Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks
Background information
Birth name	Troyal Garth Brooks
Born	February 7, 1962 (1962-02-07) (age 46) Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
Genre(s)	Country, country rock, country pop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Saxophone
Years active	1989–2001, 2005–present
Label(s)	Capitol Nashville, Liberty, Big Machine / Pearl
Associated acts	Chris Gaines, Trisha Yearwood, Steve Wariner, George Jones, Huey Lewis
Website	Official Website

Troyal Garth Brooks, known professionally as Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music artist. His eponymous first album was released in 1989; it peaked at #2 in the US country album chart and reached #13 on the Billboard 200 pop album chart. Brooks's integration of rock elements into his recordings and live performances made him very popular and allowed him to dominate the country single and country album charts and quickly crossed over into the mainstream pop arena, exposing country music to a larger audience.

Brooks has enjoyed one of the most successful careers in popular music history, breaking records for both sales and concert attendance throughout the 1990s. The RIAA has certified his recordings at a combined (128× platinum), denoting roughly 113 million U.S. shipments. He is also listed as the best-selling artist of the Nielsen Soundscan era (from 1991 onwards), with approximately 67,774,000 albums sold (as of April 5, 2008). He is second only to The Beatles in the United States. Brooks has released six albums that achieved diamond status in the United States, those being: Garth Brooks (10× platinum), No Fences (17× platinum), Ropin' the Wind (14× platinum), The Hits (10× platinum), Sevens (10× platinum) and Double Live (21× platinum).

Troubled by conflicts between career and family, in 2001 Brooks officially retired from recording and performing. During this time he sold millions of albums through an exclusive distribution deal with Wal-Mart and has sporadically released new singles.