Spotlight Artist: Vince Gill

The son of an appellate court judge and part-time musicians, Vincent Grant Gill was born in Norman, Oklahoma. His honor taught the younger Gill to play guitar at an early age, and by the time he was in his teens Vince was playing in local bluegrass bands like the Bluegrass Alliance and later Boone Creek, with Ricky Skaggs. In 1978, an audition with the California-based country-rock band Pure Prairie League. Vince would sing lead on the band’s lone hit single “Let Me Love You Tonight” before exiting and heading to Nashville to pursue a solo career. While in California, Gill met and married Janis Oliver, one half of the 80s hit-making sister duo Sweethearts Of The Rodeo. The couple divorced in 1998 and Gill married contemporary Christian singer Amy Grant in 2000.

In 1984, Vince signed with RCA Records and issued his debut album, Turn Me Loose, which didn’t produce any hit singles but helped earn the singer the Academy of Country Music’s Top New Male Vocalist award that year.  The latter half of the 1980s provided spotty chart success for Gill. It was only after signing with Tony Brown at MCA Records in 1989 that his career took off. When I Call Your Name, his first album for MCA was released in November 1989 and within a year was a platinum-selling success, thanks in no small part to the winning title track.

The 1990s was a time of watershed success for Gill, as every studio album he released was certified platinum. He would eventually sell more than 20 million albums and win more 18 CMA and 20 Grammy Awards. After a decade of consecutive hit-making, the radio hits stopped coming toward the turn of the century for Gill, though his albums continued to sell well. He’s since emerged as an elder statesmen of sorts and a torch-carrier for traditional country music.  He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

Radio support or no, Gill is as busy as ever these days as an in-demand backing musician and singer and recording his own albums. He issued a 4-disc set of all new music in 2006 and just released his latest album a week ago today. Keep reading as we revisit the career of Vince Gill all month long here at My Kind of Country.