Country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor- Tim McGraw flaunts many jewels in his crown. A three-time Grammy winner, he has sold more than 40 million albums. Out of his 16 studio albums, 10 dominated the number one spot in the list of Top Country Albums. And how can one forget his breakthrough album, Not a Moment Too Soon? It was the top country album of the year 1994.
Words could never describe the virtuosity of his work. If you are a big fan of Tim McGraw, here is everything you should know about him.
Tim McGraw: The Country Music Superstar
Samuel Timothy McGraw, more popularly known as Tim McGraw, was born on May 1, 1967. As mentioned, he is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has worked extensively across the music and entertainment industry and received accolades.
11 of his albums have debuted at the No.1 position on the Billboard country album chart, and he has produced 21 hit No.1 singles on the Bill Board Hot Country 100 charts. He has produced 65 singles, out of which 25 have reached the number-one spot on the Hot Country Songs of Country Airplay charts. As per Billboard Year-End, three of his singles have been named the top country songs in the year 1997 (It’s Your Love), 1998 (Just to See Your Smile), and 2004 (Live Like You Were).
In addition, he received Grammy Awards in 2001 and 2006 with his wife Faith Hill for “Let’s Make Love” and “Like We Never Loved At All”. In total, he has won 3 Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music Awards, 10 American Music Awards, 11 Country Music Association Awards, and 3 People’s Choice Awards.
Furthermore, his music tours never fail to astound his fans. His Soul2Soul II Tour with his wife is one of the highest-grossing tours in the history of country music. With 80 million records sold worldwide, he is the best-selling music artist of all time.
Apart from music, Tim has also worked as an actor. He acted in 8 movies from 2004 to 2011.
His Early Life
Tim was born to Elizabeth “Betty” Ann D’Agostino and Frank Edwin McGraw Jr. His mother was a waitress from Jacksonville, Florida, and his father, Tug McGraw, was a pitcher for the minor league Jacksonville Suns and a star pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets.
Talking about ancestry, he is of mixed descent. His mother has Irish and Italian lineage, while his father has English, Czech, Scottish, Swiss, German, and Dutch lineage. Furthermore, Tim has two half-brothers named Matthew and Mark and a half-sister, Cari through his father. In addition, he has two half-sisters named Sandra and Tracey through his mother.
His mother became pregnant with him when she was a teen. She shared the same apartment building as Tug McGraw. Her parents sent her to their relatives in Louisiana. Later, she married Horace Smith.
Tim grew up with Smith and thought him to be his father. He learned about his biological father while searching for his birth certificate for a school project. He wanted to meet his biological father, and Betty arranged their first meeting.
However, Tug denied being his father until he was 18. Later, they came closer and inculcated an amicable relationship until Tug died in 2004.
Although Tim did not know about his father’s professional baseball career as a kid, he would play baseball along with other competitive sports. He was a member of FFA in his high school and even got a baseball scholarship. With this scholarship, he got admission to Northeast Louisiana University. He was also a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. His baseball career only came to halt when he sustained a knee injury while playing for his college.
While he was in college, Tim learned to play guitar. He would often perform for money. In 1987, he moved to Jacksonville, Florida, and attended Florida Community College at Jacksonville for a term. In 1989, exactly on the day Keith Whitley died (his hero), he moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music.
His Personal Life
Tim married Faith Hill, also a country singer, in 1996. The couple has three daughters together, Gracie Katherine McGraw (born on May 5, 1997), Maggie McGraw (born on August 12, 1998), and Audrey Caroline McGraw (born on December 6, 2001).
Tim is quite active on social media. He has around 3.3M followers on Instagram and 3M followers on Twitter. Here are the links to his social media profiles.
https://www.instagram.com/thetimmcgraw/?hl=en
His Career in Music
1990 was the year when Tim grabbed the attention of Curb Records. He cut a demo and handed it to his father. A man (friends with Curb Records Executives) driving with Tug one day heard the song and recommended it to Curb. Within a few weeks, Tim received the opportunity to play the song for Curb Executives, and the rest is history.
On March 29, 1991, Curb released his debut single, “What Room Was the Holiday In”. However, it failed to enter the Billboard Hot Country Songs. In 1993, he released Tim McGraw, his debut album, but it did not fare well. He released three singles from the album- “Welcome to the Club”, “Memory Lane”, and “Two Stepping’ Minds”.
Tim tasted success with his second album, “Not a Moment Too Soon”. It became the best-selling country album of the year 1994. The first single, “Indian Outlaw” sparked a controversy, which helped in sales, and this single became an instant hit. It was his ticket for entry into the list of Top 10 country charts in the U.S. It also made it to number 15th position on the Billboard Hot 100.
The second single of the album, “Don’t Take the Girl” became No.1 on the U.S. country charts. Other singles of the album also made it to the list of best country music. This album made him a household name, and he received many awards for the same.
In 1995, came the third album and took the world by storm, just like its predecessors. It debuted at the No.1 position on the country charts and sold millions of copies. His fourth album, “Everywhere” and fifth album, “A Place in the Sun” broke many records and dominated the charts for a long time.
In 2000 came his first Greatest Hits album, which topped the charts for 9 weeks. All the other albums released by Tim were received with open arms.
Apart from albums, his tours also became popular. Throughout his career, Tim did many tours and received lots of love from his audience.
His Work as a Producer
As mentioned, Tim McGraw has also been a record producer. He has co-produced all his albums with Byron Gallimore. Furthermore, the duo has co-produced Jo Dee Messina’s debut along with “I’m Alright” and “Burn” (the following two albums). Moreover, they have produced the albums by The Clark Family Experience (2000) and Halfway to Hazard (2007).
His Work in Movies
Apart from having a wonderful career in music, Tim also tried his hands at acting. He has had a long acting career that began in 1997.
His first stint was an episode of “The Jeff Foxworthy Show”, where he essayed the role of Foxworthy’s opponent. He was seen in “Black Cloud” and received love from his fans and critics alike for “Friday Night Lights”.
In 2006, Tim received his first lead role in the movie “Flicka”, adapted from the classic book, “My Friend Flicka”. The movie was a box-office hit, and Tim gathered lots of appreciation from critics. Moreover, Tim was also the executive producer of the soundtrack album and received acclaim for the same.
Furthermore, the very next year, Tim appeared in The Kingdom. He played a widower. He appeared on “Saturday Night Live” on November 22, 2008, and essayed Dallas McVie in “Four Christmases.” It was followed by “The Blind Side” in 2009, where he played Sean Tuohy opposite Sandra Bullock (Leigh Anne Tuohy).
His film, Dirty Girl, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 12, 2010. In addition, in the same year, he also appeared in Country Strong, where he played James Canter. In 2015, he played Eddie Newton, a NASA engineer in Tomorrowland by Brad Bird.
His latest appearance is 1883, a spinoff prequel of the Yellowstone television series.
His Charitable Work
Tim is actively involved in charitable work. He founded the annual Swampstock event, hosted New Year’s Eve concert from 1996 to 1999 in Nashville, and managed to raise more than $100,000 for the Country Music Foundation Hall of Fame and Museum in 1997.
For MusiCares, Tim designed a charity T-shirt. His foundation, The Tim McGraw Foundation, helps children and adults dealing with health issues. Furthermore, he also supports several organizations that focus on health issues and helps people in need.
He offered extensive help to groups taking supplies to Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina. His Neighbor’s Keeper Foundation provides funding for charities. Moreover, he is an American Red Cross National Celebrity Cabinet member.
Trivia
If you cannot get over Tim and want to know every little detail about him, here are some interesting facts about the best country musician of all time.
- Tim is 5’ 10” (1.78 m) tall.
- Tim and his wife own a private island, Goat Cay, which they fondly call L’île d’Anges in the Bahamas.
- In 2000, Tim and Kenny Chesney got into trouble for having a scuffle with police officers. They were arrested and charged but were acquitted in the year 2001.
- He has a private pilot license and a single-engine Cirrus SR22.
- Owing to his Italian heritage, he was honored by the NIAF (National Italian American Foundation) in 2004. He received the NIAF Special Achievement Award in Music during the 29th Anniversary Gala.
- He is the godfather to Emma Robert and Garret Hedlund’s son.
- As quoted by Forbes in 2007, Tim’s annual income was $37 million. In 2015, Forbes estimated his income at $38 million.
- He paid a tribute to his father through his song, “Live Like You Were Dying”. Moreover, his song won Song of the Year and Single of the Year at the CMA Awards in 2004.
- He also has a song about his wife, Faith Hill, “She’s My Kind of Rain”.
- One of his paternal great-grandmothers, Marie Suchanek was a Czech immigrant, and his maternal grandfather had Italian ancestry. Apart from this, he has Irish, Scots-Irish (Northern Irish), Scottish, English, German, Dutch, French Huguenot
- On October 17, 2006, he got a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6901 Hollywood Boulevard.
- In June 2004, he was inducted into the Italian- American Hall of Fame.
- In a 2006 interview, he expressed his desire to run for public office as a Democratic Party candidate.