Garth Brooks (born Troyal Garth Brooks on February 7, 1962 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American singer/songwriter who performs country music.

He won a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 1992 for the album Ropin' The Wind. He was awarded the Academy of Country Music award for Entertainer of the Year for 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993, and the award for Top Male Vocalist for 1990 and 1991.

Brooks has placed a total of 14 albums in the Billboard Pop and Country Charts between 1989 and 2002. Most of which have enjoyed #1 status. He has also achieved 22 #1 hit songs during a career which began in the 1980's.

He created a fictional character Chris Gaines whose album only sold a little over 2 million copies; acceptable to most artists but a disappointment compared to Garth's selling record.

He attended Oklahoma State University on a track scholarship as a javelin thrower.

In 1999, Garth Brooks began the Teammates For Kids Foundation which provides financial aid to charities for children. The organization breaks down into three categories spanning three different sports.

• Touch 'Em All Foundation - Baseball Division
• Top Shelf - Hockey Division
• Touchdown - Football Division

The foundation enlists players to donate a predetermined sum of money depending on their game performance. Garth Brooks has participated in spring training for the San Diego Padres in 1998 and 1999; the New York Mets in 2000, and is currently in spring training with the Kansas City Royals as of March 12, 2004 to promote his Foundation.

Discography

• Garth Brooks (April 12, 1989 | over 9 million copies)
• No Fences (August 27, 1990 | over 16 million copies)
• Call Me Claus (August 27, 1990 | for the made-for-TV movie of the same name)
• Ropin' The Wind (September 10, 1991 | over 14 million copies)
• Beyond the Season (August 25, 1992 | over 3 million copies)
• The Chase (September 22, 1992 | over 8 million copies)
• In Pieces (August 31, 1993 | over 8 million copies)
• The Garth Brooks Collection (September 2, 1994 | charity for Ronald McDonald House --$3 million made)
• The Hits (December 13, 1994 | over 10 million copies)
• Fresh Horses (November 21, 1995 | over 6 million copies)
• Sevens (November 25, 1997 | over 7 million copies)
• The Limited Series (May 5, 1998 | sales were "limited" at 2 million)
• Double Live (November 17, 1998 | over 16 million copies)
• The Magic of Christmas (November 23, 1999 | over 1 million copies)
• Garth Brooks In... The Life of Chris Gaines (September 28, 1999 | over 2 million copies)
• Scarecrow (November 13, 2001 | over 3 million copies)

Additional Achievements

• Garth Brooks holds the record as having the first seven country albums to debut at number one on both the Billboard Pop charts and country charts:
  • Ropin' the Wind
  • The Chase
  • In Pieces
  • Sevens
  • The Limited Series
  • Double Live
  • Scarecrow

• Capitol Records shipped 5 million copies of The Chase which, at the time, was the largest initial shipment in music history.
• Fresh Horses made history as the first album to have 8 out of 10 tracks on the country music singles charts at the same time.
• Follow-up Sevens broke his own record, with 12 out of 14 tracks on the singles charts.
• Every Rosemont Horizon (now Allstate Arena) record was broken by Garth when he sold over 140,000 concert tickets in 1997 alone.
• Garth Brooks was the first artist to debut a live album at number one on two charts (Double Live).
• Double Live is the best-selling live album of music history.
  • Double Live set the all-time record for first week sales 1,085,373 copies.
  • This was also the record for any one week sales period for any genre artist in history.
• Garth had the largest crowd to ever attend a concert in Central Park on August 7, 1997. It is estimated that over 1 million people showed for the live concert and 14.6 million saw it live on HBO.
• Garth had 3 albums at the top of the Billboard pop charts at the same time in 1998 (Sevens, The Limited Series, and Double Live). He was the first to do this since Elton John in 1975.

Awards

• 2 Grammy Awards (total of 6 nominations)
• 16 American Music Awards
• 11 Country Music Association Awards
• 18 Academy of Country Music Awards
• 5 World Music Awards
• 10 People's Choice Awards
• 24 Billboard Music Awards
• 2 ASCAP Awards
• 2 Blockbuster Awards
• American Music Awards, Artist of the Decade (1990s)
• Academy of Country Music Awards, Artist of the Decade (1990s)
• Recording Industry Association of America, Artist of the Century (1900s)
• 1 Radio Music Award
• 7 Primetime Emmy Award nominations (Outstanding in a Variety of Music Program)
• 1 Golden Globe nomination (Best Original Song)
• Songwriters Hall of Fame: 2002

Weblinks

• Official homepage at Capitol Records
• Inofficial homepage with lots of information, songtexts, pictures and news
• A lot of information and a detailed list with milestones and records