Over the life of his career, Chesney has been honored with numerous awards from the Academy of Country Music (ACM), Country Music Association (CMA), American Music Awards (AMA), Country Music Television (CMT), Billboard Music Awards (BMA), People's Choice Awards (PCA), and the French Country Music Awards (FCMA).
Chesney recently produced and co-directed a film for ESPN, "The Boys Of Fall". Chesney has received six Academy of Country Music awards (including four consecutive Entertainer of the Year Awards from 2005 to 2008),[1] as well as six Country Music Association awards. He is one of the most popular touring acts in country music, regularly selling out the venues at which he performs.[2][3] His 2007 Flip-Flop Summer Tour was the highest-grossing country road trip of the year.[4]
The Country Music Association honored Chesney with the Entertainer of the Year award in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008. Other notable awards include the Academy of Country Music's 1997 New Male Vocalist of the Year, 2002 Top Male Vocalist of the Year, and the Triple Crown Award in 2005. He was awarded his fourth consecutive Entertainer of the Year award from the Academy of Country Music on May 18, 2008.
Signing first publishing and record deals
In 1992, the head of publisher/writer relations at BMI, Clay Bradley, recommended Chesney to his friend at Opryland Music Group, Troy Tomlinson, by saying: "I met this kid today from East Tennessee. He’s a good singer, a good songwriter, and more than anything, I think you’re going to really like him as a person.”[7] For the audition for Tomlinson, Chesney performed five songs. Tomlinson's reaction was enthusiastic, later telling HitQuarters:"First of all I was attracted to the songs, because I thought that he painted great pictures in his lyrics, particularly for someone who had not been around the typical Music Row co-writes. I thought that he sang very well too. But more than anything there was a kind of this ‘I-will-do-it’ look in his eyes - I was really drawn in by the fact that he was so set on being successful in this business."[7]Chesney left the audition with a songwriter’s contract. An appearance at a songwriter’s showcase the following year led to a contract with Capricorn Records which had recently started a country division. He released his debut album In My Wildest Dreams in April 1994. When Capricorn closed its country music division in Nashville and moved to Atlanta, Georgia Chesney signed with BNA Records.
In My Wildest Dreams (1994)
All I Need to Know (1995)
Me and You (1996-1997)
Released in 1996, Chesney's second major-label album was Me and You.[8] Although its lead-off single peaked just outside the Top 40 on the country charts, the album's title track (which was reprised from All I Need to Know) and the single "When I Close My Eyes" (which was previously recorded by Larry Stewart on his 1993 debut album Down the Road) both peaked at #2 on the Billboard country charts. Me and You was also Chesney's first gold-certified album.[8] A cover of Mac McAnally's 1990 single "Back Where I Come From" was also included on this album. Although Chesney's version was never released as a single, it has become a regular song played during his concerts. In recognition of his successful year, Chesney was honored with the 1997 Academy of Country Music's New Male Vocalist of the Year award.I Will Stand (1997-1998)
Everywhere We Go (1999)
Greatest Hits (2000)
No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems (2002-2003)
All I Want for Christmas Is a Real Good Tan (2003)
When the Sun Goes Down (2004-2005)
When the Sun Goes Down was honored with the 2004 CMA award for Album of the Year, while Chesney was honored as the Entertainer of the Year. He was also presented with the American Music Award's 2004 Artist of the Year award.
Be as You Are and The Road and the Radio (2005-2006)
In the spring of 2005, Chesney was honored with the prestigious Triple-Crown Award presented by the Academy of Country Music. This award was presented after Chesney's 2004 Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year award was combined with 1997's New Male Vocalist of the Year award and 2003's Top Male Vocalist of the Year award. The following year, on May 23, 2006, Chesney was honored with his second Entertainer of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards.[9]
Chesney released his second album of the year in November, The Road and the Radio, producing three #1 singles. "Living in Fast Forward", "Summertime", and "Beer in Mexico" all hit #1, while "Who You'd Be Today" and "You Save Me" broke the Top Five.
Live: Live Those Songs Again (2006)
Live: Live Those Songs Again is Chesney's first live album. Released on September 19, 2006 on BNA Records, the album includes live renditions of 15 songs, including 11 singles. "Live Those Songs", "Never Gonna Feel Like That Again", "On the Coast of Somewhere Beautiful", and "Back Where I Come From" were never released by Chesney as singles, while "Back Where I Come From" had been released as a single from Mac McAnally's 1990 album Simple Life.Collaborations
Chesney, along with Tim McGraw, contributed to a version of Tracy Lawrence's single "Find Out Who Your Friends Are", which can be found on Lawrence's album For the Love. The official single version, featuring only Lawrence's vocals, was released in August 2006, but did not reach the Top 40 on the country charts until January 2007, when For the Love was released. After the album's release, the version with McGraw and Chesney began receiving significant airplay, helping to boost the single to #1 on the country charts. The song became Lawrence's first #1 single in 11 years, as well as the second-slowest climbing #1 single in the history of the Billboard music charts.Chesney also co-wrote Rascal Flatts' 2007 single along with Neil Thrasher and Wendell Mobley, "Take Me There", which served as the lead-off single to their album Still Feels Good.[10]
Chesney also recorded a duet with Reba McEntire on her #1 2007 album, Reba: Duets. "Every Other Weekend" peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and #104 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. The album has sold 2.1 million copies world-wide and is certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales of over 1 million. "Every Other Weekend" was the final single from the album.
Super Hits (2007)
Just Who I Am: Poets &Pirates (2007-2008)
On September 11, 2007, Chesney released the album Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates. The album represented a move to a more gulf and western sound with a number of "breezy, steel-drum island songs."[11] Kanye West's album Graduation, as well as 50 Cent's album Curtis, were released on the same day. Kanye West and 50 Cent were in the midst of a competitive sales war, with 50 Cent claiming he would end his solo rap career if West sold more albums than he did (remarks he later retracted as terms with of contract conflicted with the promise). Kenny Chesney, however, decided he would give country music a place in the competition, claiming country artists were just as popular as rap artists. Chesney came in third place in the number of record sales between the three musical artists.The album's lead-off single, "Never Wanted Nothing More", became Chesney's 12th song to hit the top of the Billboard country charts.[12] On the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart dated for the week ending September 15, 2007, Chesney's single "Don't Blink" debuted at #16, setting a new record for the highest debut on that chart since the inception of SoundScan electronic tabulation in 1990.[13] This record was broken one week later by Garth Brooks' song "More Than a Memory", which debuted at #1 on the same chart, making it the first song ever to do so. The third single off of Just Who I Am album, "Shiftwork", a duet with George Strait peaked at #2 on the Billboard country chart. During the week of June 28, 2008, the fourth single, "Better as a Memory", became Chesney's 14th single to hit the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
Chesney did not acknowledge the injury during the early part of his performance. However, he was visibly limping and seemed to rest near a drum riser while leaning over and holding his knee during the instrumental breaks of his hit songs. As he came offstage, a doctor from the University of South Carolina cut off Chesney’s cowboy boot and immediately began treating the foot injury. X-rays taken later revealed several crushed bones in his right foot.
The injury did not cause him to postpone any shows, saying "He (the doctor) told me it's going to hurt – though nothing could hurt worse than Saturday, I don't think – and they can give me something to deaden the pain when I get out there. I also have to have a doctor standing by should something give, but I'm going to tape it up, and I'm going to get out there."[14]
On May 19, 2008, just a day after being honored as the ACM Entertainer of the Year at the 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Chesney criticized the lack of choice in the producers' awarding the honor based on fan votes. "The entertainer of the year trophy is supposed to represent heart and passion and an amazing amount of sacrifice, commitment and focus," he said. "That's the way Garth won it four times, that's the way I won it, that's the way Strait won it, Reba, Alabama all those years. That's what it's supposed to represent."[15]
Lucky Old Sun (2008-2009)
Chesney's 2009 tour was titled the Sun City Carnival Tour and featured both small and large venues in order to keep his ticket prices down.[17] The tour included a performance at Gillette Stadium again, marking the fifth year in a row that he played at the Foxboro, Massachusetts football field.[18]
Greatest Hits II (2010)
Hemingway's Whiskey (2010-present)
He then appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010.[19]
The second single from Hemingway's Whiskey, "Somewhere with You", was released in November 2010. The song debuted at #35 on the country chart for the week of November 6, 2010. It then hit #1 in January 2011.
Chesney produced and narrated a biographical film, The Color Orange, on his favorite football player growing up, University of Tennessee quarterback and Canadian Football League hall-of-famer Condredge Holloway. The film was produced for ESPN's "Year of the Quarterback" series, and premiered on February 20, 2011.
On April 29, 2011, Chesney announced he will begin working on a new studio album featuring the first single, "Real Friends", written by Thomas Walker.
Personal life
On May 9, 2005, Kenny Chesney married actress Renee Zellweger in a ceremony on the island of St. John. They had met in January at a tsunami relief benefit concert. On September 15 of that same year, after only four months of marriage, they announced their plans for an annulment. Zellweger cited fraud as the reason in the related papers, but after media scrutiny of her use of the word "fraud", she qualified the use of the term, stating it was "simply legal language and not a reflection of Kenny's character". Chesney later suggested the failure of his marriage was due to "panic" from the intense media scrutiny surrounding it.[20] In an interview by 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper, Chesney commented on the failed marriage. "The only fraud that was committed was me thinking that I knew what it was like…that I really understood what it was like to be married, and I really didn't."[21] The annulment was finalized in late December 2005. Kenny Chesney's family still resides in east Tennessee.
Philanthropy
Chesney's most recent charity work includes working with the V Foundation. Founded by the late Jim Valvano, the V Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to saving lives by helping to find a cure for cancer. Valvano, former coach of the North Carolina State Wolfpack Basketball team, died on April 28, 1993 following a year-long battle with cancer.In 1998, Chesney recorded a limited-edition single titled "Touchdown Tennessee". The single was a tribute to John Ward, a former broadcaster for the University of Tennessee Volunteers' football team; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the John Ward Scholarship Fund received a portion of the single's sales.
Tours
Chesney has won the Billboard Touring Award for Top Package Tour four consecutive years between 2005 and 2008.[22]- Greatest Hits Tour 2001
- No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems Tour 2002
- Margaritas N' Senorita's Tour 2003
- Guitars, Tiki Bars & A Whole Lotta Love Tour 2004
- Somewhere In The Sun Tour 2005
- The Road & The Radio Tour 2006
- Flip-Flop Summer Tour 2007(w/Brooks & Dunn,Sugarland,Sara Evans & Pat Green)
- The Poets & Pirates Tour 2008(w/Keith Urban,LeAnn Rimes,Gary Allan & Sammy Hagar)
- Sun City Carnival Tour 2009(w/Miranda Lambert,Sugarland,Lady Antebellum & Montgomary Gentry)
- 2010 With A Two Tour 2010(Festivels)
- Goin' Coastal Tour 2011(w/Zac Brown Band,Uncle Kracker & Billy Curington)
Discography
- 1994: In My Wildest Dreams
- 1995: All I Need to Know
- 1996: Me and You
- 1997: I Will Stand
- 1999: Everywhere We Go
- 2002: No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems
- 2003: All I Want for Christmas Is a Real Good Tan
- 2004: When the Sun Goes Down
- 2005: Be as You Are (Songs from an Old Blue Chair)
- 2005: The Road and the Radio
- 2007: Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates
- 2008: Lucky Old Sun
- 2010: Hemingway's Whiskey
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