Background and career
Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin" from his self-titled debut album. "Austin" spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The now platinum-certified debut album also produced two more top-20 entries ("All Over Me" and "Ol' Red"). His second and third albums, 2003's The Dreamer and 2004's Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill, are gold and platinum, respectively. His fourth album, Pure BS (2007), was reissued in 2008 with a cover of Michael Bublé's pop hit "Home" as one of the bonus tracks. His fifth album, Startin' Fires was released in November 2008. It was followed by the extended plays Hillbilly Bone and All About Tonight in 2010 and the albums Red River Blue in 2011, Based on a True Story... in 2013, Bringing Back the Sunshine in 2014, If I'm Honest in 2016, Texoma Shore in 2017, Fully Loaded: God's Country in 2019, Body Language in 2021, and his latest album For Recreational Use Only in 2025. As of December 2020, Shelton has charted 41 singles, including 30 number ones, 17 of which were consecutive. The 11th number one ("Doin' What She Likes") broke "the record for the most consecutive number-one singles in the Country Airplay chart's 24-year history". Throughout his career, he has received nine Grammy Award nominations, including two for Best Country Album. In 2024, Shelton left Warner Music Nashville and signed with BBR Music Group. Shelton has been a judge on the televised singing competitions Nashville Star and Clash of the Choirs, and a coach on NBC's The Voice. He was on The Voice from 2011 to 2023, and in 9 of 23 seasons (2–4, 7, 11, 13, 18, 20, and 22), a member of his team won.
Blake Tollison Shelton was born on June 18, 1976, in Ada, Oklahoma, to Dorothy Ann (née Byrd), a beauty salon owner, and Richard Lee "Dick" Shelton, a car salesman. Shelton began singing at an early age and by the age of 12, he was taught how to play the guitar by his uncle. By age 15, he had written his first song. By age 16, he had received a Denbo Diamond Award in his home state. On November 13, 1990, his older brother, Richie Shelton died in an automobile accident at the age of 24. After graduating from high school at 17, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a singing career. There, he got a job at a music publishing company, and, in 1997, he was aided by Bobby Braddock to obtain a production contract with Sony Music.
Some years later in Nashville, he signed to Giant Records. In 2001, he was slated to release a song entitled "I Wanna Talk About Me" as a single, but the staff at the label considered the song unsuitable for a lead-off single, and the song was eventually recorded by Toby Keith, whose version was a number-one single. Instead, Giant released "Austin" as Shelton's debut single. Shortly after that song was released, Giant Records was closed, and Shelton was transferred to parent company Warner Bros. Records. "Austin" became Shelton's first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts and spent five weeks at that position. Warner released Shelton's self-titled debut album, which was produced by songwriter Bobby Braddock. It also produced the top-20 hits "All Over Me", which Shelton co-wrote with Earl Thomas Conley and Mike Pyle, and "Ol' Red". Although Shelton's rendition of "Ol' Red" was not a major radio hit, he considers it his signature song, and it has become popular in concert. The album received a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of 1,000,000 copies. The album received a positive review from Maria Konicki Dinoia of Allmusic, who called "Austin" "tremendously imaginative" and praised Shelton for including songs written by Braddock and Conley. Country Standard Time was less favorable, with Scott Homewood saying that the "album just smacks of being assembled with the intent on capturing the burgeoning alternative country market". Shelton's second album, The Dreamer, was first released on February 4, 2003, on Warner Bros. Records. Its lead-off single, "The Baby", reached number one on the country charts, holding that position for three weeks. Although the second and third singles ("Heavy Liftin'" and "Playboys of the Southwestern World", respectively) only reached number 32 and number 24, The Dreamer earned gold certification, as well. He, along with Andy Griggs and Montgomery Gentry, sang guest vocals on Tracy Byrd's mid-2003 single "The Truth About Men". Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill was the title of Shelton's third studio album, released in 2004. Its lead-off single, the Harley Allen co-written "When Somebody Knows You That Well", peaked at number 37 on the country charts, while the follow-up "Some Beach" became his third number-one hit, holding that position for four weeks. It was followed by a cover of Conway Twitty's 1988 single "Goodbye Time". Both this cover and its follow-up, "Nobody but Me", reached top 10 for Shelton, as well. As with his first album, Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill was certified platinum. Accompanying the album's release was a video collection entitled Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill: A Video Collection. On December 18, 2005, several of Shelton's songs, including "Nobody but Me", appeared on the TV movie The Christmas Blessing, starring Neil Patrick Harris, Rebecca Gayheart, Angus T. Jones, and Rob Lowe. Shelton had a small role at the end of the movie, playing himself at a benefit concert, singing "Nobody but Me".
Shelton released his fourth studio album, Pure BS, in early 2007. Unlike with his first three albums, which were produced entirely by Bobby Braddock, Shelton worked with Braddock, Brent Rowan, and Paul Worley as producers for this album. Its first two singles—"Don't Make Me" and "The More I Drink"—were both top-20 hits on the country charts, respectively reaching number 12 and number 19. Also in late 2007, Shelton made appearances on television shows, first as a judge on the talent competition Nashville Star, and later on Clash of the Choirs. Pure BS was re-released in 2008 with three bonus tracks, including a cover of Michael Bublé's hit single "Home". This cover, released in early 2008 as the album's third single, became his fourth number-one hit in July. "Home" was followed in August 2008 by the single "She Wouldn't Be Gone", his 14th chart entry and his fifth number-one hit. It was the first time in his career that he had two consecutive number ones. "She Wouldn't Be Gone" is the lead-off to Shelton's fifth studio album, Startin' Fires, which has also produced the single "I'll Just Hold On". This album also includes "Bare Skin Rug", a duet with Lambert. It was produced by Scott Hendricks, except for one track, which was produced by Brent Rowan, and another ("I Don't Care", which carried over from Pure BS) was produced by Braddock. After "I'll Just Hold On" fell off the chart in October 2009, Shelton released a duet with Trace Adkins titled "Hillbilly Bone". It was the lead single on Shelton's EP, Hillbilly Bone, released on March 2, 2010, through Reprise Records Nashville. After "Hillbilly Bone" reached number one in February, All About Tonight, the lead-off single to his EP of the same name, was released. In September, he released the second single from All About Tonight, "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking", his 18th single release. He released his first greatest-hits album, Loaded: The Best of Blake Shelton in November 2010. Shelton was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry during the September 28, 2010, "Country Comes Home" concert celebrating reopening of the Grand Ole Opry House after the Cumberland River flooded the Opry House in May 2010. The formal invitation was extended on his Twitter account and was announced by Opry star Trace Adkins. He was formally inducted by Adkins at the October 23, 2010, Grand Ole Opry performance. Shelton recorded the title track for the remake of Footloose released on October 14, 2011. Shelton appeared on the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010, where he performed "All About Tonight" and won Male Vocalist of the Year.
Shelton released the album Red River Blue on July 12, 2011, led by the single, "Honey Bee". The song received 138,000 downloads in its first week and was certified gold in its seventh week, setting a record for the fastest gold certification by a male country singer. On June 13, 2011, in its 10th chart week, "Honey Bee" went to number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, becoming his ninth and his fastest-climbing one. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with around 116,000 copies sold. "God Gave Me You", a cover of a Dave Barnes song, was the album's second single; it also reached number one. "Drink on It", the fifth song on the album, hit number one in April 2012, giving him his 11th such song. On April 30, 2012, Shelton performed "Over" on the semifinals of the second season of The Voice. "Over" became Shelton's seventh consecutive number one and his 12th to date. In 2011, Shelton became a coach on the NBC show The Voice. In season one, his finalist Dia Frampton came in second. Frampton recorded a track with Shelton titled "I Will" on her album Red, released December 6, 2011. Shelton returned for a second season of the show with his finalist Jermaine Paul as the champion. In season three of The Voice, Shelton's team member, Cassadee Pope, was declared the winner with other Team Blake contestant Terry McDermott finishing as runner-up. Shelton took the stage with Miranda Lambert at Super Bowl XLVI in February 2012 to open the event, singing a duet version of "America the Beautiful". It marked their first TV performance since their May 2011 wedding. In October 2012, Shelton released his first Christmas album, Cheers, It's Christmas, which peaked at numbers one and two, respectively on the Top Holiday Albums and Top Country Albums charts. Shelton appears on fellow Voice coach Christina Aguilera's album Lotus on the song "Just a Fool".
Shortly after midnight on New Year's Day 2013, Shelton premiered a new single entitled "Sure Be Cool If You Did", which was released to iTunes on January 8 and reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay chart in 2013. His eighth studio album, Based on a True Story..., was released on March 26, 2013, and debuted at number one on the country chart and number three on the all-genre chart by selling a career-best nearly 200,000 copies. The album's second single, "Boys 'Round Here", released to country radio in 2013 and also reached number one on the Country Airplay chart. The album's third single, "Mine Would Be You", was released to country radio on July 22, 2013, and reached number one on the Country Airplay chart in November 2013. "Mine Would Be You" became Shelton's tenth consecutive number-one single, tying him with the record set by Brad Paisley in 2009. With the release of the album's fourth single, "Doin' What She Likes", Shelton achieved his 11th consecutive number-one single, thus breaking the tie. Shelton received the Gene Weed Special Achievement Award for his role as a coach on The Voice at the 48th Academy of Country Music Awards in 2013. Shelton supported Based on a True Story... on his Ten Times Crazier Tour, which began on July 19, 2013, and ended on October 5, 2013. Shelton has continued the tour into 2014 and 2015. On season four of The Voice, he became the winning coach for the third consecutive time with team members Danielle Bradbery as the winner and the Swon Brothers in third place.
