Brad Paisley Biography

Brad Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer and songwriter from Glen Dale, West Virginia.

Brad Paisley has stated that his love of country music stems from his maternal grandfather, who gave Paisley his first guitar at age 8 and taught him how to play. At age 12, Paisley wrote his first song, and by 13 he was the opening act for country singers such as Ricky Skaggs and George Jones.

Paisley graduated from John Marshall High School in Glendale, WV and enrolled at Belmont University (from 1993 to 1995). While in college, he met Frank Rogers, a fellow student who went on to serve as his producer. Paisley also met Kelley Lovelace, who became his songwriting partner.

After graduating from Belmont, Paisley signed a songwriting contract with EMI Music Publishing and he wrote David Kersh's top 5 hit, "Another You", as well as cuts by Tracy Byrd and David Ball. His debut as a singer was with the label Arista Nashville, with the song, "Who Needs Pictures" (released February 22, 1999). In May of that same year, he made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. Seven months later he had his first #1 hit with, "He Didn't Have To Be", which detailed the story of Lovelace and Lovelace's stepson.

In 2000, Paisley was exposed to his first national non-country music oriented audience when he appeared on the TLC (TV channel) special, "Route 66: Main Street America". This show featured Brad and band doing rare live and acoustic versions of Route 66 (song). The international and home video versions of this program end with a full, un-cut acoustic rendition of the piece, which was performed live on Rainbow Bridge in Riverton, KS.

Later in 2000 Paisley won the Country Music Association's (CMA) Horizon Award and the Academy of Country Music's best new male vocalist trophy. He received his first Grammy Award nomination a year later. On February 17, 2001, after forty appearances on the show, he was inducted into the Opry Hall of Fame.

In 2002, he won the CMA Music Video of the Year for "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin' Song)." Several celebrities made notable guest appearances in the video, including Little Jimmy Dickens, Kimberly Williams, Dan Patrick, and Jerry Springer.

Paisley began dating actress Kimberly Williams in 2001, who he'd had a crush on since watching the movie Father of the Bride which, ironically enough, had been the inspiration of his "Part II' song and album since it was the movie he'd seen with an ex-girlfriend causing Brad to go and watch the sequel in the hope she'd be there... and she wasn't! The two married on March 15, 2003. They live in Franklin, Tennessee with another home in Los Angeles.

On September 20, 2006, it was reported that Paisley and Williams were expecting their first child in February 2007. [1]