Vince Gill

As one of country’s most accomplished singers, songwriters, and musicians, Vince Gill is truly regarded as a triple threat.

The Oklahoma native began his career as an instrumentalist, playing guitar and dobro, and making his first recordings with regional bluegrass bands while still in his teens. After a brief stint with Louisville, Kentucky’s influential Bluegrass Alliance, Vince moved to Los Angeles and found work with fiddler Byron Berline’s Sundance. Shifting to more popular musical styles, he became the lead singer of Pure Prairie League in 1979, and later worked in the Cherry Bombs, backing Rodney Crowell and Rosanne Cash.

Vince moved to Nashville in 1984 and landed his first recording contract. However, his early solo recordings found only intermittent commercial success, and the next five years mostly found him doing studio work—he was one of the late Conway Twitty’s favorite harmony vocalists—or touring with Emmylou Harris.

Gill finally broke through on his own in 1990 with “When I Call Your Name,” a song he co-wrote. The string of hits that followed—23 of his releases have reached the Top 10 to date, including five No. 1s—established his soulful tenor voice, sophisticated guitar playing and mixture of ballads and country-rockers as a regular presence on country radio.

Vince has won more Country Music Association Awards than any other artist in history, having claimed 18 since 1990. He also holds the record for the most Grammy Awards won by a male country artist, and in all, he has won more than 70 industry awards recognizing his work as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career record sales have exceeded 22 million.

In recent years, Gill has enjoyed a unique status as one of country music’s youngest “elder statesmen.” Renewing his interest in bluegrass, he hosted 2003’s PBS special, the All*Star Bluegrass Celebration, and has recorded as a harmony singer with up-and-coming bluegrass artists as well as country favorites and newcomers. He is an articulate advocate for the Grand Ole Opry, too, reminding young artists of the show’s cherished heritage and encouraging them to appear on its stage.

Married since 2000 to Christian-pop singer Amy Grant, Vince’s humanitarian efforts on behalf of countless charities have been recognized with the Minnie Pearl and Harmony Awards in 1993. He was named Tennessean of the Year by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, and, in 2001, Vince was honored with the Career Achievement Award at the TNN & CMT Country Weekly awards show.

In 2003, Gill released his Next Big Thing album and, appropriately, in 2004 he “took it to the people,” headlining the Grand Ole Opry American Road Show, with dates across the country.

Gill found himself among the most elite country music greats in 2007 when he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The following year Gill released, These Days, which includes four CDs containing forty-three new recordings of diverse musical stylings. His masterpiece earned him a Grammy for Best Country Album in 2008.