Garth Brooks

Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country singer and songwriter. His musical style blends traditional country with pop and rock elements, which has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, with success on the country music single and album charts, multi-platinum recordings and record-breaking live performances, while also crossing over into the mainstream pop arena.

Brooks is the only artist in music history to have released nine albums that were certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (surpassing The Beatles' former record of six); those albums are Garth Brooks (diamond), No Fences (17× platinum), Ropin' the Wind (14× platinum), The Chase (diamond), In Pieces (diamond), The Hits (diamond), Sevens (diamond), Double Live (21× platinum), and The Ultimate Hits (diamond).

Since 1989, Brooks has released 37 records in all, which include 14 studio albums, two live albums, four compilation albums, three Christmas albums and 13 box sets, along with 63 singles. He has won several awards in his career, including two Grammy Awards, 17 American Music Awards (including "Artist of the '90s") and the RIAA Award for best-selling solo albums artist of the century in the U.S. Troubled by conflicts between career and family, Brooks retired from recording and performing from 2001 until 2005.

During this time, he sold millions of albums through an exclusive distribution deal with Walmart and sporadically released new singles.