Chris Young garnered national attention on the television talent show Nashville Star in 2006, as week after week, the country listened to his smooth baritone take on numerous songs, making each his own. He eventually ended up winning the competition, earning him a record deal with RCA Nashville, and headlined the Nashville Star Tour that year, with the Top 4 contenders on the show.
His self-titled debut album entered the charts at a respectable #3, and produced two singles, "Drinking Me Lonely" and "You're Gonna Love Me" which languished in the Top 50 on the charts, peaking at #42 and #48 respectively. Not a great start, and one that may not guarantee a second album. But RCA Nashville continued working with Chris, and three years after his first release, his sophomore project, The Man I Want To Be came out. Debuting at #6, it looked like Chris was facing an uphill battle.
The first single off The Man I Want To Be, "Voices" peaked at #37. That was some progress over the first two singles from his previous album, but everything changed with the release of the second single, "Gettin' You Home (The Black Dress Song,)" which became Young's first #1 song.
Since then, there has been no looking back. Chris has released four songs since, and each one has also topped the charts. No easy task. Especially, considering one of those four songs was "Voices," which was given another shot at being a chart topper, after it barely made it into the Top 40 two years prior. This was a feat that had only been accomplished once in the modern era of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
In 2011, Young really saw his career move into high gear, with a Grammy nomination for "Voices," a gold certification for The Man I Want To Be, and two singles, ("Tomorrow" and "You,") that were also certified gold, with over 500,000 digital downloads. The latter two singles are from his third studio album, Neon.
Young has started 2012 with a sell-out headlining show, and a prime opening spot on Miranda Lambert 's On Fire tour. (Note: Lambert also got her start on the first season of Nashville Star, placing third in the competition.) Most recently Chris was nominated for two ACM awards; Single of the Year ("Tomorrow,") and a coveted Male Vocalist nomination. His five consecutive chart toppers makes him one of only two solo artists on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart to have topped the chart with their last five singles.
The future is definitely bright for this young star, and this writer can hardly wait to see what happens next.
Purchase music from Chris Young at: Best Buy, 2005 Forest Avenue, Chico, CA 95928
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