Background and career
Steven Noel Wariner (born December 25, 1954) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Initially a backing musician for Dottie West, he also worked with Bob Luman and Chet Atkins before beginning a solo career in the late 1970s. He has released 18 studio albums and over 50 singles for several different record labels. Wariner experienced his greatest chart successes in the 1980s, recording first for RCA Records Nashville and then MCA Nashville. While on these labels he sent a number of singles into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts and received favorable critical reception for the amount of creative control he held over his body of work. Upon moving to Arista Nashville in 1991 he had his most commercially successful album I Am Ready, his first to be certified gold, but followups were less successful. After a period of commercial downfall, he experienced a second wave of success in the late 1990s which was spurred by co-writing the number-one singles "Longneck Bottle" by Garth Brooks and "Nothin' but the Taillights" by Clint Black. These songs led to him signing with Capitol Records Nashville and achieving two more gold albums with Burnin' the Roadhouse Down and Two Teardrops by decade's end. While his commercial success once again dwindled after these albums, he has continued to record independently on his own SelecTone label. Ten of Wariner's singles have reached the number-one position on the Hot Country Songs charts: "All Roads Lead to You", "Some Fools Never Learn", "You Can Dream of Me", "Life's Highway", "Small Town Girl", "The Weekend", "Lynda", "Where Did I Go Wrong", "I Got Dreams", and "What If I Said" (a duet with Anita Cochran). Wariner holds several writing credits for both himself and other artists, and has collaborated with Nicolette Larson, Glen Campbell, Diamond Rio, Brad Paisley, Asleep at the Wheel, and Mark O'Connor among others. He has also won four Grammy Awards: one for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, and three for Best Country Instrumental. In addition to these he has won three Country Music Association awards and one Academy of Country Music award, and is a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Wariner's musical style is defined by his lead guitar work, lyrical content, and stylistic diversity.
Steven Noel Wariner was born on December 25, 1954, in Noblesville, Indiana, but grew up in Russell Springs, Kentucky. As a teenager, Wariner taught himself how to play several instruments, including acoustic guitar, bass guitar, drums, banjo, and steel guitar. Wariner performed locally in his father Roy Wariner's band, drawing influence from musical acts his father listened to such as George Jones and Chet Atkins. When Wariner was 17, country singer Dottie West heard him performing at the Nashville Country Club in Indianapolis and recruited him to play bass guitar in her road band. Wariner completed his education through a correspondence course with his local high school, and went on to play in West's band for three years; he also played on her 1973 single "Country Sunshine". Wariner also began writing songs at this point, and West attempted to secure him a record label contract by submitting demos of his work, but was unsuccessful. He then left West's road band to put a greater focus on songwriting, and began touring with Bob Luman after he cut some of Wariner's songs. While in recording sessions with Luman, Wariner encountered guitarist Paul Yandell, who was also working for Atkins at the time. Yandell submitted some of Wariner's demos to Atkins, who was also vice-president of RCA Records Nashville at the time and was thus able to sign Wariner to a contract in 1976.
His first single release for RCA was "I'm Already Taken", a song that Wariner co-wrote. It peaked at number 63 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in 1978. This was followed by five more chart singles, none of which appeared on an album at the time due to their limited success. These singles were primarily covers of songs by other artists, including Charley Pride's "The Easy Part's Over". Record World magazine published a positive review of this cover, which stated that it was a "slow, sad ballad" in which "Wariner continues to show a whole lotta vocal talent." Atkins also hired Wariner to be a bassist in his road band, which led to a nomination by the Academy of Country Music for Bassist of the Year in 1979. Also, Atkins served as his record producer on his first single releases, but later encouraged him to find a different one. As a result, "The Easy Part's Over" was instead produced by Tom Collins, known for also producing Ronnie Milsap and Sylvia. His first major chart hit came in 1980 when "Your Memory" ascended to the number seven position on the country charts. Due to the song's success, Atkins fired Wariner from his band. "Your Memory" was the first of six singles from his self-titled debut album, which was also produced by Collins. After it came his first number-one single, 1981's "All Roads Lead to You", followed by the top 15 hit "Kansas City Lights". Both of these songs were written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan. The album's last two singles, "Don't It Break Your Heart" and "Don't Plan on Sleeping Tonight", fared less successfully on the charts. Al Campbell of AllMusic stated that Wariner's "sophisticated country-pop sound was already perfected, and it showed by the quality of the material." In 1980, the Academy of Country Music nominated Wariner for Top New Male Vocalist. RCA released his second studio album Midnight Fire in 1983. Tony Brown and Norro Wilson co-produced the album except for the last two tracks, for which Collins stayed on as producer. Contributing songwriters included Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, Jerry Fuller, and Richard Leigh. The closing track was a duet with Barbara Mandrell titled "Overnight Sensation", which also appeared on Mandrell's 1983 album Spun Gold. Wariner said that he chose to switch producers as a means of introducing more uptempo material, and both Wilson and Brown were working for RCA at the time. The lead single "Don't Your Memory Ever Sleep at Night" faltered on the country charts, but the title track was more successful, reaching a peak of number five. Following this was a cover of Luman's 1972 hit "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers", which in early 1984 matched the original version's Hot Country Songs peak of number four. The album's next two singles, "Why Goodbye" and "Don't You Give Up on Love", were less successful. Joy Lynn Stewart of the Red Deer Advocate praised Wariner's "fine, textured vocals" along with the combination of upbeat songs and ballads.
When Wariner's contract ended in 1984, he chose to follow Brown to MCA Nashville. His first album for the label was 1985's One Good Night Deserves Another, which Brown co-produced with Jimmy Bowen. The album included three singles: the top-ten hits "What I Didn't Do" and "Heart Trouble", and his second number-one hit "Some Fools Never Learn". The Academy of Country Music nominated "Some Fools Never Learn" for Song of the Year in 1985, and Wariner later remarked that he considered it his favorite single. In the process of making the album, Wariner said that Brown and Bowen allowed him more control in the creative process than previous producers, by asking him to find his own material and then explain to them why he liked each song that he had chosen. The song selection process also allowed for a number of songwriters not typically found on albums of the era. These writers included Dave Gibson, Ronnie Rogers, Wood Newton, Paul Overstreet, and Steve Earle. Stewart wrote that "Wariner takes a fresh approach to traditional country and melds a unique, winning style", highlighting the ballad "You Can't Cut Me Any Deeper" and the "grand pace" of "Your Love Has Got a Hold on Me" in particular. His next album, Life's Highway (1986), produced two consecutive number-one Hot Country Songs peaks: "You Can Dream of Me" and the title track. This was followed by the number four "Starting Over Again". Wariner co-wrote five songs on the album including "You Can Dream of Me", which he wrote with John Hall, then of the band Orleans. As with the previous album, Bowen and Brown requested that he have input on song selection and production processes; one such decision made by Wariner was not to have a string section on the album because he would not be able to include one in a live setting. Al Campbell of AllMusic reviewed the album favorably, stating that it "showed him moving into a more mature musical direction. The best moments here outshine anything Wariner had recorded up to that point". In between the releases of "Life's Highway" and "Starting Over Again", he was also a duet vocalist on Nicolette Larson's "That's How You Know When Love's Right", which was nominated for that year's Vocal Event of the Year from the Country Music Association. Wariner gained further exposure in this timespan for singing the theme to the television sitcom Who's the Boss?, which used his rendition from 1986 to 1990.
Overlapping with his first two MCA albums, RCA promoted two compilations of material. The first of these was a Greatest Hits album, issued in 1985. The following year, RCA compiled eight previously unreleased songs into an album titled Down in Tennessee. RCA also issued promotional singles from each compilation: "When We're Together" from Greatest Hits, and "You Make It Feel So Right", a duet with Carol Chase, from Down in Tennessee. Also featured on Down in Tennessee was an instrumental track called "Sano Scat". Ron Chalmers of the Edmonton Journal gave Down in Tennessee a mixed review, finding Wariner's vocals stronger on the ballads than on the uptempo material. His next MCA release was 1987's It's a Crazy World, which was his first to be issued on compact disc. The title track was written by Mac McAnally, who originally had a pop hit with it in 1977. All three of its singles topped the Hot Country Songs charts: "Small Town Girl", "The Weekend", and "Lynda". In between "The Weekend" and "Lynda", Wariner was also a guest vocalist on Glen Campbell's top-ten hit "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle". This song accounted for Wariner's first Grammy Award nomination in 1987, in the then-new category of Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Also in 1987 he was nominated by the Academy of Country Music for Top Male Vocalist. Tom Roland of AllMusic reviewed It's a Crazy World positively, stating that "Wariner's in charge vocally, and seems to glide through the album effortlessly. He's received more responsibility for his own direction, and—with one or two exceptions— has upgraded every aspect of his record, particularly in song selection and musicianship." Wariner supported It's a Crazy World through a headlining tour that also featured Hank Williams Jr.
In 1988, Wariner issued I Should Be with You, his fourth release for MCA. It accounted for the top-ten singles "Baby I'm Yours", "I Should Be with You", and "Hold On (A Little Longer)". Wariner noted that the album contained a more country rock influence than its predecessors, particularly in the selection of session musicians such as Leland Sklar and Russ Kunkel, as well as Little Feat cofounder Bill Payne. The album continued Wariner's trend of writing his own material, as he wrote or co-wrote all three singles and three other songs on the album; he also co-produced for the first time, doing so with Bowen. I Should Be with You received a positive review from Cash Box magazine which stated that it was "a tightly crafted package, showcasing both contemporary and traditional country tunes." Wariner supported the album in 1988 by touring with Reba McEntire. I Got Dreams, also co-produced by Wariner and Bowen, followed in 1989. Wariner wrote nine out of ten songs on the album, with collaborators such as McAnally, Roger Murrah, Mike Reid, and husband-and-wife duo Bill LaBounty and Beckie Foster. McAnally and LaBounty both sang backing vocals on the album, with the former also contributing on acoustic guitar and percussion. At the time of the album's release, Wariner noted that the chart success and positive fan reception of "I Should Be with You" inspired a continual growth in his songwriting. He also observed that, while he had not received strong record sales or industry awards, radio performance of his singles inspired him to "make the best records". I Got Dreams charted three singles on Hot Country Songs in 1989: "Where Did I Go Wrong" and the title track both went to number one, followed by "When I Could Come Home to You" at number five. The Ottawa Citizen writer Susan Beyer reviewed the album with favor, stating that "the more control Wariner gets over his recordings, the better they get...the sounds run the gamut, but elegantly, from acoustic country to rock-edged to adult contemporary." Wariner released two albums in 1990, the first of which was Laredo. It accounted for three charted singles: "The Domino Theory", "Precious Thing", and "There for Awhile". LaBounty and Foster wrote "The Domino Theory", while Wariner co-wrote "Precious Thing" with McAnally. Production duties on the album were split, with Garth Fundis and Randy Scruggs producing three tracks each, and Tony Brown returning to produce the other four. Marc Rice of the Associated Press called Laredo a "safe, likeable album", praising the clarity of the production along with the "clever" lyrics of "The Domino Theory". Kay Knight of Cash Box magazine stated that "Wariner shows us a very basic and intimate look at his music and his life...this project should definitely bring Wariner into the spotlight of country radio." His second release in 1990, and final for MCA, was the Christmas album Christmas Memories. In the process of recording the album, Wariner said that he wanted it to have a "timeless" feel. It included traditional Christmas songs such as "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", "Do You Hear What I Hear?", three original songs written by Wariner, and collaborations with The Chieftains on renditions of "Past Three O'Clock" and "I Saw Three Ships". Wariner promoted the album through a radio special titled Steve Wariner's Acoustic Christmas, which also featured Emmylou Harris and Mike Reid. A year later, he performed in a television special on The Nashville Network also titled Christmas Memories which featured selections from the album. While his tenure with MCA was ending, Wariner contributed to two cuts on Mark O'Connor's 1991 album The New Nashville Cats. The first was a cover of Carl Perkins' "Restless". It featured O'Connor on fiddle, with Wariner, Vince Gill, and Ricky Skaggs alternating on lead vocals and guitar. A number 25 entry on Hot Country Songs, it won all four artists that year's Vocal Event of the Year award from the Country Music Association, along with Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Wariner also co-wrote, sang, and played guitar on "Now It Belongs to You", another cut from the album which also made the country charts.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
