Toby Keith free essay sample

Joan (born Ross) and Hubert K. Cover Jar. He has a sister, Toni, and a brother, Tracy. His family moved to Moore, Oklahoma (a suburb of Oklahoma City) when Keith was young. Before the family moved to Moore, Oklahoma, Toby visited his grandmother in Fort Smith, Arkansas, during the summers. In fact, his family lived In Fort Smith, Arkansas, for a few years when Toby was in grade school. Toby started playing football on Fort Smith Boys Club teams.His grandmother owned Billie Grangers Supper Club in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where Keith became interested in the musicians who came there to play. Toby did odd Jobs around the supper club and started getting up on the bandstand to play a little with the band. He got his first guitar at the age of eight. After the family moved to Moore, Oklahoma, Keith attended Highland West Junior High and Moore High School where he played Defensive End on the football team. We will write a custom essay sample on Toby Keith or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Keith graduated from Moore High School and, in 1979, went to work as a derrick hand In he 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 where he and his friends Scott Webb and Danny Smith and few other members played at local bars as he continued to work in the oil industry. At times, he would have to leave in the middle off concert If he was paged to work In the OLL 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 Leagues Oklahoma Outlaws; Keith tried out for the Outlaws but did not make the team. ) He then returned to focus once again on music. His family and friends were doubtful he would succeed, but in 1984, Easy Money began playing the honk tone 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. In 1993, Keith went to Nashville, Tennessee, where he hung UT on Music Row and at a place called Hounds.He distributed copies off 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. He had promised himself to have a recording contract by the time he was 30 years old or give up on music as a career, and had already passed that age without any prospects for a contract. Fortunately for Keith, a flight attendant and fan of his gave a copy of Kiths demo tape to Harold Shed, a Mercury Records executive, while he was ravening on a flight she was working. Shed enjoyed what he heard, went to see Keith perform live and then signed him too recording contract with Mercury. HIS debut single, Shouldve Been a Cowboy (1993), went to number 1 on the Billboard 1 OFF hit singles included A Little Less Talk and A Lot More Action and Wish I Did Not Know Now. Keith was moved to Polygon Records, a new label and released his next, midtown (1994), then was moved to A ; M Records Nashville, as those two labels merged and released Blue Moon (1996). The albums went gold and platinum especially. The first single off How Do You Like Me Now?! Ailed to make the Top 40 on the country charts. However, the follow-up single, which was the albums title track, went on to spend five weeks at number one, helping boost the albums sales to double platinum. In 2002, he released the Unleashed album which included hit singles, Whos your Daddy? , Beer for My Horses, and Courtesy of the Red, White, Blue . On November 9, 2004, Keith released a special duet with his daughter and aspiring singer, Crystal (age 19 at the time). The song, a remake of James Taylor and Carry Simonys Mockingbird was performed on the 2004 Scams by the duo.The song reached top 25 on the charts. Toby Keith is talent personified. Toby is not Just singer but he is a songwriter as well. Most country artists today lack the talent to rite, in the past nearly all the legends of Country Music wrote and sang their own material. Toby Keith holds rank with those Legends of Country Music. Put Toby Keith up against other musicians and in other genres Toby is still in a league by himself. Many artists today lack the talent to sing without the high-tech studio gimmicks to make their voices better.Toby Keith possesses one strong, clear and beautiful baritone voice . His talent of writing and singing were God given. Toby genuinely acknowledges Gods role in his singing as well as in his life. He is not afraid to stand up and share his beliefs in God, Country and Family Values. On the flipped Toby will let loose paying tribute to the old Country Music stereotype songs: of beer drinking and temptation. Not many artists can walk such a fine line and mom out a humble man, faithful to his wife, friends and family upbringingbut Toby does!I admire Toby because his story is an American story. In the finest traditions of the rugged individualism that built this country and tamed the west, Toby went out and started a career and persevered through adversity until he became a superstar. It is a story of a man who when knocked down repeatedly got up and doggedly fought his way to the top off highly competitive business. He started out as a oil field roughneck who lost his home when the oil business went bust. He didnt linger in a LOL of failure though. He got back up, brushed himself off and started anew.He toiled away on the honk-tone circuit and when he got his first shot at a record deal he got smacked down but he kept coming. He achieved record sales success and fan fueled awards but not recognition from the industry and he kept coming. He has become too big for the industry to ignore anymore without discrediting themselves. At his concerts, Toby says; l am an American by God and thats exactly why I like him. Toby Keith is most known now for his outspoken brand of patriotism and organic, but neither of these things can detract from the fact that he has a great deal of popularity in the country music industry.