Toby Keith facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Toby Keith
Keith performing in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Toby Keith Covel
Born	(1961-07-08)July 8, 1961 Clinton, Oklahoma, U.S.
Origin	Moore, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died	February 5, 2024(2024-02-05) (aged 62) Oklahoma, U.S.
Genres	Country
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter actor record producer
Instruments	Vocals guitar
Years active	1993–2024
Labels	Mercury Nashville Polydor A&M DreamWorks Nashville Show Dog-Universal (formerly of Show Dog Nashville)

Toby Keith Covel (July 8, 1961 – February 5, 2024), known professionally as Toby Keith, was an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. In the 1990s, he released his first four studio albums—Toby Keith (1993), Boomtown (1994), Blue Moon (1996) and Dream Walkin' (1997)—and Greatest Hits Volume One under Mercury Records. These albums all earned gold or higher certification and had several top ten singles, including his chart-topping debut "Should've Been a Cowboy".

Signed to DreamWorks Records Nashville in 1998, Keith released his breakthrough single "How Do You Like Me Now?!" in late 1999. This song, the title track to his 1999 album of the same name, was the number one country song of 2000, and one of several chart-toppers during his tenure on DreamWorks Nashville. His next three albums, Pull My Chain, Unleashed, and Shock'n Y'all, produced three more number ones each, and all of the albums were certified 4× Platinum. A second Greatest Hits package followed in 2004, and after that, he released Honkytonk University.

Keith released 19 studio albums, 2 Christmas albums, and 5 compilation albums, totaling worldwide sales of over 40 million albums. He charted 61 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including 20 number one hits and 22 additional top 10 hits. His longest-lasting number one hits are "Beer for My Horses" (a 2003 duet with Willie Nelson) and "As Good as I Once Was" (2005), at six weeks each. Keith was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Donald Trump in a closed ceremony alongside Ricky Skaggs on January 13, 2021.

Early life and education

Toby Keith Covel was born on July 8, 1961, in Clinton, Oklahoma, to Carolyn Joan (née Ross) and Hubert K. Covel Jr. He had a sister and a brother. The family lived in Fort Smith, Arkansas, for a few years when Keith was in grade school, but moved to Moore, Oklahoma (a suburb of Oklahoma City), when he was still young. Before the family moved to Moore, he visited his grandmother in Fort Smith during the summers. His grandmother owned Billie Garner's Supper Club in Fort Smith, where Keith became interested in the musicians who came there to play. He did odd jobs around the supper club and started getting up on the bandstand to play with the band. He got his first guitar at the age of eight.

After the family moved to Moore, Keith attended Highland West Junior High and Moore High School, where he played defensive end on the football team.

Keith graduated from Moore High School and worked as a derrick hand in the oil fields. He worked his way up to become a supervisor. When Keith was 20, he and his friends formed the Easy Money Band, which played at local bars and roadhouses as he continued to work in the oil industry. At times, he would have to leave in the middle of a concert if he was paged to work in the oil field.

In 1982, the oil industry in Oklahoma began a rapid decline He fell back on his football training and played defensive end with the semi-pro Oklahoma City Drillers while continuing to perform with his band. (The Drillers were an unofficial farm club of the United States Football League's Oklahoma Outlaws; Keith tried out for the Outlaws but did not make the team.) He then returned to focus once again on music. His family and friends were doubtful he would succeed, but, in 1984, Easy Money (various other band members included Mike Barnes, T.A. Brauer, and David Saylors) began playing the honky-tonk circuit in Oklahoma and Texas.

Musical career

In the early 1990s, Keith went to Nashville, Tennessee, where he hung out and busked on Music Row and at a place called Houndogs. He distributed copies of a demo tape the band had made to the many record companies in the city. There was no interest by any of the record labels, and Keith returned home feeling depressed. He had promised himself to have a recording contract by the time he was 30 years old or give up on music as a career. A flight attendant and fan of his gave a copy of Keith's demo tape to Harold Shedd, a Mercury Records executive, while he was traveling on a flight she was working. Shedd enjoyed what he heard, went to see Keith perform live and then signed him to a recording contract with Mercury.

Keith went to Nashville, Tennessee, where he busked along Music Row to no avail, until producer Harold Shedd signed him with Mercury Records after receiving a copy of Keith's demo tape from a flight attendant who was a fan of Keith’s.

1993–1995: Toby Keith and Boomtown

Keith's debut single, "Should've Been a Cowboy", went to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1993, and it reached number 93 on the Billboard Hot 100. This song led off his self-titled debut album. Certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of one million copies, the album produced three more Top 5 hits on the country charts with "He Ain't Worth Missing" (at #5), "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action" (originally the B-side of "Should've Been a Cowboy") and "Wish I Didn't Know Now" (both at #2). Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic wrote of the album, "It is given a production that's a bit too big, clean, glossy and cavernous for Keith's good—it fits the outsized sound of early-'90s radio, but not his outsized talent—but beneath that sheen the songs are very strong." He also thought that it showed the signs of the style that Keith would develop on subsequent albums. The album's success led to Keith touring with then-labelmates Shania Twain and John Brannen. Keith and Twain also appeared in Tracy Lawrence's music video for "My Second Home" in 1993.

Keith then signed with Polydor Records Nashville and released his second album, Boomtown, in September 1994. Also certified platinum, this album was led off by the number one single "Who's That Man". After it, "Upstairs Downtown" and "You Ain't Much Fun" both made the Top 10, while "Big Ol' Truck" peaked at number 15. By late-1995, he released his first Christmas album, Christmas to Christmas, via Mercury. Composed entirely of original songs, the album produced one chart entry in "Santa I'm Right Here", which reached as high as number 50 based on Christmas airplay.

1996–1998: Blue Moon, Dream Walkin' and Greatest Hits Volume One

Keith then signed with the short-lived Nashville division of A&M Records to release his third album Blue Moon in April 1996. That album received a platinum certification and produced three singles. Its first single, "Does That Blue Moon Ever Shine on You", which Keith wrote in 1987, peaked at number 2. Following it were "A Woman's Touch" at number 6, and "Me Too", which became his third number one hit in March 1997. Keith also appeared on The Beach Boys' now out-of-print 1996 album Stars and Stripes Vol. 1 performing a cover of their 1963 hit "Be True to Your School" with the Beach Boys themselves providing the harmonies and backing vocals.

Following a corporate merger, Keith returned to Mercury in 1997. His fourth studio album, Dream Walkin', was also his first produced by James Stroud, who would also serve as Keith's co-producer until 2005. It produced two consecutive number 2 hits with "We Were in Love" and a cover of Sting's 1996 single "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying". Sting also sang duet vocals and played bass guitar on it, and the two also performed the song at the 1997 Country Music Association awards. After this song, the album's title track reached number 5, while "Double Wide Paradise" peaked at number 40.

Keith's last Mercury release was Greatest Hits Volume One in October 1998. The album included twelve of his prior singles and two new songs: the country rap "Getcha Some" and "If a Man Answers". Both were released as singles, with "Getcha Some" reaching the Top 20, but "If a Man Answers" became his first single to miss the Top 40. According to Keith, these two songs were originally to be put on a studio album, but Mercury executives, dissatisfied with the album that Keith had made, chose to put those two songs on a greatest hits package, and asked him to "go work on another album". After he recorded two more songs which the label also rejected, he asked to terminate his contract with the label. After exiting Mercury, Keith co-wrote Shane Minor's debut single "Slave to the Habit" with Chuck Cannon and Kostas.

Toby Keith playing guitar

1999–2002: How Do You Like Me Now?! and Pull My Chain

In 1999, Keith moved to DreamWorks Records' Nashville division, of which Stroud served as president. His first release for the label was "When Love Fades", which also failed to make Top 40. Upon seeing the single's poor performance, Keith requested that it be withdrawn and replaced with "How Do You Like Me Now?!", a song that he wrote with Chuck Cannon, and which had previously been turned down by Mercury. It also served as the title track to his first DreamWorks album, How Do You Like Me Now?! The song spent five weeks at number 1 on the country charts, and became his first top 40 pop hit, with a number 31 peak on the Hot 100. It was also the top country song of 2000 according to the Billboard Year-End chart. The album, which was certified platinum, produced a Top 5 hit in "Country Comes to Town" and another number 1 in "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This". It was also his first album to feature songs co-written by Scotty Emerick, who would be a frequent collaborator of Keith's for the next several albums. Steve Huey wrote that this album "had a rough, brash attitude that helped give Keith a stronger identity as a performer." In 2001, Keith won the Academy of Country Music's Top Male Vocalist and Album of the Year awards.

Following this album was Pull My Chain, released in August 2001. The album's three singles—"I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight", "I Wanna Talk About Me", and "My List"—all went to number 1 on the country charts, with the latter two both holding that position for five weeks. "I Wanna Talk About Me", written by Bobby Braddock, also displayed a country rap influence with its spoken-word lyrics. The Country Music Association named "My List" as Single of the Year in 2002. Of Pull My Chain, Erlewine wrote that "this is a bigger, better record than its predecessor, possessing a richer musicality and a more confident sense of humor".

2002–2004: Unleashed and Shock'n Y'all

In 2002, he released the Unleashed album which included four singles. First was "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)", which Keith wrote in 20 minutes as a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. The song references Keith's father, a United States Army veteran who died that March in a car accident. Both this song and "Who's Your Daddy?" were number 1 hits, with "Rock You Baby" reaching number 13. The last single was "Beer for My Horses", a duet with Willie Nelson which spent six weeks at the top of the country charts. At the time, it was also Keith's highest entry on the Hot 100, at number 22. In July 2003, Keith made a guest appearance on Scotty Emerick's debut single "I Can't Take You Anywhere", which was previously recorded by Keith on Pull My Chain. Emerick's version of the song was his only top 40 country hit, at number 27.

Shock'n Y'all, his eighth studio album, was released in November 2003. It became his second album from which all singles went to number 1: "I Love This Bar", "American Soldier", and "Whiskey Girl". "Stays in Mexico" was a number 3 hit on the country charts, while "Mockingbird" peaked at number 27.

Keith's final DreamWorks album was Honkytonk University in early 2005. Lead-off single "Honkytonk U" peaked at number 8, followed by "As Good as I Once Was", which spent six weeks at number 1, and "Big Blue Note" at number 5. After the release of the latter, DreamWorks Records ceased operations.

2005–2024: After DreamWorks

On August 31, 2005, Keith founded a new label, Show Dog Nashville. On May 6, 2008, he released 35 Biggest Hits, a two-disc compilation featuring most of his singles to date.

Keith released "She Never Cried in Front of Me", which went to number 1 in 2008. Its corresponding album, That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy, followed on October 28, 2008. It was followed by "God Love Her", also a number 1 hit, and "Lost You Anyway". American Ride, in 2009, produced another number 1 in its title track. It was followed by the Top 10 hit "Cryin' for Me (Wayman's Song)", a tribute to basketball player and jazz bassist Wayman Tisdale, a friend of Keith's who died in May 2009. The album's final single was "Every Dog Has Its Day".

Bullets in the Gun was released on October 5, 2010. This was Keith's first album not to produce a top 10 hit, with "Trailerhood" reaching number 19, followed by the title track and "Somewhere Else" both at number 12. Keith produced the album with session guitarist Kenny Greenberg and recording engineer Mills Logan.

On October 25, 2011, Clancy's Tavern was released. The album included the single "Made in America", written by Keith along with Bobby Pinson and Scott Reeves, which went to number 1. Following it was "Red Solo Cup", which had previously been made into a music video which became popular. Upon release as a single, "Red Solo Cup" became Keith's best-peaking crossover, reaching number 15 on the Hot 100. The album's final single was "Beers Ago" at number 6 in 2012. In December 2011, Keith was named "Artist of the Decade" by the American Country Awards.

Keith's sixteenth album, Hope on the Rocks, was released in late 2012. It produced only two singles, both of which are top 20 hits: "I Like Girls That Drink Beer" reached at number 17 and the title track peaked at number 18.

In mid-2013, he entered the charts with "Drinks After Work", the first single from his seventeenth album, also titled Drinks After Work. The album's second single is "Shut Up and Hold On".

In April 2015, Keith released "35 MPH Town", the title track from his eighteenth studio album. In 2015, Keith was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In September 2017, Keith released the compilation album, The Bus Songs. The album contains twelve songs.

In 2021, Keith featured on the Brantley Gilbert single "The Worst Country Song of All Time" with Hardy.

On September 28, 2023, after receiving the first Country Icon Award at the Peoples Choice Country Awards, Keith performed publicly for the first time since his 2022 cancer diagnosis. His performance of "Don't Let the Old Man In", which was previously used in Clint Eastwood's 2018 film The Mule, received a standing ovation.

Acting career

Television appearances

Keith performed on a series of television advertisements for Telecom USA for that company's discount long-distance telephone service 10-10-220. He also starred in Ford commercials, singing original songs such as "Ford Truck Man" and "Look Again" while driving Ford trucks.

Keith made an appearance at the first Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (then NWA-TNA) weekly pay-per-view on June 19, 2002, where his playing of "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" was interrupted by Jeff Jarrett. He would later enter the Gauntlet for the Gold main event, suplexing Jarrett and eliminating him from the match. A short video of the suplex is seen in the clip package when he goes onstage. He appeared the next week, on June 26, and helped Scott Hall defeat Jarrett in singles action.

In 2009, Keith participated in the Comedy Central Roast of Larry the Cable Guy, which aired on March 14, 2009.

Keith received the "Colbert Bump" when he appeared on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. He holds the distinction of being the only musical artist to have received a five star rating from Stephen Colbert on iTunes. Keith furthered this connection when he appeared in Colbert's 2008 Christmas special as a hunter. Keith also made an appearance as a musical guest on the October 27, 2011, episode of The Colbert Report.

On October 29, 2011, Keith appeared on Fox Channel's Huckabee with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. He played "Bullets in the Gun" and he joined with Huckabee's house band to play a song at the end of the show.

In December 2018, Keith appeared as a guest on Darci Lynne: My Hometown Christmas.

Acting

In the Autumn of 2005, he filmed Broken Bridges, written by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld, and directed by Steven Goldmann. This feature film from Paramount/CMT Films was released on September 8, 2006. In this contemporary story set in small-town Tennessee, Keith plays Bo Price, a washed-up country musician. The movie also stars Kelly Preston, Burt Reynolds, Tess Harper, and Lindsey Haun.

Keith wrote and starred in the 2008 movie Beer for My Horses, which is based on the 2003 hit song of the same name recorded by Keith and Willie Nelson.

Business ventures

In 2005, Keith opened Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as well as Syracuse, New York, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, and later also had restaurants in Thackerville, Oklahoma; Auburn Hills, Michigan; Kansas City; Las Vegas; Mesa, Arizona; Peoria, Arizona; St. Louis Park, Minnesota; Foxborough, Massachusetts; Cincinnati, Ohio; Newport News, Virginia; and Denver, Colorado. Keith does not actually own the new restaurants; the new restaurant is the first in a franchise under Scottsdale, Arizona-based Capri Restaurant Group Enterprises LLC, which purchased the master license agreement to build more Toby Keith restaurants nationwide. Capri Restaurant Group is owned by Frank Capri, who opened the restaurant in Mesa in the shopping center known as Mesa Riverview and is planning on opening multiple locations across the country.

In 2009, Capri Restaurant Group announced that it will open another "I Love this Bar & Grill" location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's South Side Works shopping and entertainment district.

In 2009, Keith also established a line of clothing, TK Steelman.

February 2010 marked the opening of the Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill in the Winstar World Casino, exit 1 on Interstate 35 in Oklahoma. Other locations opened in 2010 by the Capri Restaurant Group included those in Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and in the Shops at West End in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Both of which closed in 2015.

In 2011, Keith introduced a new drink named "Wild Shot". At first it was only available in Mexico, but now is sold and served in America. It is a featured drink in his restaurant chain.

Keith's music career and his various other business ventures made him one of the wealthiest celebrities in the United States. The July 15, 2013, edition of Forbes magazine features Keith on the cover with the caption "Country Music's $500 million man". The article titled "Cowboy Capitalist" by Zack O'Malley Greenburg also contains information regarding Keith's earnings as a musician over the course of his career, such as earning $65 million in the past 12 months, which surpasses the earnings of even more well known musicians such as Jay-Z and Beyoncé and that he hasn't earned less than $48 million a year over the past 5 years. Keith wrote at least one #1 country single per year over the past 20 years and the partnership between his own label, Show Dog-Universal, and Big Machine Records, which Keith also helped found in 2005.

Personal life

Keith married Tricia Lucus on March 24, 1984. He was the father of three children.

Keith's father, H. K. Covel, was killed after a charter bus collided with his car on Interstate 35 on March 24, 2001. The Covel family was awarded $2.8 million for his wrongful death on December 25, 2007. Elias and Pedro Rodriguez, operators of Rodriguez Transportes of Tulsa, and the Republic Western Insurance Co. were found liable, as they failed to equip the bus with properly working air brakes.

Keith had an honorary degree from Villanova University, which he attended from 1979 to 1980. He planned to be a petroleum engineer.

He was an avid University of Oklahoma sports fan, and Keith was often seen at Oklahoma Sooners games and practices. He was also a fan of professional wrestling, being seen in the front row of numerous WWE shows that took place in Oklahoma, as well as performing "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue" live at the first ever TNA Wrestling show on June 19, 2002. He was also a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team. He was a Free Will Baptist.

Philanthropy

Keith supported Ally's House, a non-profit organization in Oklahoma designed to aid children with cancer. Of the charity, Keith said:

This is a special charity to me. I saw firsthand how a child's cancer diagnosis can devastate a family. Please join me in supporting these kids through Ally's House. We're gonna make it better for the kids.

Keith filmed a PSA for Little Kids Rock, a national nonprofit that works to restore and revitalize music education in disadvantaged U.S. public schools.

As of 2015, Forbes estimated Keith's annual income at $53 million.

Cancer diagnosis and death

In June 2022, Keith announced that he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer at the end of 2021, having undergone chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery for the past six months. Keith said that his battle with cancer had been "pretty debilitating" in a December 2022 press release. Keith died in his sleep in Oklahoma on February 5, 2024, at the age of 62.

Fellow country artists and bands who paid tribute included Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Old Dominion, Jelly Roll, Zach Bryan, John Rich, Lady A, Jake Owen, Luke Combs, and others such as First Lady Jill Biden, actor Stephen Baldwin, and radio and television personality Bobby Bones.

Discography

Studio albums

• Toby Keith (1993)
• Boomtown (1994)
• Blue Moon (1996)
• Dream Walkin' (1997)
• How Do You Like Me Now?! (1999)
• Pull My Chain (2001)
• Unleashed (2002)
• Shock'n Y'all (2003)
• Honkytonk University (2005)
• ...with Money (2006)
• Big Dog Daddy (2007)
• That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy (2008)
• American Ride (2009)
• Bullets in the Gun (2010)
• Clancy's Tavern (2011)
• Hope on the Rocks (2012)
• Drinks After Work (2013)
• 35 MPH Town (2015)
• Peso in My Pocket (2021)

Compilation albums

• Greatest Hits Volume One (1998)
• 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection (2003)
• Greatest Hits 2 (2004)
• 35 Biggest Hits (2008)
• The Bus Songs (2017)
• Greatest Hits: The Show Dog Years (2019)

Christmas albums

• Christmas to Christmas (1995)
• A Classic Christmas (2007)

Number one singles

• "Should've Been a Cowboy"
• "Who's That Man"
• "Me Too"
• "How Do You Like Me Now?!"
• "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This"
• "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight"
• "I Wanna Talk About Me"
• "My List"
• "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)"
• "Who's Your Daddy?"
• "Beer for My Horses" (duet with Willie Nelson)
• "I Love This Bar"
• "American Soldier"
• "Whiskey Girl"
• "As Good as I Once Was"
• "Love Me If You Can"
• "She Never Cried in Front of Me"
• "God Love Her"
• "American Ride"
• "Made in America"

Filmography

• Broken Bridges (2006) also starring Kelly Preston and Lindsey Haun
• CMT Music Awards (2003–2012) Co-Host With Pamela Anderson and Kristen Bell
• Beer for My Horses (2008)

See also

In Spanish: Toby Keith para niños