Kenny Chesney Biography

Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968, in Knoxville, Tennessee), raised in Luttrell, Tennessee is an American country music singer. He became known through such songs as No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems and When The Sun Goes Down.

Chesney attended Gibbs High School in Corryton (Knox County), Tennessee, and in 1990, graduated with a marketing degree from East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. While at ETSU Chesney joined the Lambda Chi Alpha International Fraternity, and is a notable alumnus.

Chesney started his music career playing tunes for tips at local places like Chuckie's Trading Post and Quarterback's, and recorded his first album in 1991 at Classic Recording Studio in Bristol, Virginia. A thousand copies were made, and Chesney sold them at his busking gigs. The album sales helped in buying a new Martin guitar. After he graduated from college, he headed to Nashville, where he performed everywhere he could, including busking on Music Row at a place called HounDogs. He also did regular gigs at a joint called Turf. After making the rounds of the music publishers in Nashville, Chesney got a contract in 1992 with BMI.

His first major hit was "Fall in Love," which reached the Country Top 10 in 1995. The follow-up, "All I Need to Know," also reached the Top 10, but ensuing follow-ups were not so successful.

In 1996, he scored the top-five hit, "Me and You," and returned again with "When I Close My Eyes" in early 1997. He hit No. 1 for the first time with "She's Got It All" in August 1997; the song spent three weeks atop Billboard magazine's country singles chart.

Other No. 1 hits included "How Forever Feels" (six weeks in 1999); "The Good Stuff" (seven weeks in 2002); "There Goes My Life" (seven weeks in 2003); and "When the Sun Goes Down" (a duet with Uncle Kracker in 2004). Notable No. 2s include "That's Why I'm Here" (1998), "Young" (2002), "Big Star" (2003), "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem" (2003) and "The Woman With You" (2004).

While some of Chesney's music shows the obvious influence of John Mellencamp and Jimmy Buffett (a point critics are quick to note), he often performs several traditional country songs at his shows (particularly, music from George Jones). He won the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year honor in 2004.

In January 2005, Chesney released the album Be As You Are: Songs from an Old Blue Chair, supporting the album with his Somewhere in the Sun Tour and in November 2005, Chesney released his second album of that year, The Road and The Radio.

In February 2006, Chesney was presented with a plaque commemorating his sales of 25 million albums. On May 23, 2006, Chesney was honored at the Academy of Country Music Awards as Entertainer of the Year.

On May 9, 2005, Chesney married Renée Zellweger on the resort island St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The pair met in January 2005 at a tsunami relief benefit. Chesney had previously commented that Zellweger was his favorite actress and had written a song, "You Had Me From Hello", stealing a line from her movie Jerry Maguire. On September 15, 2005, after only four months of marriage, they announced their plans for an annulment. Zellweger cited "fraud" as the reason in the related legal papers. On September 16, 2005, the pair issued a joint statement saying, "the miscommunication of the objective of their marriage at the start is the only reason for this annulment. Renee and Kenny value and respect each other and are saddened that their different objectives prevent the success of this marriage".