Country singer Kenny Chesney was born on March 26, 1968, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Chesney was raised in Luttrell, Tennessee; home of guitarist and record producer, Chet Atkins. Chesney attended Gibbs High School in Corryton, Tennessee, prior to earning a degree in advertising from East Tennessee State University in 1990. One of Chesney’s early jobs prior to achieving music stardom included working for home decorating chain, The Bombay Company. He was also a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha International Fraternity at East Tennessee State.
Chesney moved to Nashville after graduating, and recorded his first album in 1991. Although he only released 1,000 copies of his debut album, Chesney used the profits he made from selling them at local gigs to purchase a new Martin guitar.
Chesney achieved his first major hit with the single "Fall in Love" in 1995, which landed in the Country Top 10. He hit #1 for the first time on the Country Charts in 1997, with his single "She's Got It All." A string of #1 hits followed throughout the 90s and into the new millennium, reflecting Chesney’s catchy, pop-inflected tunes and the musical influences of John Mellencamp and Jimmy Buffett.
In 2004, Chesney was recognized with the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year award, which he would receive again in 2006. Also in 2006, Chesney received a plaque commemorating his achievement of $25 million in album sales.
On May 9, 2005, Chesney married acclaimed actress, Renée Zellweger on the resort island of Saint John. The couple had met in January of that year, when they both lent their support to a tsunami relief benefit concert. Six years before they met, Chesney had prophetically penned the song "You Had me at Hello," reportedly inspired by a line Zellweger had recited in her 1995 film Jerry Maguire, with Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Kelly Preston.
Just four months after they wed, Zellweger and Chesney announced their annulment. The couple’s short-lived marriage set the tabloids ablaze with speculation of why they split, fueled further when Zellweger cited "fraud" as the reason for their divorce. Chesney later told Anderson Cooper on a February 2007 episode of 60 Minutes that "The only fraud that was committed was me thinking that I knew what it was like... that I really understood what it was like to be married, and I really didn't."
In the summer of 2007, Chesney is scheduled to play eight concerts at stadiums across the U.S. as part of the Flip Flop Summer Tour, also featuring country stars Brooks & Dunn, Sugarland, Sara Evans, and Pat Green.
YUDDY
