Tracy Lawrence
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Tracy Lawrence |
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Tracy Lawrence (born 27 January 1968) is an American country singer-songwriter.
Biography
Tracy Lawrence was born in Atlanta, Texas and raised in Foreman, Arkansas. Lawrence played in his first band at the age of 16. He attended Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, where he was a member of Sigma Pi Fraternity. In 1990 Lawrence left Arkansas and went to Nashville, Tennessee.
Lawrence took jobs as an ironworker and in phone sales while he tried to break into the Nashville music scene. He began participating in talent shows and earned enough money to live on. In 1991 he had a gig at the Bluebird Cafe and met Wayne Edwards who became his manager.
With Edwards assistance Lawrence signed with Atlantic Records and released his first album Sticks and Stones. On 31 May 1991 Lawrence walked his former girlfriend to the door of her hotel room and was confronted by three armed men. The men robbed them and attempted to force Lawrence and his friend into her motel room. Lawrence resisted and was shot four times, allowing his friend to escape. Two of the wounds were major and necessitated surgery. One of the bullets remains embedded in Lawrence's pelvis.
Lawrence's album shot up the charts to number one on the back of publicity from the shooting and spawned several Top 10 singles. Lawrence's second album Alibis went Platinum and generated three straight Number One singles.
Lawrence was Billboard's Top New Male Vocalist in 1992 and received the Academy of Country Music's Best New Artist and Top New Male Vocalist in 1993.
In 1994 Lawrence released his third album, I See It Now was also a Platinum album. Lawrence released a Live album in 1995 and another studio album entitled Time Marches On in 1996. In 1997 Lawrence released another album entitled Coast is Clear which he co-produced. Tracy also sang harmony on Trace Adkins' 1997 single, "Every Light in the House Is On".
In March 1997, Lawrence married a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. But by September, they'd separated, and by December she'd filed charges against him in Nevada for allegedly throwing her into a wall, punching and threatening to kill her. Lawrence, who admitted to shoving his wife, was eventually convicted of misdemeanor battery and suspended by his record label until he got "his personal matters straight." He was ordered to pay a $500 fine to a women's shelter in Las Vegas.[1]
Then & Now
Tracy's first greatest-hits album, called "Then & Now: The Hits Collection", was released in 2005. The album featured re-recordings of many of Lawrence's Top 5 hits, as well as two new songs, "Used to the Pain" and "If I Don't Make it Back", both of which were minor hits. New re-recordings of the older songs were featured because Lawrence had switched record labels, and the label for whom he was recording did not hold the rights to the old recordings.
Today
In 2006, Tracy started his own record label, Rocky Comfort Records. A partnership with his manager and brother Laney Lawrence, Rocky Comfort operates as a joint venture with CO5 Nashville. Tracy's current single, "Find Out Who Your Friends Are", was released to radio on August 21, 2006. For the Love, the first album on the label, was released in January 2007; the album is Lawrence's first album of all-new material in almost three years. Two versions of "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" were recorded on the album: a solo version, and a remix with Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney as guest vocalists. Some radio stations play the remixed version instead of the solo version.
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | Label | U.S. Top Country Albums | U.S. Billboard 200 |
| 1991 | Sticks and Stones | Atlantic Records | 10 | |
| 1993 | Alibis | 5 | 25 | |
| 1994 | I See It Now | 3 | 28 | |
| 1995 | Tracy Lawrence Live and Unplugged | 24 | 151 | |
| 1996 | Time Marches On | 4 | 25 | |
| 1997 | Coast Is Clear | 4 | 45 | |
| 1998 | The Best of Tracy Lawrence | 13 | 92 | |
| 2000 | Lessons Learned | 9 | 69 | |
| 2001 | Tracy Lawrence | Warner Bros. Records | 13 | 136 |
| 2004 | Strong | DreamWorks Records | 2 | 17 |
| 2005 | Country Classics: Tracy Lawrence | Flashback Records | ||
| 2005 | Then & Now: The Hits Collection | Mercury Nashville Records | 8 | 35 |
| 2007 | For the LoveA | Rocky Comfort Records/CO5 | 6 | 53 |
ACurrent album; has also reached #3 on Top Independent Albums.
Singles
| Year | Title | US Hot 100 | US Country | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | "Sticks and Stones" | 1 | Sticks And Stones | |
| 1992 | "Today's Lonely Fool"A | 3 | Sticks And Stones | |
| 1992 | "Runnin' Behind" | 4 | Sticks And Stones | |
| 1993 | "Somebody Paints the Wall" | 8 | Sticks And Stones | |
| 1993 | "Alibis" | 72 | 1 | Alibis |
| 1993 | "Can't Break It to My Heart" | 1 | Alibis | |
| 1993 | "My Second Home" | 1 | Alibis | |
| 1994 | "If the Good Die Young" | 1 | Alibis | |
| 1994 | "Renegades, Rebels, and Rogues" | 7 | Maverick (soundtrack) | |
| 1994 | "I See It Now" | 84 | 2 | I See It Now |
| 1995 | "As Any Fool Can See" | 2 | I See It Now | |
| 1995 | "Texas Tornado" | 1 | I See It Now | |
| 1995 | "If The World Had a Front Porch" | 2 | I See It Now | |
| 1996 | "If You Loved Me" | 4 | Time Marches On | |
| 1996 | "Time Marches On" | 1 | Time Marches On | |
| 1996 | "Stars Over Texas"A | 2 | Time Marches On | |
| 1997 | "Is That a Tear"A | 2 | Time Marches On | |
| 1997 | "Better Man, Better Off" | 2 | Coast Is Clear | |
| 1997 | "How a Cowgirl Says Goodbye" | 4 | Coast Is Clear | |
| 1997 | "The Coast Is Clear" | 26 | Coast Is Clear | |
| 1998 | "While You Sleep" | 46 | Coast Is Clear | |
| 2000 | "Lessons Learned" | 40 | 3 | Lessons Learned |
| 2000 | "Lonely" | 18 | Lessons Learned | |
| 2001 | "Unforgiven" | 35 | Lessons Learned | |
| 2001 | "Life Don't Have to Be So Hard" | 36 | Tracy Lawrence | |
| 2002 | "What a Memory" | 53 | Tracy Lawrence | |
| 2004 | "Paint Me a Birmingham" | 42 | 4 | Strong |
| 2004 | "It's All How You Look At It" | 36 | Strong | |
| 2004 | "Sawdust On Her Halo" | 46 | Strong | |
| 2005 | "Used to the Pain" | 35 | Then & Now: The Hits Collection | |
| 2006 | "If I Don't Make It Back" | 42 | Then & Now: The Hits Collection | |
| 2006 | "Find Out Who Your Friends Are"B | 63 | 6 | For The Love |
- AReached #1 on Radio & Records.
- BCurrent single.
External links
- Tracy Lawrence on MySpace
- Tracy Lawrence Official Website
- Tracy Lawrence – For The Love
- "AGR Television Records" Tracy Lawrence's international record label
Adapted from the article Tracy Lawrence, from Wikinfo, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.