|
 A
country traditionalist in the very best sense of the word, Clint Black
has been one of country's most popular artists since arriving on the
scene in 1989 and (along with Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson, who arrived
about the same time) igniting the "hat act" phenomenon.
Black was born in New Jersey on February 4, 1962, but he was raised in
Houston and spent years playing nightclubs and honky-tonks in Texas
before he hooked up with Clint Black manager Bill Ham and signed to RCA
Records. (Ham and Black parted ways amid rancorous lawsuits in 1992.)
Black's first four singles--"Better Man," "Killin' Time," "Nobody's
Home," "Walkin' Away"--all hit No. 1, and the album from which they
came, Killin' Time was an undisputed classic. It sold more than two
million copies, as did its follow-up, Put Yourself In My Shoes. Black
won the Country Music Association's Horizon Award in 1989 and was named
its top male vocalist the following year. By that time, he was already
headlining arena shows, and his popularity only grew when he married
actress Lisa Hartman (Knot's Landing, Tabitha) and joined the Grand Ole
Opry in 1991. Clint
Black Links
Black
and his guitarist Hayden Nicholas have written almost all the material
Black has recorded, and he's occasionally been criticized for not
recording outside material (which is the norm in Nashville). Whatever
Black has lost in sales, though, he's made up for in identity. However,
his newest album, 1997's Nothin' But The Taillights, finds him writing
with a number of new collaborators, including fellow artists Steve
Wariner, Matraca Berg and Marty Stuart, in an effort to expand his
style. |
