Paul Overstreet

Last updated

Paul Overstreet
Birth namePaul Lester Overstreet
Born (1955-03-17) March 17, 1955 (age 69)
Vancleave, Mississippi, U.S.
Origin Newton, Mississippi, U.S.
Genres Country, Christian
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar
Years active1982–present
Labels MTM
RCA Nashville
Scarlet Moon
Formerly of S-K-O
Website http://www.pauloverstreet.com

Paul Lester Overstreet (born March 17, 1955) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He began his singing career in 1982 with a self-titled album on RCA Records Nashville. From 1986 to 1987, he was a vocalist in the trio S-K-O (Schuyler, Knobloch & Overstreet), in which he had a number-one single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts with "Baby's Got a New Baby". After leaving S-K-O he resumed a solo career, charting a second number-one single alongside Paul Davis and Tanya Tucker on "I Won't Take Less Than Your Love". Between 1989 and 1992, he released the albums Sowin' Love , Heroes , and Love Is Strong . These albums include the number-one single "Daddy's Come Around" and nine other top-40 entries on the country music charts. Subsequent albums have been released independently on the Scarlet Moon label.

Contents

As a songwriter, Overstreet had his first major success in 1982 with "Same Ole Me" by George Jones featuring the Oak Ridge Boys. Overstreet has also written multiple singles for Randy Travis including "On the Other Hand", "Diggin' Up Bones", "Forever and Ever, Amen", and "Deeper Than the Holler". Other acts who have recorded Overstreet's songs include the Judds, Keith Whitley, and Blake Shelton. Two of Overstreet's sons, Chord and Nash, are also musicians.

Early life

Overstreet was born on March 17, 1955, in Vancleave, Mississippi, the son of Mary Lela (Havens) Hatten and William E. Overstreet, a minister, [1] [2] and was raised in Newton. [3] Prior to his solo success, he was one third of the trio S-K-O, in which he recorded one studio album before departing and being replaced with Craig Bickhardt. Overstreet's sons, Nash and Chord, are also musicians. Nash is the lead guitarist for the pop band Hot Chelle Rae, while Chord played Sam Evans on Glee and signed with Island Records in 2016.

Career

Songwriter

During his songwriting career, primarily in the country genre, Overstreet has written or co-written 27 Top Ten songs. During this time, he has won two Grammy Awards and also won ACM and CMA Song of the Year Awards (1987 and 1988). Overstreet was named the BMI Songwriter of the Year five straight years, from 1987 to 1991, an achievement on music row that has not been achieved before or since. He co-wrote "A Long Line of Love", "Love Can Build a Bridge", and "Forever and Ever, Amen". Other well-known hits of recent years he is known for are "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" by Kenny Chesney and "Some Beach" by Blake Shelton, which was a Number One hit in 2004. [4]

Overstreet is best known for writing country songs such as "Forever and Ever, Amen" [5] and "On the Other Hand", both of which were Number Ones for Randy Travis. He also co-wrote "When You Say Nothing at All" which was a Number One hit at the end of 1988 for Keith Whitley, and later a Top Five hit in 1995 for Alison Krauss, and revived later in 1999 by Ronan Keating of Boyzone. He is also known for writing the worship song God Is Good All The Time with Don Moen, which has become one of Moen's signature songs.

Singer

Overstreet was first signed as a singer in 1982. His debut single, "Beautiful Baby", peaked at No. 76 on the country charts that year, and was the first single from his self-titled debut album. After co-writing Tanya Tucker's 1987 single "I Won't Take Less Than Your Love" with Don Schlitz, Overstreet and fellow singer-songwriter Paul Davis became guest vocalists on the song, which became a Number One hit that year.

Also in 1987, Overstreet founded the trio S-K-O (also known as Schuyler, Knobloch & Overstreet) with Thom Schuyler and J. Fred Knobloch, both former solo singers. S-K-O charted three singles with Overstreet as a member, including the Number One "Baby's Got a New Baby". After one album the trio was renamed S-K-B when Overstreet left and was replaced by Craig Bickhardt.

In 1988, Overstreet signed to RCA Nashville as a solo artist. His second solo album, Sowin' Love , accounted for five straight Top 10 hits on the country charts: "Love Helps Those", the title track, "All the Fun", "Seein' My Father in Me" and "Richest Man on Earth." His second album, 1990's Heroes , produced his only solo Number One in its lead-off single "Daddy's Come Around", which was followed by the Top Tens "Heroes" and "Ball and Chain". However, his chart success soon waned, with "If I Could Bottle This Up" peaking at No. 30 and "Billy Can't Read" falling short of Top 40. A third RCA album, Love Is Strong , produced the No. 22 "Me and My Baby" and two more singles which missed the Top 40. Also, the song "There But for the Grace of God Go I" won a Dove Award for Country Recorded Song of the Year at the 24th GMA Dove Awards in 1993. Three years later, Overstreet released his first album for Scarlet Moon Records, Time. It produced his last single to enter the country charts, "We've Got to Keep on Meeting Like This," which peaked at No. 73.

In 2013, Overstreet starred in a TV pilot titled Nashville Unplugged Live [6] taped in Las Vegas and produced and directed by Michael A. Bloom. [7] Also starring with Overstreet was songwriter Danny Myrick.

Discography

Studio albums

Songwriting

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randy Travis</span> American country and gospel singer (born 1959)

Randy Bruce Traywick, known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country music and gospel music singer and songwriter, as well as a film and television actor. Active since 1979, he has recorded over 20 studio albums and charted over 50 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including sixteen that reached the number-one position.

Harlan Perry Howard was an American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard is credited with writing more than 4,000 songs, over 100 of which reached country music's Top 10.

This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1990.

This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1987.

<i>Everybody Knows</i> (Trisha Yearwood album) 1996 studio album by Trisha Yearwood

Everybody Knows is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Trisha Yearwood, containing country pop-styled ballads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forever and Ever, Amen</span> 1987 single by Randy Travis

"Forever and Ever, Amen" is a song written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz, and recorded by American country music artist Randy Travis. It was released in March 1987 as the first single from the album Always & Forever and became Travis's third No. 1 single on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles charts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Schlitz</span> American country singer-songwriter

Donald Allen Schlitz Jr. is an American songwriter who has written more than twenty number one hits on the country music charts. He is best known for his song "The Gambler", and as the co-writer of "Forever and Ever, Amen", and "When You Say Nothing at All". For his songwriting efforts, Schlitz has earned two Grammy Awards, and four ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buy Me a Rose</span>

"Buy Me a Rose" is a song written by Jim Funk and Erik Hickenlooper, and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in October 1999 as the third single from his album She Rides Wild Horses and peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts in May 2000. The song made Rogers the oldest country singer to have a number one hit until Willie Nelson beat the record through a duet with Toby Keith on his 2003 single "Beer for My Horses". "Buy Me a Rose" was Rogers' first number one hit since 1987's "Make No Mistake, She's Mine" and his final charting top 40 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart since 1984's "What About Me?".

Sanger D. Shafer, better known as Whitey Shafer, was an American country songwriter and musician. He wrote numerous hits for stars such as George Jones, Lefty Frizzell, and George Strait. He was also a recording artist. His highest single "You Are a Liar", under the name Whitey Shafer, reached No. 48 on the Billboard country chart, in 1981.

James Frederick Knobloch, known as J. Fred Knobloch or Fred Knoblock, is an American country singer-songwriter.

Thomas James Schuyler is an American songwriter. Schuyler wrote songs recorded by more than 200 various artists including "16th Avenue" for Lacy J. Dalton, "Love Will Turn You Around" for Kenny Rogers, and "A Long Line of Love" for Michael Martin Murphey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rory Feek</span> American singer-songwriter

Rory Lee Feek is an American country music singer and songwriter. In his career, he has written singles for Clay Walker, Blake Shelton, Tracy Byrd and other artists. He and his wife, Joey Feek, formed the duo Joey + Rory and was placed third on the first season of the CMT talent show Can You Duet. He also established Giantslayer Records for launching of new independent artists.

<i>I Told You So: The Ultimate Hits of Randy Travis</i> 2009 greatest hits album by Randy Travis

I Told You So: The Ultimate Hits of Randy Travis is a compilation album released by country music artist Randy Travis in 2009. It consists of 32 songs overall in a two disc set. Two of the songs were never before released on albums. Travis' numerous number-one hits including "I Told You So", Deeper Than the Holler", "Forever and Ever, Amen" and "Three Wooden Crosses" are included on the album along with duets with country legends Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Travis' cover of Roger Miller's "King of the Road" is also included along with two tracks from his previous studio album Around the Bend.

S-K-O, originally known as Schuyler, Knobloch and Overstreet, was an American country music vocal group consisting of Thom Schuyler, J. Fred Knobloch, and Paul Overstreet. The original line-up recorded one album for MTM Records and charted three country hits, including the number one "Baby's Got a New Baby". After Overstreet departed in 1987 for a solo career, he was replaced with Craig Bickhardt, and the group was renamed Schuyler, Knobloch, and Bickhardt, or S-K-B for short. The renamed group released one album and four singles before disbanding in 1989.

Craig William Bickhardt is an American country music singer and songwriter. His musical career includes co-writing credits for The Judds, Steve Wariner, Kathy Mattea and others. He was also a member of S-K-B, formerly S-K-O, after Paul Overstreet exited the band. He has released three studio albums of his own.

"Baby's Got a New Baby" is a song written by J. Fred Knobloch and Dan Tyler, and recorded by American country music group S-K-O. It was released in December 1986 as the second single from the album Schuyler, Knobloch & Overstreet. The song was S-K-O's second country hit and the group's only number one on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent a total of fourteen weeks within the top 40.

"Love Helps Those" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Paul Overstreet. It was released in August 1988 as the first single from his album Sowin' Love. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in December 1988.

"Somebody's Doin' Me Right" is a song written by J. Fred Knobloch, Paul Overstreet and Dan Tyler, and recorded by American country music artist Keith Whitley. It was posthumously released in January 1992 as the second single from his album, Kentucky Bluebird, and reached No. 15 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.

"You Can't Stop Love" is a debut song recorded by American country music group Schuyler, Knobloch & Overstreet. It released in July 1986 as the first single from the album Schuyler, Knobloch & Overstreet. The song reached #9 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. The song was written by group members Thom Schuyler and Paul Overstreet.

American singer-songwriter Paul Overstreet has released thirteen studio albums and eighteen singles. Overstreet made his debut in 1982 with the single "Beautiful Baby" from an unsuccessful solo debut album for RCA Records Nashville. After this, he joined the trio S-K-O, which recorded for MTM Records and had a number-one single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts with "Baby's Got a New Baby".

References

  1. ↑ "William Overstreet Obituary – Vancleave, MS". Mississippi Press.
  2. ↑ "Mary Hatten Obituary - Ocean Springs, MS | The Sun Herald". Legacy.com. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  3. ↑ Paul Overstreet biodata, Google Books. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  4. ↑ Morris, Edward (February 23, 2005). "Paul Overstreet, Rory Lee Feek Bask on "Some Beach"". CMT. Archived from the original on September 11, 2009. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  5. ↑ Overstreet, Paul; Jeanne Halsey (2001). Forever and Ever Amen . Shippensburg: Destiny Image Publishers. ISBN   0-7684-2120-9.
  6. ↑ "Nashville Unplugged (TV Movie 2016)". IMDb.com.
  7. ↑ "Michael Bloom". IMDb.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.