Christopher Stapleton is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and grew up in Staffordsville, Kentucky.
In 2001, Stapleton moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue an engineering degree from Vanderbilt University but dropped out to pursue his career in music.
In addition to songwriting, he led the bluegrass group SteelDrivers for two years and formed the Jompson Brothers rock group.
Over 150 of his songs have been included in albums by different artists like Adele, Luke Bryan, and Tim McGraw. He has also co-written six number-one country songs till date.
He is well known for his wide range of musical styles, which include country music, Southern rock, and bluegrass. He became a major star in 2015 with the release of his debut solo album, which was eventually certified platinum.
Stapleton was born in Lexington, Kentucky. His mother, Carol J. (Mace) Stapleton, worked at the local health department and his father, Herbert Joseph Stapleton, Jr. (1946–2013), was a coal miner. He comes from a family of coal miners. He has an older brother, Herbert Joseph III and younger sister, Melanie Brooke.
Stapleton grew up in the small town of Staffordsville, Kentucky, which is located just outside of Paintsville, located between the city and Paintsville Lake.
He graduated from Johnson Central High School where he played football and was his class salutatorian. He then attended Vanderbilt University, where he studied engineering, but dropped out after a year.
Full Name: Christopher Alvin Stapleton
Date of Birth: April 15, 1978
Age: 43
Nationality: American
Place Of Birth: Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.
Profession: Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist, Record Producer
Genre: Country soul, Southern rock, bluegrass, outlaw country
Label: Mercury Nashville
Net-worth: $12 Million
Career:
In 2001, Stapleton moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a music career. As a songwriter, he signed with the publishing house Sea Gayle Music, a deal he got shortly after moving to Nashville.
In 2007, he became the frontman for the bluegrass group the SteelDrivers. They had two hit records; each peaked at number 2 on the bluegrass chart before Stapleton left in 2010.
In 2010, Stapleton founded a Southern rock band called the Jompson Brothers. The band was made up of Stapleton on vocals, Greg McKee on guitar, J.T. Cure on bass, Bard McNamee on drums. They toured regionally until 2013 and at one point, opened for the Zac Brown Band. The band independently released a self-titled album in November 2010.
Stapleton’s debut solo album, Traveller, was released on May 5, 2015. Recorded in Nashville’s RCA Studio A, Stapleton co-produced the album with producer Dave Cobb. On the album, he plays guitar and sings with a live band that is made up of bass player J.T. Cure (from the Jompson Brothers), pedal steel player Robby Turner, drummer Derek Mixon, Mickey Raphael on harmonica, and wife Morgane Stapleton singing harmonies.
Stapleton won three awards at the 2015 Country Music Association Awards: Album of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, and New Artist of the Year.
At the CMA Awards, Stapleton performed with Justin Timberlake his version of the song popularized as a David Allen Coe live-show staple, “Tennessee Whiskey” and Timberlake’s “Drink You Away”.
In December 2015, Stapleton received the 2015 CMT Artists of the Year Breakout award during a live performance at the annual CMT Artists of the Year show.
Traveller was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and won the categories Best Country Album and Best Country Solo Performance.
It also won the Academy of Country Music Award for Album of the Year. The top selling country album of 2016, it has sold a total of 2 million copies domestically as of July 2017.
On August 28, 2020, Stapleton released a single titled “Starting Over”, a song he previously performed on tour. It is the lead single from his album of the same name and marks his first single since 2018’s “Millionaire”.
Personal Life:
Stapleton is married to singer-songwriter Morgane Stapleton, who co-wrote Carrie Underwood’s 2006 single “Don’t Forget to Remember Me”.
She had a recording deal with Arista Nashville. The couple met when they were working at adjacent publishing houses, married in 2007, and live in Nashville.
In October 2017, the couple announced they were expecting twins. On April 15, 2018, (Stapleton’s 40th birthday), host Reba McEntire announced live on the 53rd Academy of Country Music Awards that twin boys had been born to the Stapletons.
At his concert at Madison Square Garden on November 2, 2018, Stapleton announced that he and his wife were expecting their fifth child; he repeated the announcement at the Country Music Association Awards on November 18, 2018.
On May 12, 2019, Morgane and Chris welcomed their fifth child, a baby boy, into their family.
Songs:
Traveller (2015)
From A Room: Volume 1 (2017)
From A Room: Volume 2 (2017)
Starting Over (2020)
Awards:
Stapleton has received numerous awards and nominations. He is the recipient of five Grammy Awards, seven Academy of Country Music Awards, ten Country Music Association Awards, five Billboard Music Awards, two iHeartRadio Music Awards, among others. For his work as composer he has received nine ASCAP Country awards, including the Vanguard Award.
