Eric Church: A look back at 'The Chief' of country music's incredible career through the years
He's achieved so much since his debut in 2006
Known for his trademark sunglasses, gruelling touring schedules and slight rebellious streak, Eric Church is one of the biggest country music stars in the world, but he's also one of the most mysterious too. To celebrate his incredible career so far - and his birthday on 3rd May - we thought we'd take a look back over Eric Church's brilliant music career through the years.
Despite winning countless awards, writing multiple hit records and selling millions of albums during his career, Eric, who is otherwise known as 'The Chief', tends to keep a low profile. But that hasn't stopped him from winning over the hearts of country music fans with his honest lyrics, outlaw persona and country-rock sound.
Eric Church's incredible career through the years:
2005: Career beginnings
After discovering a love for the guitar and writing his own song at age 13, Eric Church spent years performing in local bars before moving to Nashville, Tennessee in the early 2000s to pursue a music career. After years of failing to get a record deal, he started working with music producer Jay Joyce to create a more stand out sound and in 2005 he was signed by Capitol Nashville.
2006: Debut single and album are released
Eric Church kicked off 2006 with the release of his debut single 'How 'Bout You' which peaked at Number 14 on the Hot Country Songs chart. Shortly after, Eric released his debut album 'Sinners Like Me' which included two more Top 20 singles, 'Two Pink Lines' and 'Guys Like Me'. The album itself went on to reach Number 7 on the Top Country Albums chart.
Eric also went on to perform at the legendary Grand Ole Opry for the first time in April 2016 and went on tour with both Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts. However, he was kicked off the Rascal Flatts tour for playing too loudly and for too long, being quickly replaced by Taylor Swift, who was a rising star at the time.
2007: Stagecoach Festival
After being dropped from Rascal Flatt's 2006 tour, Eric spent the next year performing at various events including California's Stagecoach Festival, one of the biggest country music festivals in the world, and the 2007 CMA Music Festival.
2008: Eric and Katherine get married
On 8th January 2008, Eric Church married music publisher Katherine Blasingame in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. The couple met when Katherine tried to get one of the writers she represented to work with Eric early on in his career.
Eric gave a special performance of 'You Make It Look So Easy', a song inspired by his wife, during the wedding. It later featured on his second album 'Carolina'. The couple now share two sons together, Boone McCoy and Tennessee Hawkings.
2009: 'Carolina' is released
Eric Church released his second album 'Carolina' in early 2009, along with the lead single 'Love Your Love The Most'. The single was a huge success and earned Eric his very first Top 10 hit on the Top Country Songs chart. This was followed by the singles 'Hell on the Heart' and 'Smoke A Little Smoke' which reached the Top 10 and Top 20 respectively.
Thanks to the success of these singles, the 'Carolina' album not only made it to Number 4 on the Top Country Album chart, but also reached Number 17 on the Top 100 chart - making it a huge crossover success.
2010: Headline tours
In early 2010, Eric Church was the headline act for the nationwide '2010 Jägermeister Country Music Tour' to celebrate the release of his album 'Carolina' the year before. This tour followed Eric's second major headline tour 'Young & Wild(er) Tour' in late 2009, which included 50 sold out shows. It was around this time that Eric Church's fans started to refer to themselves as 'The Church Choir'.
2011: 'Chief' is released
Eric Church's third album 'Chief' was released in July 2011 and debuted at Number 1 on both the Top Country Albums and the Billboard 200 chart. This was the album that rocketed Eric into country music stardom. The name of the album came about after Eric's band started calling him 'Chief', because his penchant for wearing sunglasses and hats made him look like a police officer. This is a nickname that the country singer is still referred to as to this day. Eric also went on to win the Top New Solo Vocalist award at the Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM) in 2011, which marked his first major award win.
2012: Chart-toppers and awards
In January 2012, Eric scored his first Number 1 single on both the Hot Country Songs chart with 'Drink In My Hand', taken from the 'Chief' album. This was closely followed by the single 'Springsteen', which also debuted at the top of the Hot Country Songs chart, while also being his first Top 20 song on the Billboard Hot 100.
2012 was also the year that Eric earned his first Grammy nomination for Best Country Album, as well as winning Album of the Year at the CMA Awards. He also embarked on his first ever arena headlining tour 'Blood, Sweat & Beers'.
2013: ACM award win and new single
Following the success of his album 'Chief', Eric Church released the single 'The Outsiders' from his upcoming fourth album in October 2013, and it sold over 81,000 copies during its first week. Eric also won the Album of the Year award for his album 'Chief', at the annual Academy of Country Music Awards in 2013, as well as extending his 'Blood, Sweat & Beers' arena tour, after selling out 25 dates.
2014: 'The Outsiders' album is released
After spending two years headlining his first major arena tour, Eric released his fourth album 'The Outsiders' in February 2014. It debuted at Number 1 on both the Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums chart and produced the Number 1 singles 'Give Me Back My Hometown' and 'Talladega'.
Later that same year, Eric went on the road for his 'The Outsiders World Tour' which included a performance at Madison Square Gardens. He also joined Halestorms's Lzzy Hale for a performance at the 2014 CMT Music Awards.
2015: Surprise release of 'Mr. Misunderstood'
On 4th November 2015, Erich Church's 'Church Choir' members received a copy of his newest album 'Mr. Misunderstood' through the post completely unexpectedly. In fact, Eric only told his record label about the new album at the last minute and they were forced to buy a German record-pressing plant to get the album released on time.
That same night, Eric debuted the album's title track at the 2015 CMA Awards. The single went on to reach the Top 20 on the Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts, while the album debuted at Number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart.
2016: Awards and collaborations
Eric Church's 'Mr. Misunderstood' album won Album Of The Year at the 2016 CMA awards and its title track video won the ACM Video of the Year award that same year. Eric went on to achieve yet another chart-topping hit upon the release of 'Record Year', his second single from 'Mr. Misunderstood'.
Eric Church was also selected as one of 30 artists to perform on 'Forever Country', a mash-up track of classic country songs, 'Take Me Home, Country Roads', 'On the Road Again' and 'I Will Always Love You' to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the CMA Awards in 2016.
2017: Record-breaking tour
Between January and May 2017, Eric played his biggest solo tour to date with his 'Holdin' My Own Tour'. The country music star played 62 sold-out dates across 61 cities and played two sets per show instead of having an opening act. The tour ended up breaking the attendance record for the most attended music tour across the globe in 2017.
In October 2017, Eric debuted a song at the Grand Ole Opry, titled 'Why Not Me?', to pay tribute to the victims of the tragic mass shooting at the Route 91 Festival in Las Vegas. Eric had headlined the festival just a day before the tragedy occurred. Later that year, he was awarded the ACM Merle Haggard Spirit Award.
2018: 'Desperate Man' is released
Eric Church released his sixth studio album 'Desperate Man' on 5th October 2018, which debuted at Number 1 on the Top Country Albums chart. The following day he released the album's lead single, also called 'Desperate Man', which went on to reach the Top 10 on the Hot Country Songs chart. This was followed by the single 'Some Of It' which hit the Number 1 spot on the Country Airplay chart and 'Monsters' which reached the Top 20 of the Hot Country Songs chart.
2019: The 'Double Down Tour'
Eric kicked off his 'Double Down Tour' in January 2019. Known for his unique stage performances, the country star played a three-hour-long set per night across 19 cities. During his performance at The Nissan Stadium in Nashville, the singer drew in a record-breaking crowd of over 56,000 fans and played a whopping 37 songs.
2020: CMA win and the pandemic
After the breakout of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Eric unveiled a new song called 'Never Break Heart' during the 2020 ACM Presents: Our Country television special, which featured a number of stars performing from their homes.
In November that year, he won the coveted Entertainer of the Year award at the 2020 CMAs. He was also nominated for a Grammy Award for both Best Country Album, for 'Desperate Man', and Best Country Song, for 'Some Of It' - his sixth and seventh nominations to date.
2021: Triple album release
Along with singer Jazmine Sullivan, Eric performed 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at the Super Bowl LV in February 2021. Just a few months later, Eric released three albums, titled 'Heart', '&' and 'Soul' just days apart from each other. The triple-album features 24 songs across the three albums in total, including the singles 'Stick That in Your Country Song' and 'Hell of a View', which reached Number 3 on the Hot Country Songs chart. 'Stick That in Your Country Song' was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance at the Grammy Awards.
2022: Academy of Country Music performance
In March 2022, Eric performed at at the Academy of Country Music Awards, where he performed a medley of some of his biggest tracks from throughout his career. Then, in November 2022, Eric was awarded the North Carolina award by the North Carolina Governor, Roy Cooper. The award is the state's highest civilian honour.
2023: North American tour
In 2023, Eric embarked on 'The Outsiders Revival Tour', which visited 26 cities in North America. He was supported by opening acts on the tour, which included the likes of Cody Jinks, Jelly Roll and Morgan Wade.
2024: Eric devotes his bar to his fans
In March 2024, Eric surprised his fans by giving them a piece of his new Nashville bar called Chief's. Thousands of Eric's Church Choir fan club went online to see where bricks sat in the bar, which they now own the personal deeds for.
In a message to fans, Eric said: "You've helped me build my career brick by brick and I want the whole world to know that this building is yours. This is not just another club downtown. This is our house.
"I've been involved in every step of restoring this historic building into a place we can call our own and, because you've been with me every step of my career, I'm proud to dedicate a physical brick of the Chief's building to each and every one of you."
2024: Upcoming performances
2024 will see Eric headline the Sing Out Loud Festival in Florida in September alongside Noah Kahan, Norah Jones plus Ryan Bingham with The Texas Gentlemen. He'll also play the Field and Stream Music Festival in South Carolina in October, on a line-up which also includes Lainey Wilson.
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