Known as the "King of Country," George Strait has an astonishing 24 Platinum-certified studio albums, more than any artist except Elvis Presley. He also has and amazing 44 #1 Country hits, which puts him at the top of that list.
Strait enlisted in the United States Army in 1971. While stationed at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii as a part of the 25th Infantry Division, he performed his first paying gig. Strait recalled to Billboard magazine: "I had auditioned with a group of guys and a girl. They called themselves the Country Kings. I played one gig with them, and I don't even remember how much they paid me. They thought I wasn't country enough, and let me go. That's really funny now, but it wasn't at the time. I didn't let it faze me much, though. I got another opportunity not long after that [in a band called Rambling Country], which became my Army gig until I got out."
Strait was honorably discharged from the Army in 1975, after which he enrolled at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos where he graduated with a degree in agriculture.
He made three trips from Texas to Nashville in search of a record deal before he finally got a recording contract with MCA in February 1981. Strait released his first single for MCA Records in the spring of that year. Titled "
Unwound," it climbed to #6 on the Country chart and launched his career.
His 1987 album Ocean Front Property was the first country LP to enter the US album charts at #1.
Conway Twitty held the record for most #1 hits on the Country chart from 1980 until 2006, when George Strait landed his 41st chart-topper with "
Give It Away." Strait had three more, bringing his total to 44.
Strait's success didn't extend overseas. On May 7, 2011, DJ Paul Gambaccini reported on his BBC Radio 2 show that Strait is the most successful American artist who has never charted in the UK.
When "
Give It All We Got Tonight" was released on October 29, 2012, a "Sixty For Sixty" campaign was organized to help accomplish the historic milestone of giving Strait his 60th #1 single (across various charts) while he was 60 years old. It came down to the last minute as it finally reached the top of the Mediabase Country Aircheck chart as the most-played song on Country radio a few days before the Nashville legend's 61st birthday. In doing so, Strait became the first artist in any genre to place 60 songs at the top of the Mediabase charts.
In 2013, Strait set out on The Cowboy Rides Away Tour, a year-and-a-half, cross-country final concert tour. He shattered the North American single show concert attendance record by drawing 104,793 concert-goers to his June 7, 2014 tour finale at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas. The concert also set a record for the largest gross at a single-show country concert, $18,194,374.
George's daughter Jenifer was tragically killed in an automobile accident in San Marcos on June 25, 1986, at the age of 13. The family set up the Jenifer Lynn Strait Foundation, which donates money to children's charities in the San Antonio area. His 1988 #1 song "
Baby Blue" talks about a girl with baby blue eyes who was in his life for a short time, but he still thinks of her often. Though it has never been confirmed, it has long been thought that Strait sang this song for Jenifer.
Strait is rarely seen without his cowboy hat on - he's wearing it on all of the album covers on which he appears. When he signed with MCA Records back in 1981, he says folks at the label pressured him to take it off, but he refused.
George Strait does some convincing acting on all those songs about getting his heart broken. He married his wife Norma in 1971 when he was just 19, and they're still together. He credits Norma for pushing him to stick with music when he was struggling to get a record deal.
George Strait rewrote history on June 15, 2024, when his concert at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, drew a crowd of 110,905 fans. This massive turnout surpassed the long-held record for the biggest ticketed concert in US history, surpassing the 107,019 set by the Grateful Dead in 1977 for a show at Raceway Park, New Jersey.
George Strait made his Grand Ole Opry debut on October 9, 1982. He appeared twice that night - during the 8:30 segment of the early show and at 11:00 during the late show. Despite his immense popularity, this was his only solo appearance on the Opry stage. His Texas residency limited his involvement with the legendary Nashville venue.
