Who Is Chris Stapleton?
Chris Stapleton is a singer, songwriter, and producer of country music. He was born and raised in Kentucky and attended Johnson Central High School where he played high school football and was Valedictorian of his graduating class.
He moved to Nashville in 2001 to pursue a college degree in engineering. He dropped out after a year to pursue a music career and signed with Sea Gayle Music. Since then, he has amassed writing or co- writing credits with a number of artists, beyond writing his own music. Some of these artists include Josh Turner, Kenny Chesney, Adele, George Straight, Kelly Clarkson, Luke Bryan, Taylor Swift, and Dierks Bentley.
He sang with two different bands before going on his own as a solo artist. His first solo album, Traveller, reached number one on the Billboard 200 in the US and was certified four-time platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America.) His old school country with a twist of southern rock version of “Tennessee Whiskey” was certified Diamond by the same association. From a Room: Volume 1 was his second album, and earned him a Grammy for Best Country Album and a Country Music Association (CMA) Award for Album of the Year.
Since then, Stapleton has received a multitude of additional awards for his country music and has amassed 14 CMA Awards, 10 Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards, and 8 Grammies. He was named Artist- Songwriter of the Decade by ACM.
Most recently, Stapleton sang a rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner that will not be forgotten any time soon.
Chris Stapleton: National Anthem Performance at the Super Bowl
In only two minutes and one second, Chris Stapleton brought State Farm Stadium to tears with what was described as one of the best National Anthems ever played. That’s a lot of hype for the National Anthem. Was it true?
Absolutely. Stapleton’s soulful rendition of the Anthem testified to the amazing voice the country singer possesses. Accompanied by his electric guitar, the Grammy award winner sang with purity and grit as he belted out the lyrics to the well-known song. Stapleton didn’t sing to impress. He sang to be true to the song, his country, and the fans. He made the performance about the song.
This is what he had to say about the moment. “The national anthem’s not an easy song for singers. It’s one that can go horribly wrong as we’ve seen many times in the past.” He went on to say, “But if you’re gonna do it, this is the place to do it. I’m gonna go out there and play. And play it like I play it.”
And he did. With his cool twangy and solid country twist to the song, he made the “banner yet wave” proud and strong. All eyes were on him, and Troy Kotsur, who stood by his side, performed the anthem in American Sign Language. Troy won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for “Coda.”
The world responded to Chris Stapleton’s version of the anthem with admiration and awe, with Barstool Sports tweeting “Chris Stapleton really should’ve been named the MVP.” And @TheChiefNerd tweeting:
“Chris Stapleton just delivered one of the best National Anthem performances I’ve heard in a long time.”
This iconic performance will be remembered for quite some time and will be the new standard for performances of our National Anthem. There was no flashy show and no theatrics. Just an amazing performance of a song that has been sung wrong too many times. This time it was not.
Chris Stapleton simply sang one of the best renditions of the National Anthem ever performed.
Thank you, Chris!