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With a musical career that spans twelve albums and a greatest hits package, John Michael Montgomery’s overwhelming contribution to the country music format includes hits such as “I Swear,” “Be My Baby Tonight,” “I Can Love You Like That,” “Sold (the Grundy County Auction Incident)” and “Life’s A Dance,” among many others. He’s earned 15 number one singles, sold over 10 million albums and received numerous industry and fan-voted awards, three CMA Awards, five ACM Awards and an American Music Award.
In November 2007, John Michael launched his own label, Stringtown Records, taking on the role of Chief Executive Officer. He’ll release his tenth studio album, Time Flies, in 2008, which he’s producing with Byron Gallimore. The album’s first single – the introspective ballad “If You Ever Went Away” - marks John Michael’s first return to the airwaves since “Letters From Home,” (2004) reached #2 on Billboard’s Country Singles chart.
Born Jan. 20, 1965, in Danville, Ky., John Michael Montgomery arrived on the country music scene in 1993 with a debut album, Life's a Dance, which became the only million-seller on the country charts by a new artist that year. Its title track was a No. 4 hit single and was followed by his first country #1 single, "I Love the Way You Love Me." The follow-up, Kickin' It Up, hit the top spot on both the country and adult contemporary charts and produced four more successful singles, the chart-topping "I Swear," "Be My Baby Tonight," "If You Got Love" and the No. 4 single "Rope the Moon."
John Michael and his older brother, Eddie Montgomery of Montgomery Gentry, received musical encouragement from their father, who performed in a local country band and taught his son his first chords. He joined the family band as guitarist before taking the lead singing role when his parents divorced. Afterwards, he made a frugal living on the local honky-tonk scene as a solo artist playing what he referred to as "working man's country." Eventually, Atlantic Records signed him, and he became part of the ‘90s wave of honky tonk hitmakers that brought country to new commercial heights.
John Michael made his name primarily as a romantic balladeer showing an undeniable knack for finding hit songs and giving them just the right emotion or energy they need. This strong track record has consistently kept him at the top of the radio charts.
"I've been singing since I was a kid,” he says. “And I've been very fortunate to have a lot of peaks and valleys in my career; seeing a lot of changes since 1992. The main thing I've learned is to just be myself, to treat people kindly, and if you give radio a good song, they'll play it. I know how lucky it is to be successful in this business, and I've always tried to let the fans, the deejays and the people I work with how much I appreciate them."
