Its follow-up, "Never Knew Lonely," hit number three, and the album went on to sell over a million copies. A duet with Reba McEntire, "Oklahoma Swing," made the Top 20, but the title track was the true break-out hit, climbing to number two and winning Gill his first Grammy. That all changed with the release of his label debut, 1989's When I Call Your Name. Though he'd enjoyed some success in his own right, Gill wasn't really a star. In 1989, Gill left RCA to sign with MCA, where he reunited with Tony Brown, by then a successful producer. 1987's The Way Back Home gave Gill his biggest RCA hit in the Top Five: "Cinderella." In the meantime, he also worked as a session guitarist, wrote songs for other artists, and toured with Emmylou Harris. A duet with Rosanne Cash, "If It Weren't for Him," gave Gill his first Top Ten hit, and his next single, "Oklahoma Borderline," duplicated its predecessor's success. ![]() He notched his first charting country single with the minor Top 40 entry "Victim of Life's Circumstance," and the following year completed his follow-up, The Things That Matter. With Gordy producing, Gill issued his debut mini-album, Turn Me Loose, in 1984, with a style in keeping with his then-recent country-rock past. ![]() Gill, his wife Janis (née Oliver, a member of Sweethearts of the Rodeo), and their young daughter moved to Nashville. In 1982, he appeared on the David Grisman album Here Today, and the following year he landed a solo deal with RCA thanks to his connection with Brown. and Tony Brown, both of whom would later produce his solo records. He departed in 1981 to join Rodney Crowell's backing band, the Cherry Bombs, where he met Emory Gordy, Jr. Gill recorded three albums with the band, helping them land a Top Ten pop hit with "Let Me Love You Tonight" and began writing songs for them. In 1979, he accompanied a friend to audition for Pure Prairie League, mostly out of curiosity as to whether they remembered his high school band, and they wound up hiring him as their lead singer. He then briefly played with Ricky Skaggs' Boone Creek outfit before setting out for Los Angeles, where he joined fiddler Byron Berline's group Sundance. He graduated in 1975 and moved to Louisville, Kentucky, to join the band Bluegrass Alliance, with whom he stayed for a year. In high school, Gill played in the bluegrass band Mountain Smoke, which gained enough of a local reputation to open a concert for Pure Prairie League. His father, a judge, played banjo and guitar, and Vince had picked up both by his teen years he later added fiddle, dobro, mandolin, and bass to his repertoire. Vincent Grant Gill was born April 12, 1957, in Norman, Oklahoma. That balance made him the kind of performer who award ceremonies can feel good about honoring, and honor him they did: Gill has won more CMA Awards than any performer in history, and his Grammys put him in a tie with Chet Atkins for the most won by a country artist. As evidenced by the Eagles' decision to have him replace the late Glenn Frey, Gill had strong mainstream appeal, and plenty of songwriting chops and a grounding in tradition that he emphasized in such projects as Sweet Memories: The Music of Ray Price & the Cherokee Cowboys, a 2023 tribute album he cut with his longtime steel guitarist Paul Franklin. ![]() Starting out as a bluegrass singer and multi-instrumentalist, he initially made his name with country-rockers Pure Prairie League and spent the '80s as part of country's new traditionalist movement before finding massive success as a contemporary country hitmaker. His songs read like a laundry list of modern country classics: "Go Rest High on That Mountain," "When I Call Your Name," "Tryin' to Get Over You," "I Still Believe in You," and "Look at Us," among dozens of others. He has placed more than ten albums in the Top 200, a dozen singles in the Hot 100, and topped the country charts several times on his way to selling tens of millions of records. He endured into the 21st century as one of its most prolific, respected, and wide-ranging artists. The winner of more than 20 Grammy Awards, he paid nearly 15 years of dues en route to breaking out during the 1990s and became one of the decade's most popular country stars. Guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Vince Gill is one of the most respected musicians in the history of country music.
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