CLINT BLACK

Born: Long Branch, New Jersey, 4 February 1962

Genre: Country

Best-selling album since 1990: Put Yourself in My Shoes (1990)

Hit songs since 1990: "A Better Man," "Loving Blind," "Easy for Me to Say"

Clint Black was the first in a wave of fresh-faced artists to emerge from the early 1990s as part of the "new country" music revolution. By infusing his traditional country songwriting with a pop-influenced performing style, he got off to one of the fastest career starts in country music history. Black's career slowed later in the 1990s as similar artists traveled faster on the road that he had paved.

Although born in New Jersey, Black was raised in Katy, Texas, a suburb of Houston. The youngest of four boys in a musically influenced family, he learned both harmonica and guitar in his teens. Black dropped out of school in 1978 to play in a band formed by one of his brothers and two years later began playing extensively throughout the local Texas club circuit. In 1987 he met fellow guitarist/songwriter Hayden Nicholas, who owned a home recording studio, and they began writing songs together. Their demo tape impressed Bill Ham, the manager of Texas rock icons ZZ Top, and he introduced Black to RCA Records in Nashville, Tennessee. RCA immediately signed the charismatic twenty-five-year-old to a contract and Black's first album, Killin' Time (1989), was a smash success. The debut album astounded country music with five number one hits and won numerous awards, including ones from both the Country Music Association (CMA) and the Academy of Country Music (ACM) for Best Male Vocalist.

The following year he released Put Yourself in My Shoes (1990), which also sold well and contained four Top 10 hits including a number one single, "Loving Blind." Ambitious to a fault, Black appeared on scores of television and radio shows in addition to performing extensive concert tours. He infused his live appearances with a natural charm and a fan-friendly energy, often signing autographs until the last person left. The songs, usually co-written with Nicholas, who also played lead guitar in the band, carried easily relatable themes of the traditional country mode. Yet, he was setting groundbreaking standards in a style that was soon followed by other country newcomers such as Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson. His live shows featured expensive production values not previously associated with country music and the music was performed with a gusto and sex appeal more akin to rock or pop music. While it wrinkled the brows of country music traditionalists, much of the public loved it and Black's career was red hot. Along with more awards, he was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1991 and that same year Black married actress Lisa Hartman.

Black was ready to capitalize on this success with a third album but its release, along with his career, became bogged down in a legal struggle with his manager Ham. After nearly seven months of court battles, he finally released The Hard Way (1992), which produced another number one hit, "We Tell Ourselves." Though the album was successful in both country and pop music charts, subsequent record sales declined. In the developing conflict between "new" and "traditional" country music, many felt that Black's increased pop music appeal was turning away traditional country fans. However, the sales decline was probably more the result of other artists claiming their market share of the burgeoning new country field than it was due to any failing on Black's part.

Subsequent recordings over the next ten years proved Black's amazing ability to write songs that land high on the charts. His albums have produced over twenty Top 10 hits and, while they have not reached the sales height of his first two releases, Black's place in the forefront of country music is solid. He has also enjoyed collaborating with other country stars of every style. In 1991 he sang with the legendary Roy Rogers at the Grand Ole Opry and toured the summer of 1993 with country music diva Wynonna Judd, with whom he recorded the hit duet "A Bad Goodbye." That same year he lent his interpretation to the classic Eagles hit, "Desperado," for their tribute album Common Threads (1993). Often compared to country icon Merle Haggard, they collaborated on writing the hit, "Untanglin' My Mind" in 1994.

Black took on the role of producer for his all-acoustic, D'Lectrified (1999). The album featured guest appearances by Kenny Loggins, Bruce Hornsby, and others including Black's wife. Black and Hartman perform a duet on the hit ballad, "When I Said I Do," and she sings background on two other songs. Two years later, Black and Hartman produced another hit single, "Easy for Me to Say," which was one of the four previously unreleased songs from Greatest Hits II (2001). The celebrity couple enjoyed the birth of a daughter, Lily Pearl, in 2000.

Black's records have sold over 18 million copies and his numerous performer awards include a Grammy. He has also been honored nine times by the Nashville Songwriters Association, and the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital named him 2001 Celebrity of the Year for his relentless charity fundraising on their behalf. In 1996 he received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Black is a down-to-earth superstar who loves his fans and continues to find wonder in the process of writing a song and helping it develop.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Killin' Time ( RCA, 1989); Put Yourself in My Shoes (RCA, 1990); The Hard Way (RCA, 1992); No Time to Kill (RCA, 1993); One Emotion (RCA, 1994); Looking for Christmas (RCA, 1995); The Greatest Hits (RCA, 1996); Nothin' but the Taillights (RCA, 1997); D'Electrified (RCA, 1999); Greatest Hits II (RCA, 2001).

donald lowe