George Strait's success began when his first single "Unwound" was a hit in 1981, signaling the mainstream ascendance of the neotraditional movement and rebuke of pop-country.
72 Facts About George Strait
2.
George Strait was named CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1989,1990 and 2013, and ACM Entertainer of the Year in 1990 and 2014.
3.
George Strait has been nominated for more CMA and ACM awards and has more wins in both categories than any other artist.
4.
George Strait currently holds the record for most number one songs on all charts by an artist in any genre of music.
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George Strait is known for his touring career when he designed a 360-degree configuration and introduced festival style tours.
6.
George Strait has sold more than 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
7.
George Strait's best-selling album is Pure Country, which sold 6 million.
8.
George Strait's highest certified album is Strait Out of the Box, which sold 2 million copies.
9.
George Strait grew up in nearby Pearsall, in Frio County, where his father was a junior high school mathematics teacher and the owner of a 2,000-acre cattle ranch outside of Big Wells, Texas.
10.
When George Strait was in the fourth grade, his father and mother were divorced, and his mother moved away with his sister, Pency.
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George Strait began his musical career while attending Pearsall High School, where he performed in a rock and roll garage band, taking most influence from the Beatles.
12.
George Strait did not tune to the country music radio often as a youth, usually listening to the news and the farmer's report.
13.
George Strait eloped with his high school sweetheart, Norma Voss.
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George Strait served in the United States Army from 1971 to 1975 and ultimately attained the rank of Corporal.
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George Strait is a loyal alumnus of Texas State; in 1985 he established an endowment fund for the development and operation of the Freeman Ranch for agricultural purposes, land and wildlife management, and gifts of scholarships.
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George Strait renamed the group the Ace in the Hole Band, and quickly became the lead; they began to perform at different honky-tonks and bars around south and central Texas, traveling as far east as Huntsville and Houston.
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Soon, his band was given the opportunity to record several George Strait-penned singles, including "That Don't Change The Way I Feel About You" and "I Can't Go On Dying Like This" for the Houston-based D label.
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However, the songs never achieved wide recognition, and George Strait continued to manage his family cattle ranch during the day to make some extra cash.
19.
George Strait was offered a job designing cattle pens and decided to take it.
20.
George Strait gave the band notice that he was leaving, but after a discussion with his wife, she convinced him to give music one more year.
21.
The Ace in the Hole band remained with George Strait, performing as the backup and touring band for the now solo career of George Strait.
22.
George Strait Country was hailed by critics as a "new-traditionalist" breakthrough that broke the trend of pop-influenced country prevalent at the time.
23.
In 1983, George Strait made his first appearance at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, when the headlining star, Eddie Rabbitt became sick with the flu.
24.
George Strait has made more than 20 appearances at the rodeo and played for more than one million fans.
25.
George Strait recorded 17 number ones during the decade, including a string of five that lasted from 1983 to 1984 from his next two albums Right or Wrong, his first number-one album and the CMA award-winning Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind.
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Also in 1985, George Strait released Something Special, the third-straight number-one album of his career, featuring the number-one single "The Chair".
27.
George Strait was riding in a Ford Mustang driven by Gregory Wilson Allen, 18, of Staples, Texas.
28.
George Strait stopped doing interviews for many years after the accident; he and his family did not wish to discuss Jenifer's death.
29.
George Strait's grief did not hinder his performance or his output, as he went on to release 11 straight number-one hits, starting with "Nobody in George Strait's Right Mind Would've Left Her" in 1986 and ending with "Ace in the Hole" in 1989.
30.
George Strait finished the decade by winning the CMA Entertainer of the Year award in 1989.
31.
George Strait began the decade with the release of his 10th studio album, Livin' It Up, which featured two number-one hits, including "Love Without End, Amen", his first multiweek hit, and "I've Come to Expect It From You".
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Entertainment Weekly noted that the album marked a shift for George Strait from "repeating himself" in his previous works to producing different material.
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Later in 1992, George Strait played the main character in the film Pure Country, and released the film's soundtrack.
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George Strait was named as the CMA's Top Male Vocalist in 1997 and 1998.
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George Strait completed the decade with the album Always Never the Same in 1999, which peaked at number two on country charts and matched the cross-over success of Pure Country by reaching number six on the Billboard 200.
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All in all, George Strait scored 17 number-one hits on the Billboard country airplay charts in the decade, and carried his successes into the next century.
37.
George Strait released a self-titled album in 2000, which despite a number-one and number-seven showing on the country and Billboard 200 album charts, respectively, produced no number-one singles, and was the first studio album of his career to not be certified platinum.
38.
George Strait attributed this success to the fact that his band and he are "musically very tight", have a large pool of songs to draw from, and perform those songs very similarly to how they sound on their albums.
39.
On October 3,2006, George Strait marked his 30th year in the music industry with the release of a new album titled It Just Comes Natural.
40.
George Strait released a new album titled Troubadour on April 1,2008.
41.
George Strait's single "Living for the Night" was released on May 28,2009, and was written by George Strait, his son Bubba, and Dean Dillon.
42.
In October 2012, George Strait released the single "Give It All We Got Tonight", which was included on his album Love Is Everything, released on May 14,2013.
43.
George Strait won the 2013 CMA Entertainer of the Year award.
44.
George Strait is the first country artist to receive Billboards highest touring accolade.
45.
In 2018, George Strait released a single called "Codigo", after a brand of tequila produced by a company in which he had invested.
46.
On September 26,2012, George Strait announced that he was retiring from touring, and that his Cowboy Rides Away Tour would be his last.
47.
George Strait was supported on the tour by his longtime 11-member touring group, the Ace in the Hole Band.
48.
On January 9,2014, George Strait initiated the second leg of the tour, which featured the opening performers Jason Aldean, Eric Church, Martina McBride, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Vince Gill, Lee Ann Womack, Merle Haggard, Chris Young, Ronnie Dunn, Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, and Asleep at the Wheel.
49.
George Strait's style has been labeled as Texas country, Western swing, and honky-tonk.
50.
George Strait eloped in Mexico with his high school sweetheart Norma in December 1971.
51.
George Strait was able to watch his son compete at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 2006 shortly before taking the stage for his own performance.
52.
Since 2010, George Strait has served as spokesman for the VF Corporation's Wrangler National Patriot program, a campaign designed to raise awareness and funds for America's wounded and fallen military veterans and their families.
53.
George Strait owns a Gulfstream G450 business jet; its tail number is N518GS.
54.
George Strait teamed up with Texas Governor Greg Abbott to help with disaster relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey which devastated coastal areas of Texas.
55.
In January 2018, George Strait was named the 2018 Texan of the Year by the Texas Legislative Conference, a statewide group of business and political leaders.
56.
George Strait is being honored for his fundraising efforts in the wake of the widespread flooding following Hurricane Harvey.
57.
In more than 30 years of recording, all of which have been spent with MCA Records, George Strait has garnered 61 number-one songs on all country charts, and has more number-one hits than any other artist in a single genre.
58.
Additionally, George Strait is the first artist in the history of Billboard to have at least one single enter the top 10 of a Billboard chart for 30 consecutive years, starting in 1981 when his debut single "Unwound" peaked at number six on the Hot Country Singles chart.
59.
George Strait had a bit part in The Soldier and starred in Pure Country.
60.
George Strait had a limited role in the sequel to Pure Country, Pure Country 2: The Gift.
61.
George Strait holds the record for most number-one albums and singles, gold albums, platinum albums, and multiplatinum albums in the history of country music, and is 11th in the most number-one albums in all other genres.
62.
George Strait is third only to Elvis Presley and The Beatles with the most gold and platinum albums in the history of music.
63.
George Strait has been certified as the 12th-best selling artist in American history, with career record sales of 70 million in the United States.
64.
George Strait has held the world record for most number one hit singles across all charts and genres with 60 number-one hits since 2013, and is the only artist in the history of music of any kind to have a top-10 hit every year for 30 years.
65.
George Strait is second all-time in top-10 hits in the history of music, currently five away from breaking the all-time record held by Eddy Arnold, who had 92 in his historic career.
66.
George Strait has won 22 CMA Awards, including consecutive Entertainer of the Year honors in 1989 and 1990, and just recently won that same honor in 2013 and holds the career record for CMA nominations and the most consecutively of all time.
67.
George Strait holds those same records for wins and nominations for the Academy of Country Music Awards.
68.
George Strait was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006, performing his then-latest number-one hit "Give it Away" right before accepting his replica Hall of Fame plaque at the 40th CMA Awards.
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George Strait was only the second artist to be inducted into the Hall of Fame while still actively recording and producing chart-topping hits and albums.
70.
George Strait was presented the award by the previous winner Garth Brooks.
71.
George Strait is tied with Merle Haggard for the most male vocalist-of-the-year awards.
72.
On June 1,2013, George Strait appeared at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas, before 70,000 fans in the last concert of the first half of his two-year farewell tour.