Clint Black

At 62 years old, Clint Black has this physical status:

Clint Patrick Black (born February 4, 1962) is an American country music singer, songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and actor.

Signed to RCA Records in 1989, Black's debut album Killin' Time produced four straight number one singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts.

Although his momentum gradually slowed throughout the 1990s, Black consistently charted hit songs into the 2000s.

He has had more than 30 singles on the US Billboard country charts, twenty-two of which have reached number one, in addition to having released twelve studio albums and several compilation albums.

In 2003, Black founded his own record label, Equity Music Group.

Black has also ventured into acting, having made appearances in a 1993 episode of the TV series Wings and in the 1994 film Maverick, as well as a starring role in 1998's Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack.

Early life

Black was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, the youngest of four children of Ann (Scherma) and Gwin Augusta "G.A." Black, Jr., and lived in nearby Red Bank. His maternal great-grandfather was of Italian descent, with roots in Palermo, Sicily. The family moved back to Texas, where G.A. Black had been born and raised, before Clint was one year old. He was raised in Katy, Texas. Music was always present in the house. Black taught himself to play harmonica before he was 13, and at 14 wrote his first song. His father remarked that it was at that age that the parents "first noticed that he had a great voice". By 15, Black had learned to play guitar. As a teenager Black joined his elder brothers, Mark, Kevin and Brian, in their small band. On Saturday afternoons, the family would host backyard barbecues and invite the neighborhood to listen to the boys sing. Some weekends would attract up to 70 people. Black eventually dropped out of high school to play with his brothers, before becoming a solo act.

Personal life

Black began dating actress Lisa Hartman in 1990. The couple kept their relationship very quiet. The first picture of the two of them together was not published until the week they were engaged. The couple married in Katy, Texas, in October 1991.

Black and Lisa Hartman Black have a daughter, Lily Pearl Black, born in 2001. As of 2002, he and his wife reside in Nashville, Tennessee, after living in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California.

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Music career

Black people were attracted to a number of musical styles from the start. He opted to concentrate on country music in the early 1980s, according to his father, after singers George Strait and Reba McEntire returned the genre to the more mainstream; in the style that was preserved by George Jones and Merle Haggard. Although performing in numerous lounges as a solo singer and guitarist for six years, Black continued to work as a building worker, bait cutter, and fishing guide. Hayden Nicholas, another guitarist, appeared on stage in 1987. The two guys met musically and began a long-term song writing collaboration. Black performed a demo of their collaboration "Nobody's Home" in the late 1980s to record promoter Sammy Alfano. Black was invited to a meeting with Bill Ham, the ZZ Top's manager, within two days of his appearance.

Black soon joined RCA in October of 1987, and at the time, RCA was one of the "most influential" brands in country music. Killin' Time, his first album, was released in 1989. At least one of the songs on the album was written by Black; four of them were attributed solely to him, while the remainder were collaborations with Nicholas. Black used his road band rather than session musicians to record Killin' Time, a departure from most other country albums. The album was a critical and commercial success, debuting at number one on the Billboard Country Albums chart and certifying platinum in 1990. He made his debut in 1989 with his single "A Better Man," which debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs in early June. This was the first time a debut single by a male artist in 14 years that had topped the charts. In total, five singles from his debut album's debut album debuted at number one, the first time any country artist had achieved this feat. In 1989, Black received the Country Music Association's Horizon Award for best newcomer. On the year-end country singles charts, his singles, "A Better Man" and "Killin' Time" debut first and second, respectively. It had been 36 years since another artist had dominated the top positions in a single year. Black recalled "At one point, I knew I crossed this line out of mystery, and I felt like no matter what happened from that point forward, I'll always be remembered for "Killin' Time." "There was this mixed feeling of remorse and excitement."

The Los Angeles Times surveyed country music industry insiders in late 1990 to see which performers would be expected to have the most hits over the next seven years. In the poll, Black has finished second, two votes behind Garth Brooks. The survey findings were surprising, in that ten of the top ten artists named were relative newcomers to the market; in the past, country music had been dominated by artists with multiple decades of experience. However, some analysts were confused by the plethora of new movies. Many of the new bands were lumped together by many reviewers; as Newsweek's David Gates wrote: "Good song, strong voice, and brisk band: who cares which one it is this time?" Black soon became one of Nashville's "hat acts"; like other country entertainers Tracy Lawrence, Alan Jackson, and John Michael Montgomery, he wore a hat and had a "clean, neotraditional sound with pop appeal."

In 1990, Killin' Time was named platinum. Put Yourself in My Shoes, Black's second album, was released in November 1990. It debuted on the country charts at number two and was ranked in the top 20 on the pop album charts. Billboard's change in the way it tracked album sales resulted in this success; rather than selecting data from multiple retailers, Nielsen SoundScan showed that sales of country albums had previously been downplayed. The album received little critical acclaim as his debut, but it did have a few hit singles on it. He started touring with Alabama.

Since 1991, Black has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Black sued Bill Ham for negligence of employment in March 1992; Black sued Bill Ham for breach of contract; Black demanded $2 million in fees and demanded that Ham return $4 million in royalties. Ham's first album was in possession of his first contract. Any song that Black wrote or co-wrote for his first eight albums was bound to be published royalties. Since Black wrote all of his own songs, this amounted to a hefty price of 20 to 30 cents per album sold. Generally, industry conventions urged songwriters to form their own publishing firms in order to keep more of the royalties.

Ham retaliately opposed, blaming poor advice from Black's new personal assistant, mother-in-law Jonni Hartman. "Mr. Ham invested $1 million of his own money in Clint Black's career in a period when no one else would do so," his lawyer told the media. Mr. Black should demonstrate a little gratitude and respect his jobs for his service."

Black's first two albums had sold a total of 5 million copies by mid-1992. Ham's difficulties resulted in a postponement of the launch of Black's third album, The Hard Way, which was announced on July 14. The album had been expected the year before, but the country music scene had changed during the time. Alan Jackson and Travis Tritt's success, as well as Billy Ray Cyrus's role as a teen idol. Black's match was now much tougher than on his previous albums.

According to Black, he and producer James Stroud spent more time putting this album together than any of those preceding, and were "a lot more aggressive in the way we cut and mixed the album." On this album, Black became even more satisfied with the vocals. Several of the songs on The Hard Way, including "Burn One Down," were initially thought to be Black's retaliation against Ham. Nicholas, a co writer, debunked the rumors, claiming that the majority of those songs were written in the late 1980s.

On June 26, 1992, Black introduced The Hard Way Tour to promote the album. The tour lasted for 11 months. Black presented a "new, sexier image" on this album, wearing tighter clothing and in some instances leaving his trademark hat on. Black claimed that he was bored wearing the hat all the time.

No Time to Kill, Black's fourth album, was released only a year after The Hard Way was released. The album has received mixed feedback. According to the Houston Chronicle, Black's duet with Wynonna Judd, "A Bad Goodbye," was "exactly the kind of radio-ready, big-production ballad that record companies often press on their artists when they feel their careers are in risk." On the other hand, a Time magazine study found that the duet had helped Black's emotions show his emotions more vividly. Black's voice sounded strained in some of the album's more serious tracks, according to some reviewers.

In late 1994, One Emotion was followed by a subsequent one. This album, which was also a platinum-certified album in the United States, saw five straight top five hits. A Merle Haggard co-write ranked first with "Untanglin's My Mind" for the number four. After that came the number three "Wherever You Go," three-week number one "Summer's Comin," the number one title track, and finally the number four "Life Gets Away," followed it. In Canada, the latter two were both number one country hits.

In 1996, Black became the fourth country music artist to be inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He launched his first greatest-hits box later this year. This was started by the chart-topper "Like the Rain," which lasted three weeks at number one. It came to number six "Half Way Up," his first single since "One More Payment" failed to make the top five.

The Taillights, Black's forthcoming album, 1997's Nothin', was given poor reviews. The album, according to Thom Owens of AllMusic, was no attempt to modify his sound, and was "sturdy" but less country than his previous attempts. "Still Holding On," a duet with labelmate Martina McBride, became his first single to land outside of the top ten, with a number 11 peak this year. With the number two "Something We Do," he quickly regained control, followed by two straight chart-toppers in the album's Steve Wariner-penned title track and "The Shoes You Wearing," he quickly regained his chart success. The next two singles, number 12 "Loosen Up My Strings," and number 29 "You Don't Need Me Now," were less popular.

When he recorded a remix of the Christmas movie "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" on the soundtrack of the animated film of the same name, he ventured only into Big Band Jazz in 1998.

Black launched D'lectrified in 1999, a complete reliance on acoustic devices. However, USAToday found that the "album sounds as full and brash as an electric album because he used innovative designs and horn sections." Three of the songs on the album were remakes of old Black singles. Several others included guest appearances by some of Black's idols, including Waylon Jennings, Kenny Loggins, and Eric Idle. The songs tended to be longer than those on country radio, with some of them lasting more than five minutes.

Lily Pearl Black and Hartman welcomed their first child, Lily Pearl Black, in May 2001. Black took a three-year break from music to stay home with his daughter. "It ended up not being a smart career move," he said, but it was a good smart dad move. "I would not go back and try to do something for my career in exchange for that."

Black spent time reassessing his work during his absorption as a priest. Equity Music Group was born after determining he was unable to work within the existing recording industry structure, he founded his own record company. Black admitted that leaving RCA was daunting. He had sold over 20 million albums in his 14 years with the brand.

The latest brand had enforced very different policies than those under Black's tenure. Artists were promised ownership of their albums and were given a stake in the company. Black's new label's first release, Spend My Time, was Black's eighth studio album, and it was his eighth in five years. "Undoubtedly the most adventurous of his life," the Houston Chronicle said.

Black began producing Drinkin' Songs and Other Logic in 2005. To limit himself to routine topics from his time, Black chose the album's name. "I went out and bought all the music I grew up on that I didn't already have and spent three months listening to only that." It was pre-1989—Waylon, Willie Buck Owens, Haggard, Don Williams, Jim Croce. I discovered a simplicity in songs that I had never stopped listening to before. It was an emotional roller coaster because these were all the songs that moved me and inspired me to do what I've been doing ever since."

Black hasn't stopped recording new stuff, but it has continued to record new stuff. He released the single "The Strong One" in 2007, the first original song he had performed that he did not write. The album was released on March 11, 2008. The collection, titled "The Long Cool EP," features Black's single "Long Cool Woman," "The Strong One," and a duet with his wife titled "You Still Get to Me." Equity Music Group closed down in December 2008 due to financial difficulties.

Black served as a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards to promote independent artists.

Black had occasionally speculated at a new album that never appeared since the company's demise in 2008. He released a Cracker Barrel-exclusive album in 2013 that featured re-recorded versions of some of his best hits as well as three new songs. Black said he brought together the same musicians who had appeared on the originals to perform the new ones, and that some songs were approached with a "fresh view," while others were meant to be as close to the originals as possible.

On the ACM Superstar Duets special, which featured young artists collaborating with older artists that had inspired their music, Black appeared with Joe Nichols in early 2015. Black had signed a new record contract with independent label Thirty Tigers in July 2015 and debuted an album of new studio work in the fall. The record title was revealed as On Purpose shortly after, but on September 25th, it was scheduled for a release date. Out of Sane, Black's newest album, was released in 2020.

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