Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks is more, much more, than just a country music phenomenon. From the outset of his career, the Oklahoma-born singer showed himself to be different than your average country music performer. Known for manic highs, he would sometimes throw guitars across the stage and even danced down tabletops in honky-tonks, kicking beer bottles all over the place on his way. When he moved into the large auditoriums and massive stadiums he became even more of an eccentric performer, swinging down on rope ladders like some demented acrobat, dancing in front of walls of fire and running around the stage like some lost Olympic athlete, as he took his audiences on a continual wave of energy in true rock, rather than country tradition.The key to his record-setting success lies within the personality and talent of Garth Brooks. He has brought daring individualism and a love of music, ranging from working class blues and honky tonk to bluegrass and arena rock, to the musical table. His easy-going, approachable charisma is matched only by his fearless willingness to take chances and step outside the lines. With twenty-seven chart-topping singles, eleven number one albums, not to mention being acclaimed as the all-time highest record selling artist in America, Garth Brooks opened the doors for many more country artists to follow. In the midst of one of the most successful careers in music history, Brooks retired from touring in 1998 to spend time with his family and two years later retired full-time from the music business. At the time he vowed not to return to full-time recording and performing until his youngest daughter, now 11, enters college. This is an extract of the article on Garth Brooks as printed in the January 08 issue of Maverick Magazine…
