Toby Keith's and His Business Empire

By Maya Archer

Toby Keith is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Toby Keith grew up on a farm just outside Oklahoma City and took to the guitar before he reached the age of nine, growing proficient with remarkable speed and efficiency. His eponymous 1993 debut album spawned several hit songs, including the number one single “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” and Keith became a star and frequent sight on Country Music Television. Hailed as a “traditionalist” in the genre, he followed up with enough hit songs to release a compilation of greatest hits just five years after his debut. With his Ford sponsorship entering its second decade and his I Love This Bar And Grill restaurant chain booming, Toby Keith tops country earners for the second consecutive year on FORBES list.

• Language: English
• Publisher: XinXii
• Release date: Jun 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781304927835

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Early Life

Singer, songwriter and musician Toby Keith Covel was born in Clinton, Oklahoma. Raised in Oklahoma City, Keith started playing music at a young age after being inspired by the musicians who worked in his grandmother's supper club. After working for a while in the oil industry and playing defense in the USFL football league, he decided to pursue a career in music.

Early Career

In the early '90s, Keith signed with Mercury Records, and by 1993 his self-titled debut album was certified platinum. His follow-up records, Boomtown (1994) and Blue Moon (1996), were equally successful thanks to such popular hits as Who's That Man and Me Too. In 1997, he teamed with Sting to record I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying, which earned the duo a Grammy nomination.

More success followed with the 1999 album How Do You Like Me Now?!, which won two Academy of Country Music (ACM) awards in 2000. His 2002 album, Unleashed, sold 3 million copies and included a hit duet with Willie Nelson, Beer for My Horses.

'The Angry American'

In 2001, Keith's father was killed in a traffic accident. The incident, combined with the events of September 11, prompted Keith to write the controversial Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American), which was hugely popular, particularly among military personnel.

Keith was named Entertainer of The Year by the Academy of Country Music in 2002 and 2003. He received an additional surge of media attention in 2003 when he engaged in a public clash with Natalie Maines, the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks. The two ended up trading barbs with Maines saying that Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American) made country music sound ignorant. Keith took even more offense to Maine saying that she was ashamed of President George W. Bush at a concert. In his own concerts, he had pictures of Maines as Saddam Hussein projected on a