Mickey Guyton

Candace Mycale "Mickey" Guyton (born June 17, 1983) is an American country music artist.

Raised in Texas, Guyton was exposed to various types of music at a young age, and her material incorporates elements of contemporary country, pop, and R&B music.

She moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 2011 and signed a recording contract with Capitol Records Nashville.

The initial meetings with Borman and Moir prompted her to move to Nashville, Tennessee in 2011.

Guyton soon became part of the city's country music songwriting community.

The same year, Guyton had the opportunity to audition for UMG Nashville's chairman, Mike Dungan.

Singing a song by Patty Loveless, she was then signed to UMG's Capitol Records Nashville division.

With her signing, she became the genre's only black female artist signed to a major label.

Among her first events following her label signing was an all-star performance at the White House, where she performed alongside Kris Kristofferson, Lyle Lovett, Darius Rucker and James Taylor.

As she developed her artistry, Guyton was warned by industry professionals that she would be unsuccessful if she went outside traditional country music boundaries: "Make sure your songs sound really country because listeners might think you're being disingenuous. Don't make your songs sound too R&B," she recalled to CNN.

She was asked by a country radio DJ to write songs that reflected "fluffy" and "happy" topics.

The stress and anxiety of these instances caused Guyton to develop insomnia and a drinking problem.

These conflicts, along with the difficulties of establishing an identity at Capitol Records, caused her music releases to be delayed by several years.

In 2014, Capitol Nashville released Guyton's first extended play (EP), an acoustic album titled Unbreakable.

The EP charted on the Billboard Top Heatseekers list after its release, reaching number 14.

In 2015, the label released Guyton's debut extended play (EP), Unbreakable.

In 2015, Capitol released her debut single, titled "Better Than You Left Me".

The song reached number 34 on the US Country Airplay chart and earned her a nomination from the Academy of Country Music Awards.

The same year, her second self-titled EP was released.

In 2015, Capitol released Guyton's debut single, "Better Than You Left Me".

In 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, Guyton released the single "Black Like Me", which speaks to her experiences as a Black woman in country music.

The song helped further elevate Guyton's career and resulted in her first ever nomination at the Grammy Awards, becoming the first Black woman to ever be nominated in the Best Country Solo Performance category.

Later that year, her third extended play Bridges was released.

She then collaborated with Dean Brody on the song "Boys" which made her the first Black woman to achieve a number one hit on the Canada Country chart.

Her debut album Remember Her Name followed in 2021.

Guyton's music is defined by country, pop, and R&B influences.

Guyton was born in Arlington, Texas, the second oldest of four children born to Phyllis Ann Roddy and Michael Eugene Guyton.

Her family moved throughout the state during her childhood, due to her father's job as an engineer.

She was initially enrolled in a local public school, but faced racial discrimination from other families in the neighborhood and was subsequently moved to a private school.

Despite this change, Guyton continued to experience racism, stating in a 2020 interview with NPR that her best friends' parents would often refer to her with racial slurs.

Guyton also began singing as a child and developed an interest in music around five years old.

She often performed in church choirs, notably at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Arlington.

She was inspired to begin a singing career after she saw LeAnn Rimes sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the start of a Texas Rangers game.

She moved to Los Angeles, California after graduating high school to pursue country music professionally while attending Santa Monica College.

She studied business and also worked several minimum wage jobs to support herself.

Several of the jobs included work as a background vocalist, including an appearance singing in Nick Cannon's film Underclassman.

Additionally, she sang on demonstration records and auditioned for American Idol. Guyton's American Idol audition was cut just before the live shows for the top 24, and she appeared only briefly on television during her final singing performance of the audition rounds.

After moving to Los Angeles, Guyton met record producer Julian Raymond.

Impressed by her singing voice, he introduced her to country music industry professionals Gary Borman and Steve Moir.

Both men helped launch the music careers of country artists such as Faith Hill and Keith Urban.