Randy Owen - Wikipedia

American country singer (born 1949)

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Randy Owen
Owen in 2013
Background information
Born	Randy Yeuell Owen (1949-12-13) December 13, 1949 (age 76)Fort Payne, Alabama, U.S.
Genres	Country, southern rock, bluegrass
Occupations	Singer, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1969–present
Labels	RCA Nashville (in Alabama)DMP/New Revolution (solo)Broken Bow (solo)
Member of	Alabama
Website	randyowen.com

Musical artist

Randy Yeuell Owen (born December 13, 1949) is an American country musician. He is best known for his role as the lead singer of Alabama, a country rock band that saw commercial success throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Alabama became the most successful band in country music, releasing over 20 gold and platinum records, dozens of number 1 singles, and selling over 75 million records during their career. Owen also maintains a career as a solo performer. He released his solo debut One on One in late 2008 and charted two singles from it.

Owen was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2019.

Biography

[edit]

Randy Yeuell Owen grew up on a farm near Fort Payne, Alabama. He is of English and Scots ancestry. He dropped out of high school in the ninth grade, but he returned and graduated from Fort Payne High in 1969. In the late 1960s, Owen and his cousin, Teddy Gentry, began playing music together. They recruited another cousin, Jeff Cook, to form a band, which they called Wildcountry. Their first public performance was at a high school talent show, which they won.

Owen's music career was put on hiatus as he earned an English degree from Jacksonville State University. He was also a member of Pi Kappa Phi, Delta Epsilon chapter. Upon his graduation, however, the three cousins moved into an apartment in Anniston, Alabama, and by 1973 were pursuing a full-time music career. In 1980, the band, now called Alabama, were signed to a recording contract by RCA Records and quickly reached country superstardom. For the next twenty-two years, Alabama had a tremendous impact on country music, attracting a younger group of listeners, crossing over into pop radio, and paving the way for groups to be successful on country radio.

Alabama released 21 gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums, 42 singles that topped the charts at #1, and sold over 75 million records in total. They have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and were named the Academy of Country Music's Artist of the Decade in 1989, and the Recording Industry Association of America's Country Group of the Century in 1999.

In May 2002, the band announced their retirement during the Academy of Country Music Awards telecast. For the rest of 2002 and 2003, they performed throughout the country in their American Farewell Tour. In 2005, the band was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Owen lives on his cattle ranch outside Fort Payne. He currently serves as an at-large member of the Board of Trustees of Jacksonville State University. In 2007, he was a judge on Season 5 of the country talent show Nashville Star.

Owen took over hosting duties for Country Gold, the Saturday night classic country request program on Westwood One, beginning July 21, 2012. The show was reformatted upon Owen's arrival, switching to a pre-recorded format (the show's predecessor, Country Gold Saturday Night, was originally live.) Requests were handled by an answering machine and the program was voicetracked from Owen's home, drifting to a more open-ended "traditional country" format (one that includes more 1990s songs and even some 2000s songs along with country-pop tunes more commonly associated with the classic hits format while moving away from the core songs of the classic country format) and shortening the show from five hours to four. Less than a year after Owen's arrival, previous Country Gold host Rowdy Yates relaunched his version of the show as "The Original Country Gold" through Compass Media Networks. Owen ended his run as host on April 2, 2016, with Canadian-born singer Terri Clark replacing him the following weekend. Clark hosted the show until the weekend of September 7th, 2024.

Discography

[edit] See also: Alabama discography

Studio albums

[edit]

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US Country[1]	US[1]	US Indie[1]
One on One	Release date: November 4, 2008 Label: Broken Bow Records	14	77	5

Singles

[edit]

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
		US Country[2]
2008	"Braid My Hair"	45	One on One
	"Like I Never Broke Her Heart"	41
2009	"Holding Everything" (with Megan Mullins)	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

2022 Gaither Easter Marathon “I Need Thee Every Hour” featuring Randy Owen and The Issacs.

Publications

[edit]

• Born Country: My Life in Alabama – How Faith, Family, and Music Brought Me Home. HarperOne (2008)

References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "allmusic ((( Randy Owen > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". Allmusic. Retrieved April 4, 2010.
2. ^ "allmusic ((( Randy Owen > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))". Allmusic. Retrieved April 4, 2010.

External links

[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Randy Owen.

• Alabama Official Website
• CMT Interview

v t e Westwood One
Programming	News and talk America in The Morning America's Most Wanted The Ben Shapiro Show The Chris Plante Show The Clark Howard Show First Light The Jonathon Brandmeier Show The Larry Kudlow Show The Mark Levin Show Real Estate Today Red Eye Radio The Todd and Tyler Radio Empire Music andentertainment American Country Countdown Backtrax USA The Bob & Tom Show Country Gold Elwood Blues's BluesMobile Cafe Mocha1 Flashback/Flashback Pop Quiz The John Tesh Radio Show The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show Loveline The Countdown/The Urban AC Countdown/Gospel Traxx Zach Sang Show
Radio networks	Adult Contemporary Adult Standards Classic Country Classic hip-hop Classic Hits - Rock Classic Rock CNBC Business Radio1 CNN News Wire1 Hot AC Hot Country Infinity Sports Network1 Jack FM Lite AC Nash Icon Real Country The Touch Defunct Good Time Oldies Mainstream Country NBC Sports Radio1 Westwood One News
See also	Cumulus Media Networks Satellite Music Network Westwood One (1976–2011)
1 = Distribution only; produced by another company.

v t e Alabama
Randy Owen Jeff Cook
Studio albums	Wild Country (1976) Deuces Wild (1977) Alabama Band No. 3 (1979) My Home's in Alabama (1980) Feels So Right (1981) Mountain Music (1982) The Closer You Get... (1983) Roll On (1984) 40-Hour Week (1985) The Touch (1986) Just Us (1987) Southern Star (1989) Pass It On Down (1990) American Pride (1992) Cheap Seats (1993) In Pictures (1995) Dancin' on the Boulevard (1997) Twentieth Century (1999) When It All Goes South (2001) Alabama & Friends (2013) Southern Drawl (2015)
Holiday albums	Christmas (1985) Christmas with The Judds and Alabama (1994) Christmas Vol. II (1996) Christmas Collection (2006)
Gospel albums	Songs of Inspiration (2006) Songs of Inspiration II (2007) Angels Among Us: Hymns & Gospel Favorites (2014)
Compilation albums	Greatest Hits (1986) Alabama Live (1988) Greatest Hits Vol. II (1991) Gonna Have a Party...Live (1993) For Our Fans (1993) Greatest Hits Vol. III (1994) Super Hits (1996) Born Country (1997) Super Hits II (1998) The Essential Alabama (1998) For the Record (1998) Legendary (2002) In the Mood: The Love Songs (2003) The American Farewell Tour (2003) The Ultimate Alabama (2004) The Essential (2005) Livin' Lovin' Rockin' Rollin': The 25th Anniversary Collection (2006) 16 Biggest Hits (2007) Playlist: The Very Best of Alabama (2008) Mountain Music: The Best of Alabama (2009) Setlist: The Very Best of Alabama Live (2010) Country: Alabama (2013) The Classic Christmas Album (2013) Alabama & Friends: At the Ryman (2014)
Related articles	Discography List of songs Awards and nominations One on One

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