Randy Travis biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Country singer. Born Randy Traywick, on May 4, 1959, in Marshville, North Carolina. The second of six children born to Harold and Bobby Traywick, Randy was raised on a modest farm, where he was training horses and working cattle by the age of six. As a child, he admired the music of the legendary country artists Hank Williams, Lefty Frizell, and Gene Autry; at the age of 10, he learned to play the guitar.

As a teenager, Randy's interest in country music was matched only by his increasing experimentation with drugs and alcohol. Estranged from his family, Randy dropped out of school and briefly held a job as a construction worker. Over the next few years, he was arrested several times for assault, breaking and entering, as well as other misdemeanor charges.

Eighteen years old and on the verge of being sent to prison, Randy met Elizabeth Hatcher, a manager of a nightclub where he performed in Charlotte, North Carolina. Seeing promise in his music, Hatcher convinced a judge to let her become Randy's legal guardian. Hatcher spent the next few years grooming Randy, who started to regularly perform at her country clubs. In 1981, after minor recording success on an independent label, the pair moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Hatcher secured a job managing the Nashville Palace, a tourist-oriented club near the Grand Ole Opry, while Randy (who for a time performed as Randy Ray) worked as a short-order cook.

Commercial Breakthrough

After several years of trying to make a name for himself, Randy was signed by Warner Bros. Records in 1985. Now billed as Randy Travis, his first single, "On The Other Hand," reached a disappointing No. 67 on the country music charts. Despite the lackluster debut, Warner Bros. released Travis' second track, "1982," which secured a place in the Top 10. Optimistic over the response to "1982," the label decided to re-release "On The Other Hand," which immediately skyrocketed to No. 1 on the country charts. In 1986, both songs appeared on Travis' album Storms Of Life, which secured a place at No. 1 for eight weeks and sold over five million copies.

Awards and accolades quickly accompanied Travis' rise to fame and he was invited to become a member of the prestigious Grand Ole Opry in 1986. The following year, the LP Always And Forever earned Travis a Grammy Award, as well as the Country Music Association's Male Vocalist of the Year Award. His next three albums -- Old 8 X 10 (1988), No Holdin' Back (1989), and Heroes And Friends (1990), which included duets with George Jones, Tammy Wynette, B. B. King, and Roy Rogers -- also sold