You will be hard-pressed to find a country music fan that doesn’t know the name Blake Shelton, and with good reason. His 11th studio album “Bringing Back the Sunshine” has broken so many records for this year that it’s hard to keep track. It was released in September and within the first week it sold 101,000 copies. Alongside his longtime friend and producer, Scott Hendricks, the album features a vocal power not yet heard from Blake. The combination of songs is a great balance between sentimentality, nostalgia, romance and some fun. At the age of 35 he still has many records to break in terms of sales, but it seems he prefers to do this sooner rather than later.
Recently Blake appeared on “60 Seconds” where he spoke to Norah O’ Donnell about his success, life and everything that goes with it. Answering questions about the album which debuted at No.1, Blake conveyed to O’ Donnell that the popularity of the music is largely based on how people relate to it. This is the bond between the artist and those who listen. More importantly, they want to relate to the artist and when he’s at home he does all the normal things other people. This is also where is inspiration comes from.
http://youtu.be/ZyxOwm76T80
When Blake isn’t making music he loves to fish, hunt, farm and drive back roads. He was raised in Oklahoma and for the most part he lived with his dad. Blake is the youngest of 3 siblings, but unfortunately he lost his older brother and hero, Richie, in a car accident. Blake was 14 at the time. When he was 17 he moved to Nashville in hopes of making a career out of music and this dream only materialized 8 years later with the release of the album “Austin”.
Earlier this month Blake accepted the CMA’s “Male Vocalist of the Year Award” for the fifth consecutive time. The only other person with this accomplishment is Vince Gill. To top off the festivities he performed the second single off the new album, “Lonely Tonight”, for the first time alongside Ashley Monroe. Ashley features on the album and the music video.
http://youtu.be/GhU7iP3cQLc
As for breaking records, Blake is officially the first country star to top the Billboard Artist 100 chart. As if that isn’t great enough, the first single off the album, “Neon Light”, became his 13th consecutive No. 1 release, which is a first for the Billboard Country Chart. Blake has already been nominated for several “People’s Choice” awards next year and he has received a nomination for “Favorite Country Male Artist” for the “American Music Awards”.
Currently Blake has been quite busy with the ever popular reality show “The Voice”. This isn’t something that is new to him, seeing as he was a judge on “Nashville Star” and “Clash of the Choirs”. “The Voice” is now in its 7th season and in support of the top ten finalists he and Adam Levine (co-coach) stood by as they performed at the “CityWalk Christmas Tree Lighting” following the red carpet event for the show. Out of the previous 6 seasons, contestants with Blake as a coach have won 3. In March next year he’ll be on the road again, starting with the “Runaway Country Festival” in Melbourne, Florida, and moving on to Florence, Arizona, for the “Country Thunder Music Festival” in April.
