Toby Keith has made himself famous through his talent, hit songs, and patriotism. His songs speak about life experiences that many of his fans can relate to, making a strong connection between himself and his audience. With countless fans and millions of records sold, Toby Keith has climbed his way to success from where he started.

Toby Keith Covel was born on July 8, 1961 in Clinton, Oklahoma. Toby’s musical interests first began a few years later when his family moved to Moore, Oklahoma. His grandmother owned a nightclub in the town, which inspired Toby to sing like the musicians from his father’s country music collection. At eight years old, Toby received a guitar for his birthday, but his interest in a career in music would not come until after he graduated high school. He attended Moore High School and played on the varsity football team. In 1979, Toby graduated and continued his love for football, playing the defensive end for the Oklahoma City Drillers United States Football League team. To support himself, he also worked a job in the oil industry and did occasionally worked for the rodeo.

When Toby turned 20, he started the Easy Money band. The band typically played at local bars when Toby wasn’t working in the oil fields. In 1982, Oklahoma’s oil industry started to decline and Toby decided to leave the industry and instead keep his place on the football team and in his band. But in 1984, he decided to pursue a full time career of playing in the band. Despite the doubts of his friends and family, Easy Money was soon playing in Oklahoma and Texas and released the single, Blue Moon, which played on local Oklahoma radio stations. The band sent a demo tape to Nashville their attempt at fame was unsuccessful. Their luck changed when, at a gig in Oklahoma, the president of Mercury Records, Harold Shedd, liked what he saw and signed him to the company.

By 1993, Toby had moved to Nashville, Tennessee and released his debut single, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” The single was a great success, reaching the No. 1 spot on the Billboard country singles chart. His debut album was also extremely successful and was certified platinum. In 1994, Toby released his sophomore album with Polydor Records, Boomtown, which included the No. 1 hit, “Who’s That Man” and another hit, “You Ain’t Much Fun.” He followed Boomtown with his third album, Blue Moon in 1996, which was also certified platinum. Before his next album, Toby went back to Mercury Records, who changed their name to Mercury Nashville. Dream Walkin’ was released in 1997 with the company. Despite all of his success, Toby felt he needed to grow as an artist and further his career. His Greatest Hits, Volume I was released in 1998 and in 1999, Toby switched record companies again and worked with DreamWorks Nashville.

With his new album, How Do You Like Me Now, the title song kept it’s spot as the No. 1 hit for five weeks. The success of the album won Toby the Academy of Country Music award for Best Album and Male Vocalist in 2000. In 2001, he won the CMA award for male vocalist and released his album, Pull My Chain, which had three No.1 hits: “I’m Just Talkin’ About Tonight,” “I Wanna Talk About Me,” and “My List.” He was later nominated for six Academy of Country Music awards in 2001.

Toby was greatly moved by the September 11, 2001 attacks. He reacted by writing the song, “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue” inspired by his own father’s patriotism. Toby only sang the future hit for concerts for the military, but when Commandant of the Marine Corps, James Jones, insisted that Toby he record the song, Toby followed through and it appeared on his 2002 album, Unleashed. The song attracted a massive amount of attention and remained on the Top 10 Billboard country albums chart for 65 weeks.

Due to the success of “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue”, ABC asked Toby to perform his song for their patriotic special. The host, Peter Jennings, found the song to be too harsh and wanted Toby to change it or choose a new song. Toby rejected both options and refused the invitation. He found himself defending his song and his country again when the Dixie Chicks announced that the song was “ignorant.” These disagreements brought him great amounts of publicity. With the help of the popularity he gained, in 2002, Toby won the Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year award.

The following year, Toby continued to build upon his success with his new album, Shock’N Y’all reached the No. 1 album spot for all genres. His songs, “I Love This Bar,” “Whiskey Girl,” and “American Soldier” all became No. 1 hits and the album surpassed triple platinum status. He later released his Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 in 2004, with a new song, “Stays in Mexico.”

Toby released yet another album in May of 2005 by the name of Honkytonk University. The album included the hits “Big Blue Note” and “As Good As I Once Was.” In 2006, Toby was nominated for several of awards at the 39th Annual CMA Awards including Entertainer of Year, Single of Year for his song “As Good As I Once Was,” Music Video of the Year for “As Good As I Once Was,” and Song of the Year for “As Good As I Once Was.”

In 2007, the multi-platinum music superstar will release his next album, Big Dog Daddy, on June 12. Just nine days later, Toby will begin his upcoming tour, by the same name of his album, Big Dog Daddy.