December 2018 30 • Brooks was born on Feb. 7, 1962 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the youngest child of Troyal Raymond Brooks and Colleen Carroll. Good thing he had a solid middle name, since Troyal Brooks wouldn't make a good stage name. His father was a draftsman for an oil company and his mother was a 1950s-era country singer who recorded on the Capitol Records label. • The family hosted weekly talent nights and Garth, his sister and four older half-siblings were required to participate, either by singing or doing skits. Brooks learned to play both the guitar and banjo. Although Brooks' musical style is Country music, he was strongly influenced by the 1970s singer-songwriter era, especially James Taylor, his idol whom he named his first child Taylor after. • Garth's primary focus as a child was athletics. In high school, he played football and baseball and ran track and field. He received a track scholarship to Oklahoma State University, where he competed in the javelin. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in advertising. Just the Facts GARTH BROOKS Brooks was working as a bouncer at the Tumbleweed Ballroom in Stillwater, Okla., when he met Sandy Mahl, who would eventually become his first wife and mother to his three daughters. He was breaking up a fight that had erupted between Mahl and another woman in the ladies' room. Brooks was met at first base with a hug from future Hall of Famer Frank Thomas. He joined the New York Mets in 2000, but was released from their roster on March 19th after having a zero-for-17 batting record during his spring training season with them. Brooks returned to baseball one last time in 2004, for a final spring training season with the Kansas City Royals. Again he failed to get a place on the regular season roster, but Brooks was able to get a hit off Mike Myers. • In between the third and fourth singles from Sevens, in 1998, Brooks released "To Make You Feel My Love," from the Hope Floats movie soundtrack. The tune, written by Bob Dylan, has since been recorded by Billy Joel, Joan Osborne and Adele, among others. Brooks' version is the first track and the last track on the album is a version of the song by Trisha Yearwood. • In 1999, Brooks introduced the fictional Australian grunge rocker character of Chris Gaines startling many by releasing In the Life of Chris Gaines album. Panned by critics, the album had mediocre sales and was purportedly the soundtrack to an upcoming film about Gaines titled The Lamb. The film featuring Brooks as Gaines never materialized. The American public was either totally bewildered, or completely unreceptive to the idea of Garth Brooks as anything but a Pop-Country singer. Many of his fans felt that by supporting the Gaines project they would lose the real Garth Brooks. • He rebounded from the setback by winning three American Music Awards in January 2000, including artist of the decade, favorite male country artist and favorite country album (for 1998's Double Live release). • Brooks announced at the end of 2000 that he wanted to spend more time with his wife and three daughters, Taylor Mayne Pearl (born 1992), August Anna (1994), and Allie Colleen (1996). Struggling to balance his work and family life, Brooks announced he was divorcing his wife in October 2000 and officially retired from recording and performing on October 26th, the same day that Capitol threw a party celebrating his sales of 100 million albums. He stated that he would be retired until his youngest daughter turned 18. • In 2000, Brooks attempted to donate part of his liver for a transplant for the ailing Chris LeDoux, when his longtime friend and fellow country music artist was diagnosed with a disease of the bile ducts but he was deemed incompatible. LeDoux was able to undergo a transplant in 2000 and release two more albums before being diagnosed with cancer of the bile duct in 2004. LeDoux died of complications from liver cancer in 2005. • Garth released the album Scarecrow in 2001 which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. It would be his last studio album for over a decade. • In 2005, he insisted that he was not touring and that he did not plan to record any new studio material until at least 2015. In August of that year he signed a deal with Wal-Mart, leasing them the rights to his back catalog following his split with Capitol. Three months later, Brooks and Wal-Mart issued a six CD box set called The Limited Series which contained past material and a “Lost Sessions” disc with eleven previously unissued recordings. This set was the first time in history that a musician had signed an exclusive music distribution deal with a single retailer. • "More Than a Memory," Brooks' 51st single, was released in 2007. Written by Lee Brice, Kyle Jacobs and Billy Montana, the song became the first ever to debut at No. 1 on the country chart. • In October 2009 Brooks announced that he was coming out of retirement in order to do weekend performances at the Wynn Las Vegas. The arrangement gave Garth a schedule that allowed him to perform on weekends and have his family life during the week. Brooks accepted a three-year stint for a string of performances. The intimate performances given by Brooks—his set only featured Brooks and his guitar, as he shared personal life experiences and the importance of his family—resonated with audiences and proved to be a huge success for the artist. The country star played sold-out shows throughout the entirety of his residency. For the final show on November 29, 2013, Brooks partnered up with CBS for a live broadcast event. The TV special received 9.33 million viewers and claimed the No. 1 spot in the ratings for the night. Not long after his final Vegas performance, Brooks announced that he'd be returning to the Wynn on January 3-4, 2013, with his band. The set, titled “Garth Brooks: The Man, His Band and His Music,” quickly sold out. • In January of 2012, Brooks was crowned the top-selling artist of the last two decades. Since 1991, he had sold more than 68,000,000 units, some 5 million more than the No. 2 act—the Beatles. • In 2013, he began to ease into his comeback, first releasing a box set of covers called Blame It All on My Roots for that year's holiday season. Brooks also revealed that he would be going on a world tour the following year. • In late 2016, Brooks released two new projects: his 10th studio album, Gunslinger as well as a collaboration with Yearwood on a collection of holiday standards called Christmas Together. In November 2017, he was honored for his efforts with the “Entertainer of the Year Award” at the CMAs, though he also drew criticism for lip-syncing his performance of “Ask Me How I Know” at the show. Brooks defended his performance afterward, noting he was trying to get through a busy workload while under the weather. • A year later, Brooks released The Anthology: Pt. 1, The First Five Years - the first installment in a multi-volume memoir that was accompanied by music, including a few rarities from his early years. The studio single "All Day Long" and Triple Live (which featured three discs of music culled from his 2014-2017 world tour) were released this year. • Although Brooks and Yearwood previously joined forces on his 2014-2017 World Tour, Brooks insists the decision not to include his wife in his upcoming run isn't due to a lack of interest from the fans; in fact, it's quite the opposite. "The one comment we kept getting on the comeback tour is 'I wish Trisha would've played longer,'" he goes on to say. "To have her come out and perform three or four songs and be gone—her love for music is deeper than that." While she may appear as an occasional surprise guest during his stadium shows, Brooks says that Yearwood has bigger plans in the works. The country star has been in the studio in 2018, and will soon have new music of her own to promote—"so she's probably got her own tour she's announcing," he hints. • Brooks got his start in music singing in bars and clubs while attending Oklahoma State University. His favorite music was rock; however, after hearing George Strait's debut single "Unwound" he decided that he was more interested in playing Country music. In 1987, he moved to Nashville for the second time—his first attempt was unsuccessful—with his wife, Sandy, to try to make it in country music. With help from music manager Bob Doyle, Brooks eventually signed to Capitol Records. His early hits include "If Tomorrow Never Comes" and "The Dance." • After "Much Too Young (to Feel This Damn Old)," the first single from Brooks' debut album on Capitol Nashville, mentioned "a worn out tape of Chris LeDoux," the rodeo star/singer rose to national prominence and was signed to the label as well. LeDoux's first project for Capitol was actually the 23rd album of his career. • Garth's second album, No Fences, was released in 1990. It enjoyed 23 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Country music chart and sold more than 700,000 copies in its first 10 days on the market. Brooks' signature song, the blue collar anthem "Friends in Low Places" appeared on this album along with "The Thunder Rolls" and "Unanswered Prayers." Each of these songs reached #1 on the Country chart. The thunder heard on "The Thunder Rolls" was first recorded for a song called "Delta Rain" by the Memphis Boys. • On a trip home to Yukon, Oklahoma in March of 1991, Brooks watched as a sign on the town's water tower was unveiled that read "Home of Garth Brooks." One month later, Brooks won a record-setting six ACM awards. • The opening act on Brooks' solo tour in 1992, his first as a headliner, was Martina McBride. • In November of 1995, a copy of Brooks' The Hits journeyed 3.4 million miles when Col. Bill MacArthur, a space shuttle mission specialist, took it with him as he visited the Russian Mir space station in orbit. • In January of 1996, Brooks won the American Music Award for Artist of the Year. Among the other acts nominated were Hootie & the Blowfish, led by now country star (on Capitol Nashville) Darius Rucker. • Garth Brooks participated in spring training for the San Diego Padres in both 1998 and 1999. Brooks played mostly left field. After getting his first (and only) hit, Real Country Legends 96.3 welcomes Garth Brooks to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Saturday, March 23, 2019. Brooks became the 65th member of the Grand Ole Opry on Oct. 6, 1990, just 18 months after his debut album was released.