Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957)[6] is an American country singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. Active since 1980, he has recorded 14 albums and released 25 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. BillboardHot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man". Lovett has won four Grammy Awards, including Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Album.[7] His most recent album is 12th of June, released in 2022.
Lovett was born in Houston, Texas,[8][9][10] when his family lived in the nearby community of Klein. He is the son of William Pearce and Bernell Louise (née Klein) Lovett, a marketing executive and training specialist, respectively. He was raised in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.[11] Lovett attended Texas A&M University, where he received Bachelor of Arts degrees in both German and Journalism in 1980. In the early 1980s, Lovett often played solo acoustic sets at the small bars just off the A&M campus.
Career
Lovett began his music career as a singer-songwriter. By the early 1980s, Lovett had already distinguished himself in the burgeoning Texas folk acoustic scene. He had performed in the New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival in 1980 and 1982.[12] An American singer, Buffalo Wayne, whom he had met in 1978 during a college trip to Germany, invited Lovett to play with him at the 1983 Schueberfouer in Luxembourg. One of the events at the funfair was an American musical tent. The owner of that event was a fan of the Phoenix, Arizona, house band J. David Sloan and the Rogues.[13] He invited the Rogues for the event, and Lovett was encouraged by band members Ray Herndon and Matt Rollings to sit in with the group,[14] which did some of his songs. They opened his eyes to what his songs could sound like with proper backing; Lovett had never sung with a band before.[13] Sloan and band member Billy Williams offered Lovett a deal on studio time, first day free. In 1984 Lovett took them up on the offer. After several stays in Arizona over that summer he recorded 18 songs.[15] The demo tape of the first four songs led to his first record deal;[16] ten of those songs, recorded with the Rogues, became Lovett's self-titled debut album.[17] He made many longtime contacts in Arizona during that time. Several of the Rogue players, Herndon, Matt McKenzie, Rollings, and Williams, went on to play in his band. Williams produced or co-produced several of his albums from 1987 to 2007. Through them he met Francine Reed, who began recording with him in 1985 and toured with him for decades.[18][19] In 2022, reliving his Phoenix connection:
It led to a demo tape, an album and now, this rolling Thanksgiving tour...It's all because of running into this band in Luxembourg. That's a long way to get to Phoenix from Texas. It's a lot shorter if you just do I–10[15]
Lovett was given an award called an "Esky" for Surest Thing in Esquire's 2006 Esky Music Awards in the April issue. The magazine said of Lovett: "The secret of Lyle Lovett's endurance comes down to the three C's: class, charisma and consistency... In the studio and on stage with his giant orchestra, he's spent two decades gracefully matching genuine songcraft with A-list musicianship".
Lovett married actress Julia Roberts after meeting her on the set of The Player. Following a three-week romance, they eloped and married in June 1993 in Marion, Indiana. In March 1995, they divorced after less than two years of marriage. People magazine reported that the breakup was caused by career demands.[23] They remained friends afterwards.[24]
On March 28, 2002, Lovett was trapped by a bull against a fence on his uncle's farm in Klein, Texas, before being pulled to safety. He fully recovered after six months from a badly broken leg, and he began touring again in summer 2003.
Lovett was conferred an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Houston on May 15, 2010, at its general commencement ceremony.[25][26] His mother was in the audience as her son was presented with an honorary doctorate from the same university from which she had received her bachelor's degree in 1960.[27] His father was also a graduate of the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture of the University of Houston.[25]
In 2015, Lovett received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Texas A&M University.
61* (TV movie, 2001)— song performer "Nobody Knows Me"
All Over the Guy (2001)— song performer and composer "She Makes Me Feel Good" and "The Blues Walk"
Dr. T & the Women (2000)— Song performer and composer and also used a recording of "You've Been So Good Up to Now" (1992), "She's Already Made Up Her Mind" (1992), "Ain't It Something" (1994)
↑ "Lyle Lovett – Musician". Visit Houston. Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau. 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2013. I was born at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, TX.
↑ "Musician Recalls Early Connection to UH". University of Houston (University website). September 21, 2012. Archived from the original on November 6, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2013. I was born at Methodist [hospital] and never lived anywhere else but Houston.
↑ "[No title]". Houstorian (Facebook page). James Glassman. November 1, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2013. Mr. Lovett just DM'ed me that he was born in Methodist Hospital in the Medical Center.
George Harvey Strait Sr. is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is credited for pioneering the neotraditional country style in the 1980s, famed for his authentic cowboy image and roots-oriented sound at a time when the Nashville music industry was dominated by country pop crossover acts. Given his influence on the genre, Strait has been named the "King of Country Music" by writers and music critics. Strait currently holds the record for most number one songs on all charts by an artist, in any genre of music."
John Townes Van Zandt was an American singer-songwriter. He wrote numerous songs, such as "Pancho and Lefty", "For the Sake of the Song", "If I Needed You", "Snake Mountain Blues", "Our Mother the Mountain", "Waitin' Round to Die", and "To Live Is to Fly". His musical style has often been described as melancholic and features rich, poetic lyrics. During his early years, Van Zandt was respected for his guitar playing and fingerpicking ability.
The U.S. state of Texas has long been a center for musical innovation and is the birthplace of many notable musicians. Texans have pioneered developments in Tejano and Conjunto music, Rock 'n Roll, Western swing, jazz, punk rock, country, hip-hop, electronic music, gothic industrial music, religious music, mariachi, psychedelic rock, zydeco and the blues.
Nanci Caroline Griffith was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She appeared many times on the PBS music program Austin City Limits starting in 1985. In 1994 she won a Grammy Award for the album Other Voices, Other Rooms.
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Thomas James Tune is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won ten Tony Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Guy Charles Clark was an American folk and country singer-songwriter and luthier. He released more than 20 albums, and his songs have been recorded by other artists, including Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffett, Kathy Mattea, Lyle Lovett, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Nanci Griffith and Chris Stapleton. He won the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Folk Album: My Favorite Picture of You.
Robert Earl Keen is an American country singer-songwriter and entertainer. Debuting with 1984's No Kinda Dancer, the Houston native has recorded 20 full-length albums for both independent and major record labels. His songs have had cover versions recorded by many musicians, including George Strait, Joe Ely, Lyle Lovett, The Highwaymen and Nanci Griffith. Keen has toured extensively in the US and abroad throughout his career.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1996.
Noble Ray Price was an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone is regarded as among the best male voices of country music, and his innovations, such as propelling the country beat from 2/4 to 4/4, known as the "Ray Price beat", helped make country music more popular.
Delbert McClinton is an American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist.
Gary P. Nunn is an American country music singer-songwriter. He is best known for writing "London Homesick Blues", which was the theme song for Austin City Limits from 1977 to 2004. Nunn is also considered the father of the progressive country scene that started in Austin in the early 1970s.
Lyle Lovett is the 1986 debut album by American singer Lyle Lovett. By the mid-1980s, Lovett had already distinguished himself in the burgeoning Texas singer-songwriter scene. He had performed in the New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival in 1980 and returned to win in 1982. In 1984, he recorded a four-song demo with the help of the Phoenix band J. David Sloan and the Rogues and his music had begun to be distributed by the Fast Folk Musical Magazine
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band is Lyle Lovett's third album, released in 1989. Lovett won the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for the album.
David Roland Rodriguez was a folk music singer-songwriter, performer and poet.
Vince Bell is a Texas singer-songwriter who has appeared on the PBS television program Austin City Limits along with NPR broadcasts such as Mountain Stage, World Cafe and Morning Edition. His songs have been performed and recorded by Little Feat, Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith.
Francine Reed is an American blues singer, solo artist, and regular singing partner of Lyle Lovett since the 1980s and member of Lovett's Large Band. Reed has also recorded duets with Willie Nelson and Delbert McClinton and others.
R. W. Hampton is an American western music singer-songwriter, actor and playwright. Hampton has achieved both critical and commercial success, winning multiple awards from the Western Music Association and the Academy of Western Artists and four separate Wrangler Awards from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
Ray Herndon is an American country singer/songwriter and guitarist known mainly for playing with Lyle Lovett's Large Band and McBride & the Ride.
Billy Williams is an American producer, arranger, and guitarist. He is most known for his production work with Lyle Lovett, sharing a 1997 Best Country Album Grammy award with Lovett as producers of The Road To Ensenada.
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