Ty Herndon

Boyd Tyrone Herndon (born May 2, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His music career began in the 1980s as a member of the Tennessee River Boys, a predecessor to the country band Diamond Rio. Herndon quit the band early on and gained his first national exposure as a competitor on Star Search. He then played at various honky-tonks in Texas. After signing to Epic Records in 1993, Herndon made his debut in 1995 with his single, "What Mattered Most", which charted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. This was followed that same year by the release of his first album, also titled What Mattered Most. Herndon released three more studio albums and a compilation for Epic: Living in a Moment (1996), Big Hopes (1998), Steam (1999), and This Is Ty Herndon: Greatest Hits (2002). He recorded a Christmas album in 2002 before a recording hiatus. He returned with his fifth studio album, Right About Now (2007) for the Titan Pyramid label; his sixth studio release, Journey On, followed in 2010. Herndon has charted a total of 17 singles on Billboard Hot Country Songs. This figure includes three No. 1s: "What Mattered Most", "Living in a Moment", and "It Must Be Love". His singles "I Want My Goodbye Back", "Loved Too Much", "A Man Holdin' On (To a Woman Lettin' Go)", and "Hands of a Working Man" all made Top 10 on the same chart. Herndon gained further media attention in 2014 after he came out as gay, becoming the first mainstream male country music singer to do so. His personal life has been the subject of mainstream media for other reasons, including his struggles with drug addiction and mental health. His musical style is defined by his singing voice and an emphasis on ballads. Boyd Tyrone Herndon was born on May 2, 1962, in Meridian, Mississippi, to Boyd and Renee Herndon. He was raised just across the state line in Butler, Alabama. His grandmother played guitar and hosted her own radio show in Butler. He became involved in music in his youth. Herndon's first performance on a stage came during this period, when he won $75 at a talent show in Toxey, Alabama. Shortly after graduating from Austin High School in Decatur, Alabama, Herndon moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in country music. At this point he also attended Belmont University. Herndon's first major role came in 1983 when he became lead vocalist of the Tennessee River Boys, a group that performed at the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville. This band was originally intended to perform a one-time show to promote the park, but became one of several regular performers there. Herndon left the band after only a year to become a contestant on the television talent show Star Search. Following Herndon's departure, the Tennessee River Boys underwent a number of membership changes and became Diamond Rio. When his tenure on Star Search proved commercially unsuccessful, Herndon attempted to secure a recording contract in Nashville. He told The Tennessean in 1995 that multiple labels rejected him as they considered him a "pretty boy". Despite this, he found work singing jingles for Pepsi and Dodge, as well as demo tracks for other artists. He lost a significant amount of money due to an unfavorable management deal, which led to his mother having to sell her house to refinance the amount of money lost. In addition, Herndon's father died of a brain hemorrhage, putting further strain on both him and his family. Herndon then moved to Texas and found work performing in various honky-tonks across the state, to regain some of the money he had lost. His tenure in Texas included a stint with Louise Mandrell in 1987 at Billy Bob's Texas, a country music nightclub in Fort Worth. He competed on another television talent show titled You Write the Songs in 1987, but was unsuccessful. Herndon also appeared on The Porter Wagoner Show, a musical variety show hosted by country singer Porter Wagoner. By 1989 he had formed a backing band called Bayou. This act opened for Little Texas in 1989 prior to that band's signing with Warner Records. In 1993, Herndon won a local music award called Texas Entertainer of the Year. At the awards ceremony, Herndon was discovered by a representative of Epic Records, and he signed with the label later in the year. Herndon began recording music for Epic in 1994. He made his debut in early 1995 with the single "What Mattered Most", a song written by Gary Burr and Vince Melamed. The song went to number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in the United States and the former RPM country music charts in Canada. Follow-up single "I Want My Goodbye Back" reached a Hot Country Songs peak of number seven in 1995. Its b-side, a duet with Stephanie Bentley titled "Heart Half Empty", peaked at number 21 in early 1996. "In Your Face" was the last single from What Mattered Most. This song was the least successful, charting for two weeks and reaching number 63. The album featured backing vocals from several artists on Epic or sister label Columbia Records, including Patty Loveless, Joe Diffie, Ron Wallace, and Gibson/Miller Band member Blue Miller. Doug Johnson, then the vice-president of artists and repertoire (A&R) of Epic's Nashville branch, produced the album and co-wrote "I Want My Goodbye Back". In addition to the singles, What Mattered Most included a cover of Jim Croce's "You Don't Mess Around with Jim". Another track, the Vince Gill and Don Schlitz composition "You Just Get One", was later recorded by Jeff Wood on his 1997 album Between the Earth and the Stars. Wood's rendition charted on Hot Country Songs that same year. "Heart Half Empty" later appeared on Bentley's 1996 album Hopechest, also issued on Epic. The music video for "What Mattered Most" was aired on CMT and the former TNN (The Nashville Network). Herndon promoted the album further by starting a tour in 1995. Michael McCall of New Country magazine rated the album three-and-a-half stars out of five, as he considered Herndon's vocal delivery "confident" but was more mixed toward the lyrical content of the songs. An uncredited review published by Billboard was favorable, stating, "With a rich, expressive voice that is equally suited to pensive ballads and rollicking, uptempo tunes, Herndon is one of country's most impressive newcomers." In early 1997, What Mattered Most was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 500,000 copies. Executives of Sony Music Nashville, of which Epic was a division at the time, attributed the album's commercial success to a marketing strategy they employed at the time. Under this plan, albums by new artists were priced a dollar lower than the national average for sixty days after their release. These same executives also noted this strategy had been successful on albums by Wade Hayes and James House. In 1996, Herndon won the Male Star of Tomorrow, a fan-voted award from the TNN Music City News awards (now known as CMT Music Awards). His second album Living in a Moment was released in August of the same year. The album's lead single "Living in a Moment" reached number one on the country charts in both the US and Canada. Three more singles charted from the album throughout 1997. The first was "She Wants to Be Wanted Again", which peaked at number 21 early in the year. This song had been recorded by Lee Greenwood, Restless Heart vocalist Larry Stewart, and Western Flyer prior to Herndon's rendition. After "She Wants to Be Wanted Again" came the number two hit "Loved Too Much" and the top-twenty "I Have to Surrender". Johnson co-wrote "Living in a Moment" and "I Have to Surrender", and once again served as producer. Stephanie Bentley, Blue Miller, and John Wesley Ryles were among the album's backing vocalists. Also contributing in this capacity were Doug Virden and Drew Womack, then recording on Epic in Sons of the Desert. Thom Owens of Allmusic wrote, "Although he is in fine voice throughout the album, Ty Herndon's