American country western star, a singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer noted as one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he ignited the neotraditional country movement, earning fame for his authentic cowboy image and roots-oriented sound at a time when the Nashville music industry was dominated by country pop crossover acts. His influential and record-breaking legacy of his pioneering neotraditionalist country style has garnered him the title of “King of Country Music.” Strait has sold more than 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
During the 1980s, seven of his albums reached number one on the country charts. In the 2000s, Strait was named Artist of the Decade by the Academy of Country Music, elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and won his first Grammy award for the album Troubadour. Strait was named CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 2013, and ACM Entertainer of the Year in 1990 and 2014. He has been nominated for more CMA and ACM awards and has more wins in both categories than any other artist.
On 4 August 1998 he received five Country Music Association award nominations, moving him ahead of Merle Haggard as the most nominated performer in the organization’s history. By 2009, he broke Conway Twitty’s previous record for the most number-one hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart when his 44 number one singles surpassed Twitty’s 40. Strait has amassed 60 number-one hits. “Give It All We Got Tonight” was number one in 2013, breaking a record also previously set by Twitty. Strait currently holds the record for most number one songs on all charts by an artist in any genre of music.
A mild-mannered, guitar-strumming cowboy with a melodious voice, Strait and his brother were raised by a strict Baptist single dad in in Pearsall, Texas. He recalls that his dad “always told me that the Lord would tell me what he wanted me to do with my life, and I kind of believe that’s really true.” After a five-year stint in Hawaii with the US Army, Strait returned home to Southwest Texas State University and graduated in 1979 with a degree in agricultural education.
Casually playing the local honky-tonk circuit, he and his eight piece band “Ace In The Hole” topped the country western charts with their first hit “Unwound” in 1981. Four years later storybook success came in a steady stream from the Golden Pick Award for Favorite Song to the American Vocation Success Award from President George Bush. A true country boy and avid horseman, Strait was inducted into the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Star Trail in 1996.
His film appearances include The Soldier (1982) and Pure Country (1992). He also appeared as himself in Grand Champion (2002).
Strait married Norma Voss on 4 December 1971. Their daughter Jenifer, born 6 October 1972 in Hawaii, died at age 13 in a car accident on 25 June 1986 in San Marcos, Texas. Son George “Bubba” Jr., born 14 May 1981 in Hays County, Texas, lived with his folks in San Antonio, Texas and on Strait’s 8,000 acre ranch in the Southwest Texas brush country. In February 2012, Strait Sr. became a grandfather when George Strait Jr. and his wife Tamara had their first child, a son, George Harvey Strait III, followed by a daughter, Jilliann Louise, in September 2016.
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