Chris Stapleton Biography

Christopher Alvin "Chris" Stapleton (born April 15, 1978) is an American country and bluegrass musician and songwriter. He is an established songwriter with six number-one songs including the five-week number-one "Never Wanted Nothing More" recorded by Kenny Chesney, "Love's Gonna Make It Alright" recorded by George Strait, and "Come Back Song" recorded by Darius Rucker. As a songwriter, over 150 of Stapleton's songs have appeared on albums by such artists as Adele, Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley. He has co-written with notable artists like Vince Gill, Peter Frampton and Sheryl Crow.

After serving as the frontman of The SteelDrivers from 2008 to 2010, Stapleton released his debut studio album Traveller in 2015, which earned him several awards, reached number one on the US Billboard 200 and went on to sell over 1.5 million copies domestically. Stapleton won the 2015 Country Music Association Award for Best Male Vocalist, New Artist of the Year, and Album of the Year. He received four Grammy Award nominations for the 2016 ceremony, including Album of the Year, winning two: Best Country Album and Best Country Solo Performance.

Early life

Stapleton was born in Lexington, Kentucky. His mother worked at the local health department and his father was a coal miner. He comes from a family of coal miners. He has an older brother and younger sister.

Stapleton grew up in the small town of Staffordsville, Kentucky, which is located just outside of Paintsville, located between the city and the Paintsville lake. He graduated from Johnson Central High School and attended Vanderbilt University where he studied engineering, but dropped out after a year.

Career

In 2001, Stapleton moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a music career. As a songwriter, he signed with the publishing house Sea Gayle Music, a deal he got shortly after moving to Nashville.

The Steeldrivers

In 2007, he became the frontman for the bluegrass group The Steeldrivers. They had two hit records; each peaked at number 2 on the bluegrass chart before Stapleton left in 2010.

The Jompson Brothers

In 2010, Stapleton founded a Southern rock band called The Jompson Brothers. The band was made up of Stapleton on vocals, Greg McKee on guitar, J.T. Cure on bass, Bard McNamee on drums. They toured regionally until 2013 and at one point, opened for the Zac Brown Band. The band independently released a self-titled album in November 2010.

Solo work

In 2013, Stapleton signed to Mercury Nashville, a division of Universal Music Group Nashville, as a solo artist. His first single, "What Are You Listening To?", was released in October 2013, but did not perform as expected. The single was part of a record that was recorded but never released.

His debut solo album, Traveller, was released on May 5, 2015 to positive reviews. Stapleton co-produced the album with producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson), and it was recorded in Nashville's famous RCA Studio A. On the album he plays guitar and sings with a live band that is made up of bass player J.T. Cure (from The Jompson Brothers), pedal steel player Robby Turner, drummer Derek Mixon, Mickey Raphael on harmonica, and wife Morgane Stapleton singing harmonies. Stapleton emphasized the importance and magic of the band lineup that came together during the making and promotion of the record, saying the familiarity he had with Cure and Mixon (he has known and played with Cure for over 20 years), plus Cobb's producing which included contributing acoustic guitar in the recording process, added to the richness of making the record.

Stapleton said that the album was inspired by a road trip he took after his father died in 2013. He said he wrote the title track "Traveller" while on a road trip with his wife, driving down Interstate 40 from Phoenix, Arizona, to Nashville via New Mexico. His wife helped to sift through 15 years of songs to pick 9 songs to start recording with.

In 2015, Stapleton won three awards at the 2015 CMA Awards: Album of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, and New Artist of the Year. In December 2015, Stapleton received the 2015 CMT Artists of the Year Breakout award during a live performance at the annual CMT Artists of the Year show.

In January 2016, Stapleton performed "Either Way", a song he wrote with Kendall Marvel and Tim James, at the Country Radio Hall of Fame's Country Radio Seminar in Nashville. It was previously recorded by Lee Ann Womack for her 2008 album, Call Me Crazy. Stapleton said he is working on new material for his next record.

In 2016, Stapleton - along with his wife Morgane - contributed the track, "You Are My Sunshine", to producer Dave Cobb's compilation record project, Southern Family. Stapleton performed on the main stage at the 2016 Country to Country festival in Europe along with Andrew Combs, Kacey Musgraves and headliner Eric Church.

Collaborations

Stapleton has contributed to the soundtracks of several feature films, including Cars 2 and Valentine's Day.

Stapleton also cowrote the theme"?"All-Nighter Comin'""?to the WSM-AM show, The WSM All Nighter with Marcia Campbell, an American radio show with a large trucker following. He cowrote the song with Vince Gill and Al Anderson, with Gill featured on vocals on the track. He collaborated with Jake Owen on the song "If He Ain't Gonna Love You" on Owen's album American Love.

Live performances

In 2013, Stapleton and his wife sang the Don Williams song, "Amanda", live at the Grand Ole Opry. They also did an NPR Tiny Desk Concert in November 2015.

At the 2014 CMT Artist of the Year event, Stapleton performed with Lady Antebellum, who played Stapleton's song, "Drink a Beer", which Luke Bryan had recorded, in honor of Bryan, who was unable to attend the ceremony due to a death in his family. Stapleton had sung on the song during Bryan's 2013 CMA Awards performance of the song.

At the 2015 CMA Awards, Justin Timberlake joined him on stage for the show to sing his version of the song popularized as a George Jones live-show staple, "Tennessee Whiskey" and Timberlake's "Drink You Away". The performance received acclaim from music publications.

Stapleton was the musical guest on the Saturday Night Live episode which aired January 16, 2016, alongside host Adam Driver. He performed "Parachute" and "Nobody to Blame" from Traveller.

Personal life

Stapleton is married to singer-songwriter Morgane Stapleton. She had a recording deal with Arista Nashville. The couple met when they were working at adjacent publishing houses. They have two children and live in Nashville.

Notable songs (as songwriter)

• 2003: "Higher Than the Wall" recorded by Patty Loveless, written with Mike Henderson
• 2005: "Your Man" recorded by Josh Turner, written with Chris DuBois and Jace Everett
• 2006: "Nothin' but a Love Thang" recorded by Darryl Worley, written with Steve Leslie and Worley
• 2006: "Swing" recorded by Trace Adkins, written with Frank Rogers
• 2007: "Never Wanted Nothing More" recorded by Kenny Chesney, written with Ronnie Bowman
• 2007: "Whiskey and You" recorded by Tim McGraw
• 2008: "Another Try" recorded by Josh Turner with Trisha Yearwood, written with Jeremy Spillman
• 2008: "Either Way" performed by Lee Ann Womack, written with Tim James and Kendall Marvel
• 2010: "Come Back Song" recorded by Darius Rucker, written with Casey Beathard and Rucker
• 2010: "Keep On Lovin' You" recorded by Steel Magnolia, written with Trent Willmon
• 2011: "If It Hadn't Been for Love" recorded by Adele (co-wrote with The SteelDrivers' Mike Henderson)
• 2011: "Miles to Go" recorded by Alison Krauss and Union Station, written with Barry Bales
• 2011: "Love's Gonna Make It Alright" recorded by George Strait, written with Al Anderson
• 2012; "Something to Do with My Hands" recorded by Thomas Rhett, written with Lee Thomas Miller and Rhett
• 2012: "Talk Is Cheap" performed by Alan Jackson, written with Guy Clark and Morgane Hayes
• 2013: "Drink a Beer" recorded by Luke Bryan, written with Jim Beavers
• 2014: "Too Fast" recorded by Jason Aldean, written with Lee Thomas Miller
• 2015: "Crash and Burn" recorded by Thomas Rhett, written with Jesse Frasure
• 2016: "Lonely Girl" recorded by Charles Kelley

Awards

• 2006: ASCAP Country Music Award - "Your Man" by Chris DuBois, Chris Stapleton
• 2007: ASCAP Award - "Swing" by Frank Rogers, Chris Stapleton
• 2008: ASCAP Award, Most Performed Songs - "Never Wanted Nothing More" by Chris Stapleton, Ronnie Bowman
• 2009: ASCAP Award, Most Performed Songs - "Another You" by Chris Stapleton, Jeremy Spillman
• 2010: ASCAP Award, Most Performed Songs - "Keep On Lovin' You" by Chris Stapleton, Trent Willmon
• 2011: ASCAP Award, Most Performed Songs - "Come Back Song" by Darius Rucker, Chris Stapleton; recorded by Darius Rucker
• 2012: ASCAP Award, Most Performed Songs - "Love's Gonna Make It Alright" by Chris Stapleton, recorded by George Strait

ACM Awards

! |- |rowspan="6"|2016 |rowspan="1"|Traveller |Album of the Year | | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="6"| |- | "Nobody to Blame" | Song of the Year | |- |rowspan="3"|Chris Stapleton |Songwriter of the Year | |- |New Male Vocalist of the Year | |- |Male Vocalist of the Year | |- | Vocal Event of the Year | "Hangover Tonight" | |-

Americana Music Honors & Awards

!Ref. |- |rowspan="2"|2016 |rowspan="1"|Chris Stapleton |Artist of the Year | |rowspan="2"| |- |rowspan="1"|Traveller |Album of the Year | |-

American Country Countdown Awards

! |- |2016 |Traveller |Top Country Album | | style="text-align:center;" |

Billboard Music Awards

! |- |rowspan="2"|2016 |rowspan="1"|Chris Stapleton |Top Country Artist | | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"| |- |rowspan="1"|Traveller |Top Country Album | |-

British Country Music Association Awards

! |- |rowspan="2"|2016 |rowspan="1"|Traveller |International Album of the Year | | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"| |- |rowspan="1"|Tennessee Whiskey |International Song of the Year | |-

CMA Awards

! |- |rowspan="3"|2015 |rowspan="1"|Traveller |Album of the Year | | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"| |- |rowspan="2"|Chris Stapleton |New Artist of the Year | |- |Male Vocalist of the Year | |-

CMT Awards

! |- |rowspan="3"|2016 |rowspan="2"|"Fire Away" |Video of the Year | | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"| |- |Breakthrough Video of the Year | |- |"Nobody To Blame" (From CMT Artists of the Year) |CMT Performance of the Year | |-

Grammy Awards

! |- |rowspan="4"|2016 |rowspan="2"|Traveller |Album of the Year | | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="4"| |- |Best Country Album | |- |rowspan="2"| "Traveller" |Best Country Solo Performance | |- | Best Country Song | |-

Discography

• 2015: In Stereo - Record Store Day limited-edition 10" vinyl
  • "When The Stars Come Out"
  • "Fire Away"
  • "Tennessee Whiskey" cover of Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove song

Solo albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions					Sales	Certifications
		US Country	US	AUS	CAN	UK
Traveller	Release date: May 5, 2015 Label: Mercury Nashville Format: CD, digital download	1	1	47	4	67	US: 1,523,800	RIAA: Platinum MC: Gold

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions						Sales	Album
		US Country	US Country Airplay	US	US Digital	CAN Country	CAN
2013	"What Are You Listening To"	"?	46	"?	19	"?	"?	US: 131,000
2015	"Traveller"	17	"?	87	10	"?	"?	US: 135,000	Traveller
	"Nobody to Blame"	13	10	68	"?	11	83	US: 337,000
2016	"Parachute"	31	30			42		US: 125,000
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Other charted songs

Year	Single	Peak chart positions				Sales	Certifications	Album
		US Country	US Country Airplay	US	CAN
2015	"Tennessee Whiskey"	1	57	20	39	US: 826,000	RIAA: Platinum MC: Gold	Traveller
	"Whiskey and You"	35	"?	"?	"?	US: 23,000
	"Fire Away"	25	"?	"?A	"?	US: 179,000
	"Outlaw State of Mind"	45	"?	"?	"?	US: 18,000
	"Might as Well Get Stoned"	44	"?	"?	"?	US: 12,000
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

• ^APeaked at number 6 on Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles.

Music videos

Year	Video	Director
2016	"Fire Away"	Tim Mattia

See also

• The SteelDrivers