they left without a deal.
After several unsuccessful trips to Nashville in search of a record deal in which Strait was turned down by every label in town, he considered giving up music altogether. He was offered a job designing cattle pensand decided to take it. He gave the band notice that he was leaving, but after a discussion with his wife, she convinced him to give music one more year. Not long afterward, MCA signed Strait to a recording contract in February 1981. The initial deal was for one song. If the single did well, the label would then consider doing an album. The Ace in the Hole band remained with Strait, performing as the backup and touring band for the now solo career of Strait.
In 2010, Billboard ranked Strait number one in the top-25 country artists of the past 25 years.[39] On September 6, 2011, Strait released the album, Here for a Good Time, which yielded two number-one singles—”Here for a Good Time” and “Love’s Gonna Make It Alright“—bringing Strait’s number-one singles total to 59. The album’s third single, “Drinkin’ Man“, was less successful, peaking at number 37.
In October 2012, Strait released the single “Give It All We Got Tonight“,[40] which was included on his album Love Is Everything, released on May 14, 2013. The song initiated a “60 for 60” movement by Strait’s label, to make the song his 60th number-one single on all country charts while he was still 60 years old.[41]The song reached the top of the Mediabase charts in May 2013. The album’s next single, “I Believe“, reached number 50 on the U.S. Country Airplay chart, making it Strait’s first single to miss the top 40. Strait won the 2013 CMA Entertainer of the Year award.
In November 2013, Billboardpresented Strait with its Legend of Live honor during the 10th annual Billboard Touring Awardsceremony. The award honors the concert industry’s top artist based on Billboard‘s Boxscore chart and box-office performance. Strait is the first country artist to receive Billboard‘s highest touring accolade. On April 19, 2015, Strait made a guest appearance at the 2015 ACM Awards, he performed “All My Ex’s Lives in Texas” and his new single “Let it Go“.
In 2016, Strait was selected as one of 30 artists to perform on “Forever Country”, for a mash-up track of “Take Me Home, Country Roads“, “On the Road Again“, and “I Will Always Love You“, which celebrates 50 years of the CMA Awards.
In 2018, Strait released a single called “Codigo”, after a brand of tequila produced by a company in which he had invested.
On September 26, 2012, Strait announced that he was retiring from touring, and that his Cowboy Rides Away Tour would be his last. Tickets for both arenas and stadiums on the Cowboy Rides Away Tour sold out in a matter of hours. The tour started on January 18, 2013, in Lubbock, Texas, and was divided into two legs: 21 concerts in 2013 and 26 concerts in 2014. The tour ended in Arlington, Texas, on June 7, 2014. Strait was supported on the tour by his longtime 11-member touring group, the Ace in the Hole Band. For the 2013 leg, Martina McBride was the opening performer.
On January 9, 2014, Strait initiated the second leg of the tour, which featured the opening performers Jason Aldean, Eric Church, Martina McBride, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Vince Gill, Lee Ann Womack, Merle Haggard, Chris Young, Ronnie Dunn, Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, and Asleep at the Wheel. Many of these performers gathered together for the tour’s final concert in Arlington, Texas on June 7, before 104,793 fans—the largest ticketed attendance at a single-show concert in the United States. The concert also set a record for the largest gross at a single-show country concert, $18,194,374, and broke the 33-year-old record as well for “largest indoor concert ever,” easily surpassing the 87,500 fans who attended the December 5, 1981, Rolling Stones concert at the New Orleans Superdome (opening acts, The Neville Brothers, followed by George Thorogood and the Destroyers).
A live album recorded from the final concert in Arlington titled The Cowboy Rides Away: Live from AT&T Stadium was released on September 16, 2014, with DVD/CDs of the concert being released on November 10, 2014, with Walmart exclusively releasing a deluxe edition including two CDs, as well. This deluxe DVD is the entire over three-hour concert and the accompanying two CDs have 28 of the 40 songs sung that night. On August 29, 2014, the Country Music Television channel broadcast a two-hour concert special of the event titled George Strait: The Cowboy Rides Away. This CMT concert special had 1+1⁄4 hours of music from the concert and interviews.
EXTERNAL LINKS
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- Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
- Official UMG Nashville Artist Page
- George Strait at IMDb
- George Strait Team Roping Classic (GSTRC) homepage
- George Strait – discography, lyrics, photos, videos
George Harvey Strait 
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