George Strait

American famed country western star, winner of the Country Music Association's Best Album of the Year and Best Male Vocalist of the Year awards in 1985, Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year Award in 1989, the Tex Ritter Award in 1992 and in 1996 Single of the Year. On 8/04/1998 he received five Country Music Association award nominations, moving him ahead of Merle Haggard as the most nominated performer in the organization's history. To date, he has 47 nominations over his 17-year career, breaking the record of 43 set by Merle Haggard. Boasting 16 platinum albums and four gold, his film appearances include "The Soldier," 1982 and "Pure Country," 1982. A mild-mannered, guitar strumming cowboy with a melodious voice, Strait and his brother were raised by a strict Baptist single dad in in Pearsall, Texas. He recalls that his dad "always told me that the Lord would tell me what he wanted me to do with my life, and I kind of believe that's really true." After a five-year stint in Hawaii with the US Army, Strait returned home to Southwest Texas State University and graduated in 1979 with a degree in agricultural education. Casually playing the local honky-tonk circuit, he and his eight piece band "Ace In The Hole" topped the country western charts with their first hit "Unwound" in 1981. Four years later storybook success came in a steady stream from the Golden Pick Award for Favorite Song to the American Vocation Success Award from President George Bush. A true country boy and avid horseman, Strait was inducted into the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Star Trail in 1996. Strait married his wife Norma in 1971. Their daughter Jennifer, born 1972, died in a car accident in 1986. Son George "Bubba" Jr., born 1981, and his folks live in San Antonio, TX and on Strait's 8,000 acre ranch in the Southwest Texas brush country. Link to Wikipedia biography