Clint Black

It’s hard to imagine a stronger move out of the gate than the one Clint Black enjoyed. Clint emerged at the end of the 1980s as one of a number of “hat acts”—tall, usually handsome singers of songs rooted in honky-tonk but buffed with a contemporary sheen—but he quickly pulled away from the pack with his debut, Killin’ Time. The album’s very first single, “A Better Man,” went to No. 1, and was followed by three consecutive chart-toppers. The album itself went triple platinum. Its success led to the CMA Horizon Award and the ACM Male Vocalist, Single of the Year and Album of the Year Awards in 1989 for Clint, and CMA Male Vocalist honors in 1990.

Not a bad start, although Clint wasn’t exactly an overnight sensation. The Texas-raised singer had put in almost a decade prior to his breakout, playing the club circuit in and around his hometown of Houston and writing songs, drawing not only on the country music that his father had played when he was a kid, but also on the pop and rock music of the ’70s with which he and his friends had grown up. Killin’ Time was traditional-sounding country through and through, but Clint would incorporate those pop and rock influences into every album that followed.

Since then, Clint has enjoyed enviable success. Several albums—Put Yourself in My Shoes, The Hard Way, No Time To Kill, and Nothin’ but the Taillights—have been million sellers. He’s scored 30 Top 10 hits, among them “Like the Rain,” “Summer’s Comin’,” “A Good Run of Bad Luck,” “The Shoes You’re Wearing,” and “When I Said I Do,” an award-winning duet with his wife, actress Lisa Hartman Black, whom he married in 1991. He has written or co-written most of the material on his records. He’s had a hand in producing all of them, too, and sat in the producer’s chair for Buddy Jewell’s self-titled release in 2003.

Clint’s also dabbled in his wife’s trade. He had small parts in the films Maverick and Anger Management, and larger roles in the television film Still Holding On: The Jack Favor Story and in 1999’s Going Home. His humanitarian efforts were recognized in 2000 when the Country Radio Broadcasters presented Clint with its Humanitarian of the Year Award.

In 1999, he released his eclectic and adventurous D’Lectrified album. Clint donned yet another hat when he became a partner in (as well as flagship artist for) Equity Records. His first record for the venture, Spend My Time, came out in 2004.