Gary Allan made 49 years old this year. He was born in California and grew up in a musical household. It is almost as if his destiny was already decided for him. His mother insisted that guitars be visible at all times in the home. Gary Allan was a just a preteen and he was already peforming nightly in honky-tonks with his dad. He was 15 when he received his first recording deal, but his parents rejected it because the wanted him to grow up, develop his own sound and finish school. And yes, he did attend school everyday even though he played in clubs and bars almost every night. In fact, he used school to catch up on his sleep. Gary Allan has said he honestly thought school was a place to catch on sleep. Even if he did not pay attention during class, he did eventually finish and graduate from school.
Gary Allan started to play with a band called The Honky Tonk Wranglers. The band would play songs by George Jones and other old country songs. Some of the venues tried to discourage Gary Allan’s from playing George Jones’s music but Gary Allan refused.
Gary Allan was introduced to the country world in 1996 when he was signed with Decca Records. Bryon Hill discovered Gary Allan though mutual friends and his label ended up being impressed with Gary Allan’s voice. After being signed he released the song, “Her Man,” which would be the first of a strings of hits from the gold certified album, Used Heart For Sale.
So far to date, Gary Allan has had 26 hit songs including four number one hit songs.
