About Lyle Lovett
Lyle Pearce Lovett is an American country singer and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded 14 albums and released 25 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man". Lovett has won four Grammy Awards, including Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Album. His most recent album is 12th of June, released in 2022.
Lovett was born in Houston; he and his family lived in the nearby community of Klein. He is the son of William Pearce and Bernell Louise Lovett, a marketing executive and training specialist, respectively. Lyle grew up in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. He graduated from Texas A&M University with Bachelor of Arts degrees in German and journalism in 1980. In the early 1980s, he often played solo acoustic sets at the small bars just off the A&M campus.
Lyle Lovett began his music career as a singer-songwriter. By the early 1980s, Lovett had already distinguished himself in the burgeoning Texas folk acoustic scene. He had performed in the New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival in 1980 and 1982. An American singer, Buffalo Wayne, whom he had met in 1978 during a college trip to Germany, invited Lovett to play with him at the 1983 Schueberfouer in Luxembourg. One of the events at the funfair was held at an American musical tent. The owner was a fan of the house band J. David Sloan and the Rogues, which was from Phoenix. He invited the Rogues to perform the event, and Lovett was encouraged by band members Ray Herndon and Matt Rollings to sit in with the group, which performed some of his songs. The experience opened his eyes to what his songs could sound like with proper backing; Lovett had never sung with a band before. Sloan and band member Billy Williams offered Lovett a deal on studio time, first day free. In 1984 Lovett took them up on the offer. After several stays in Arizona over that summer he recorded 18 songs. The demo tape of the first four songs led to his first record deal; ten of the songs recorded with the Rogues became Lovett's self-titled debut album. He made many longtime contacts in Phoenix during that time. Some of the Rogues players including Herndon, Matt McKenzie, Rollings, and Williams played in Lovett's band. Williams produced or co-produced several of his albums from 1987 to 2007. Through the Rogues he met Francine Reed, who began recording with him in 1985 and toured with him for decades. In 2022, reliving his Phoenix connection he said,
It led to a demo tape, an album and now, this rolling Thanksgiving tour... It's all because of running into this band in Luxembourg. That's a long way to get to Phoenix from Texas. It's a lot shorter if you just do I-10.
He signed with MCA Records in 1986 and released his eponymous debut album. He sang harmony vocals on Nanci Griffith's The Last of the True Believers album . While typically associated with the country genre, Lovett's compositions often incorporate folk, swing, blues, jazz and gospel music as well as more traditional country & western styling. He has won four Grammy Awards, including Best Country Album , Best Country Duo/Group with Vocal , Best Pop Vocal Collaboration and Best Country Male Vocal . In 1995, Lovett performed a duet of "You've Got a Friend in Me" with Randy Newman for Toy Story. He plays Collings acoustic guitars.
Lovett acted in a number of films, notably four for director Robert Altman: The Player , Short Cuts , Prêt-à-Porter , and Cookie's Fortune . He also composed the score for the director's Dr. T & the Women . Some of his other film roles include Bastard Out Of Carolina , The New Guy , Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story , and a humorous role in Angels Sing, a family Christmas movie . His television acting forays include guest roles on Mad About You and Castle, a recurring role on The Bridge , and appearances as himself on Dharma & Greg and Brothers & Sisters.
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