July 2018 28 • Dwight David Yoakam is a famous American singer, songwriter, actor, and musician. As a singer, he has recorded more than twenty-one albums. He has also appeared in several successful films, making a name for himself as a proficient actor as well. • Born and raised in Pikeville, Kentucky, on October 23, 1956. His parents were David Yoakam, a gas-station owner, and Ruth Ann, a key-punch operator. His siblings are Kimberly and Ronald. He is named after President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The family moved to Columbus, Ohio, when Dwight was very young. A devotee of vintage recordings by Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, Elvis Presley, Hank Locklin, and particularly Buck Owens and his Buckaroos, the youngster started a rockabilly band while still in high school. He did his schooling at Northland High School, from where he graduated in 1974. • He had an interest in music and drama from a very early age. He used to act in school plays, mostly in lead roles. His best subject in school was history. His worst subject was math. In his high school marching band, he played the drums. • He loved to do impressions of celebrities as a young man and used to entertain his friends, with his impersonations of Richard Nixon, who at the time was in controversy because of the Watergate Scandal. • He worked as a singer in nightclubs while attending Ohio State University, where he studied history, but after two years he left for Nashville in search of a career in country music. Unable to get his career started while living in Nashville, Yoakam decided to try his luck in Los Angeles, where he moved in 1978. • Yoakam's 1986 debut album, “Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.”, was well-received by critics and country music fans alike, and spawned a hit remake of Johnny Horton's "Honky Tonk Man" and the singer's own composition "Guitars, Cadillacs, and Hillbilly Music." This first album quickly went platinum. Just the Facts DWIGHT YOAKAM Yoakam first showed an interest in playing the guitar at the age of two and quickly taught himself to play along with Hank Williams's records. He composed his first song at the age of eight. Real Country Legends 96.3 welcomes Dwight Yoakam to Comerica Theatre on August 4th. • Yoakam released the album This Time in 1993 and according to Entertainment Weekly's Alanna Nash, he was able to “pull off a near miracle staying stone country for his core following, and turning progressive enough for radio, without alienating either audience." Songs such as "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere" and "King of Fools" were especially lauded. • Yoakam whose knee-swiveling on stage antics drew appreciative screams from female fans had been dabbling in films since his first roles, in 1993's “Red Rock West” and 1994's “Roswell”. His first starring role came as a rodeo clown in the 1994 action feature “Painted Hero.” In 1996 Yoakam earned rave reviews for his portrayal of the abusive, alcoholic Doyle in the film “Sling Blade.” He received Premiere magazine's Premiere Performance Award in recognition of his "breakthrough performance" in the film. • Following his performance in “Sling Blade,” Yoakam received offers to appear in many more films, but shied away from mainstream features in favor of grittier independent films such as 2000's “South of Heaven, West of Hell,” which he directed and starred in, 2002's “Waking Up in Reno,” which he also produced, and 2005's critically acclaimed “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.” album “This Time.” His first significant appearance on the big screen in the American drama film “Sling Blade” was not only a commercial success but also won an Oscar. Yoakam received a nomination for the 'Screen Actors Guild Award'. He also directed, co-wrote and played the lead role in the movie “South of Heaven, West of Hell.” The film was a commercial failure. Some of his most recent films include “90 Minutes in Heaven” and “Logan Lucky.” • He also received the American Academy of Country Music Award, Best New Male Vocalist, 1987; Premiere Performance Award (for outstanding breakthrough performances in film) for portrayal of Doyle Hargraves in “Sling Blade,” 1996; Screen Actors Guild Award, Outstanding Performance by a Cast for “Sling Blade,” 1996; Grammy Award, Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, for "Same Old Train," 1998; Voted Country Artist of the Year by Amazon.com, 2000; Western Heritage Awards, Bronze Wrangler, for Outstanding Theatrical Motion Picture, for “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” 2005. • He has had more than thirty singles land on the US Country charts, along with 12 gold albums and 9 platinum albums. He has sold over 25 million albums globally, five of which have gone to #1 on the Billboard charts. • Yoakam used his multimedia fame to branch out into the prepackaged food business by signing a deal with Modern Foods to manufacture such faux southern- flavored edibles as Dwight Yoakam's Chicken Lickin's and Boom Boom Shrimp. His own food line is called “Dwight Yoakam’s Bakersfield Biscuit Brand.” • He is a vegetarian and has also cut sugar out of his diet. • In May 2008, he broke The Tonight Show record number of musical guest appearances. It was his 24th time on the show! • Gibson Guitars created a line of signature Dwight Yoakam acoustic guitars called the Y2K. Only a limited amount were manufactured. • The star has never been married and chooses to focus more on his career. Dwight Yoakam’s current girlfriend is Emily Joyce and they have been dating since 2013. His cover of Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” was intended to just be in a TV commercial for Gap blue jeans, but it ended up being released as a single because of high demand. He purchased his cowboy hat (that he wears almost all the time) in 1979 for under $50. • Despite his busy schedule as an actor on stage and screen, in 1995 Yoakam managed to release “Dwight Live,” which consisted of versions of songs that were recorded live during concert performances, and “Gone,” which continued the trend Yoakam had started with “This Time.” Both albums were well regarded by critics and popular with fans. • In 1997 he released his eighth album, “Under the Covers,” that featured cover versions of songs originally recorded by such diverse artists as The Clash and Johnny Horton. • Yoakam's status as a hit recording artist slipped during the late 1990s, although he consistently drew large concert crowds. By 2001 he and Reprise/Warner Bros. had parted company, and the singer-songwriter signed with the hot independent Audium label. • The alliance with Audium was short-lived. The label folded and Yoakam leased his next efforts to the independent New West label. “Blame the Vain” was recorded in 2005. • Undoubtedly one of America's best country singers, he has been nominated for the Grammy multiple times throughout his career out of which he has won two. He won his first Grammy Award for his hit “Ain't That Lonely Yet,” a single from his fifth studio • Yoakam released four more albums in the next four years all receiving gold status—1987's “Hillbilly Deluxe,” 1988's “Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room,” 1989's “Just Lookin' for a Hit,” and 1990's “If There Was a Way”—and managed to keep his loyal traditional country music fans satisfied. During this early peak, he was able to briefly revitalize the careers of two of his country idols. He enticed Buck Owens out of semi-retirement to record one of the legendary singer-songwriter's early tunes, "Streets of Bakersfield." Not only did their recording hit number one on the country charts, but Yoakam and Owens toured together with great success with The Babylonian Cowboys (his backup band). In 1992 Yoakam convinced Roger Miller, one of country and pop's cleverest tunesmiths, to write a song with him. The result was the number seven charting "It Only Hurts When I Cry," a final triumph for Miller, who died of cancer a short time later.