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Overview
His pure tenor voice, amazing guitar playing, and superb songwriting skills have earned Vince Gill eleven Grammies and seventeen Country Music Association Awards--making him the biggest CMA winner of all time. But it's the man behind the music who inspires so much love and devotion from his fans and his peers. Humble, wholesome, funny, and kind, Vince Gill is a superstar with heart--and his numerous volunteer activities raise millions of dollars for charity every year.
From his childhood as the son of a banjo-playing judge in Oklahoma to his roots in Kentucky bluegrass music . . . from his years in Los Angeles as the lead singer for the acclaimed group Pure Prairie League to his first forays into Nashville . . . from his mastery of bluegrass, rock, pop, and country to his acclaim as the host of the annual Country Music Association Awards national telecast . . . here is the heartwarming story of an inspiring man who gives his all for the future, for the fans, and . . .
FOR THE MUSIC
Vince Gill has won eleven Grammy Awards and seventeen Country Music Association Awards and has sold more than fifteen million albums worldwide.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780307480774 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Random House Publishing Group |
| Publication date: | 12/10/2008 |
| Sold by: | Random House |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 236 |
| Sales rank: | 592,072 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
Nicest Guy in Nashville
“As you see me now, that's the way I'll be ten years from now; the way I was ten years ago.”
—VINCE GILL
That's exactly what we love about him.
While many superstar artists go to great lengths to cultivate and project a “regular guy” image, Vince Gill wouldn't even know how to do that. He's too real, too regular, too much the guy next door to ever think of pretending to be anything other than what he is.
What is he? An extraordinarily talented and creative artist with a gift for every aspect of music making. Let's start with what listeners first notice—a pure tenor voice with perfect pitch. It's the sound equivalent of sheer silk, rich velvet, a midnight blue sky filled with stars. No one else can wring so much emotion from the notes of a song and make it appear so effortless. Like the greatest singers of every kind of music who have come before him—like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, George Jones, Hank Williams—Vince Gill is a true original who can bring the sounds of any song to a whole new level, touching our hearts as he seems to be completely revealing his own. In a world where so many singers are indistinguishable from one another, Vince's voice and style are immediately recognized with just a few notes.
Yet, amazingly, for many years he didn't consider himself a singer at all. “I've always thought of myself as a guitar player who could sing,” he said. In fact, as recently as 1996, he told a reporter that he'd once been afraid to sing.
“I was a guitarist first but only because I was too shy to sing. That's why I keep my eyes closed when I sing—I'm afraid to look.”
—VINCE GILL
Well, eyes open or closed, Vince Gill is the ultimate singer. That voice has not only made him a major star in his own right, it keeps him in high demand as a background vocalist for dozens of other artists.
But he's also a great guitar player, one of the best of our times. Many fans don't realize until they see him in concert that Vince Gill plays his own lead guitar, a rarity among singers, particularly in the country music field. Critics have called him one of the best guitarists of his generation, whose guitar playing rings closer to rock and roll than traditional or modern country. His guitar solos are seamless continuations of the lyrics of his songs, played as only a singer would play them. Guitar aficionados compare him to, among others, blues and rock superstar Eric Clapton for tone, feeling, and tastefulness. Vince is a big fan of country guitarist extraordinaire Chet Atkins and, as one reviewer said, “every bit the quiet guitar man's musical equal.” But don't look to Vince to acknowledge how great his guitar playing is. All he'll say about it is, “I'm a pretty decent rock guitar player, but my true gift is honestly pickin' and singin'.”
As if all that weren't enough, Vince Gill is an amazing and accomplished songwriter. Much has been made of the singer/songwriter in the field of pop music, but it is rare that a country superstar writes his or her own songs. Instead, most rely on the wonderful community of talented songwriters in Nashville and beyond to provide the songs that showcase their voices. Vince is an exception to that rule. He has written or co-written almost all the songs he has ever recorded. His success as a singer/songwriter within country music may be one reason so many pop singer/songwriters have come to Nashville, where they can display their talents to a country audience that has more appreciation for the song itself.
In 1990, one song catapulted Vince Gill to the top stratosphere of country music after many years in many kinds of music. It was the eloquent and heart wrenching “When I Call Your Name,” which he co-wrote with another music business giant, college professor turned record company president Tim DuBois.
Since then, Vince Gill has written many top-notch songs that range from the most traditional country standards to pop-influenced ballads, from country-rock classics to pure bluegrass and blues. His lyrics can be heartbreakingly sad or filled with fun and wit. But they always reflect that mysterious and awesome songwriting talent—great economy of words—finding just the right turn of phrase to capture and communicate a universal feeling in a new and remarkable way.
Nashville, Tennessee, where Vince Gill has lived for the past fifteen years, can accurately boast that the best songwriters in the business call it home—from classic country songsmiths like Harlan Howard, Whitey Shafer, Hank Cochran, and Dean Dillon to today's hit makers like Tony Arata, Pat Alger, Dave Loggins, and Keith Hinton. Even writers from other musical genres—people like Michael McDonald, formerly of the Doobie Brothers, disco diva Donna Summer, and pop masters like Neil Diamond and Bert Bacharach—have either moved to Nashville or spend lots of time there writing new songs. Nashville is to country music what Tin Pan Alley once was to Broadway.
“Living here and being part of a community driven by songwriters makes you feel great to be considered one of them.”
—VINCE GILL
Once, while accepting a songwriting honor in Nashville, Vince shared his love for his adopted hometown with a national television audience. “The songwriting community of this town is its lifeblood,” he said, “and it always will be when all is said and done. To be among you as a songwriter is a great thrill,”
From the beginning, fans, critics, journalists, and music industry insiders have seen Vince Gill for exactly what he is—a triple threat. Beautiful singer. Amazing guitarist Accomplished songwriter. Vince Gill is always humble when he hears others sing his praises. He hasn't worked all these years for the money, the acclaim, the gold and platinum album sales, or the sold-out concert tours. He hasn't even done it for all the awards—and there are dozens—that fill his shelves. It's the songs he's created and the people he's met that are his most treasured mementos. From the lean years to the superstar years, Vince Gill has always worked hard and played beautifully, toured extensively and recorded with style and class, for one thing only, for the music.
“I still do it because I love playing,” he said. “Whether Fd become famous never mattered because I love playing so much.”
That love is evident. It's what has garnered Vince so many fans of all ages, from grandparents to their grandchildren.
Men love Vince Gill because he's such a regular guy. Women love him for that, too, and for the fact that, as one reporter said, the general consensus among the ladies is that Vince is a “hunk-a-rama.” Or as Jim West, program manager of KAT Country Radio in Albuquerque, New Mexico, put it, “He's got those movie star good looks.”
MCA Records' Tony Brown, a veteran musician, record producer, and music industry leader, played in a band with Vince Gill in the 1980s and produced his mega-selling albums in the 1990s. He says Vince Gill is like a gunslinger.
“He can fire off a hit song, he looks like a million bucks, and he can play as good as any session player in town. I think musically and vocally he can do anything he wants.”
—TONY BROWN
From lovers of pop to hard-core country traditionalists, from producers and engineers of hard-rock music to songwriters in general, everyone who loves music loves Vince Gill. His sheer talent, honesty, and love for his craft are what take center stage.
And it isn't just the fans who have made Vince one of the most beloved country artists of his time—or any time. Everyone in the industry regards him with the highest love and respect. The one and only Garth Brooks has often said, “I just wish I could sing like Vince Gill.”
Many of the fans who have loved Vince Gill throughout the 1990s may not know that he's been a working musician since he was in his teens. His boyish good looks and youthful approach to life make it hard to believe that he's been in the music business for more than twenty years. He's too modest to boast about everything he's done— he's been a sideman, a studio backup singer, a session guitarist, a songwriter, a band leader, and a multi-platinum recording artist. He has sung backup for numerous artists on some of the major albums of our time. And now that he's a big star, the best singers and musicians jump at the chance to sing and play with him on his own records as well as on the many collaborative record projects he participates in. He's performed everywhere from beer joints and honky tonks to bluegrass festivals and country dance halls, from ornate music halls backed by symphony orchestras to outdoor concert stages with a rock band. When he celebrated two decades as a working musician, he remarked, “I didn't look at it as achieving a goal. I just enjoy singing and playing and I still feel about music like I did when I was eighteen.”
So many people dream of a career in music. Many have the talent, some have the drive, a few even have the good luck to make it. One of the things that usually gets in the way is the need to make a living. Earning money isn't always easy when you're pursuing a dream.
Vince Gill's abilities as a guitarist, studio musician, and background singer kept him working long before his solo career took off. They helped him to hone his skills and to be involved in doing what he loved the most.
About his long road to success, he says, “The timing of things wasn't always right for me. It took a long time, but in hindsight, it gave me a lot of time to watch and learn a lot of things.