Billy Ray Cyrus

Billy Ray Cyrus (born August 25, 1961) is an American country singer, songwriter and actor.

Billy Ray Cyrus was born on August 25, 1961, in Flatwoods, Kentucky, to Ron Cyrus, a steelworker who became a politician, and his wife, the former Ruth Ann Casto.

Cyrus started singing at the age of four.

His parents divorced in 1966.

His grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher.

Growing up he was surrounded by bluegrass and gospel music as his family are musicians.

His right-handed father played guitar, however left-handed Cyrus tried to play his father's guitar, but could not.

He attended Georgetown College on a baseball scholarship before changing to music.

He dropped out of Georgetown during his junior year, realized he wanted to become a musician after attending a Neil Diamond concert, and set a 10-month goal to start a career.

In the 1980s, he played in a band called Sly Dog, before signing a record contract with Mercury Nashville Records.

Sly Dog was named after a one-eyed dog that Cyrus owned.

While trying to get a recording contract in Los Angeles, Cyrus suffered many hardships including living in his neighbor's car.

However, in 1990, he was signed to PolyGram/Mercury.

In the same year he opened for Reba McEntire.

Having released 16 studio albums and 53 singles since 1992, he is known for his hit single "Achy Breaky Heart", which topped the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart and became the first single ever to achieve triple platinum status in Australia.

It was also the best-selling single in the same country in 1992.

Due to the song's music video, the line dance rose in popularity.

A multi-platinum selling artist, Cyrus has scored a total of eight top-ten singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

His most successful album to date is his debut Some Gave All, which has been certified 9× multi-platinum in the United States and is the longest time spent by a debut artist and by a country artist at number one on the Billboard 200 (17 consecutive weeks) and most consecutive chart-topping weeks in the SoundScan era.

Some Gave All was also the first debut album to enter at number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

The album has also sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling debut album of all time for a solo male artist.

Some Gave All was also the best-selling album of 1992 in the US with 4,832,000 copies.

During his career he has released 36 charted singles, of which 17 charted in the top 40.

Cyrus began to record and write music for his debut album, released in 1992.

Some Gave All was released in 1992.

The album became an instant chart and sales success.

It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums, Billboard 200, Canadian Country Albums chart, Canadian Albums Chart, and on the charts of several other countries.

The album featured four consecutive top 40 singles on the Hot Country Songs chart from 1992 to 1993, including an album cut, the title track.

The most successful single released was "Achy Breaky Heart".

It reached No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart and was also a hit on the Billboard Hot 100, where it reached No. 4. Uniquely for a country music song it also became an international success, reaching number 1 in Australia and number 3 on the UK Singles Chart.

Thanks to the video of this hit, there was the explosion of the line dance into the mainstream, becoming a global craze.

Additionally, the singles "Could've Been Me" reached No. 2, "Wher'm I Gonna Live?"

From 2001 to 2004, Cyrus starred in the television show Doc.

The show was about a country doctor who moved from Montana to New York City.

From 2006 to 2011, he co-starred in the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana with his daughter Miley Cyrus in the role of the titular character's fictional father Robby Ray Stewart, a clear reference to his real name.

From 2016 to 2017, he starred as Vernon Brownmule on the CMT sitcom Still the King.

In 2019, Cyrus earned his first number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 as a featured artist on a remix of Lil Nas X's song "Old Town Road", which spent a record-breaking nineteen consecutive weeks at the top spot (eighteen of them credited to Cyrus).

It also spent a record-breaking twenty consecutive weeks (nineteen of them credited to Cyrus) at the top spot on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Billboard Hot Rap Songs.

The R&B/Hip-hop record has been broken in May 2023 by SZA's "Kill Bill".

Thanks to "Old Town Road", Cyrus won his first two Grammy Awards, in the categories Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Music Video.