George Strait - The King of Country Music



"I want to reach the point where people hear my name and immediately think of real country music."

George Strait confessed that singular ambition to Billboard magazine in 1981, and all these years later there's no doubt that he's accomplished his aim and some. Certainly, over the past decade and a half, no other artist in country music comes close to approaching his commercial consistency. Every George Strait single ever released has hit the charts. Every album he's released has gone gold or platinum - that is, sold half a million copies or a million, or more. Overall he's sold over 30 million records.




A big key to George Strait's success is his unerring ear for great songs. He's personally chosen every single he's released since 1984, and every one has been a hit. His ninth album, Ocean Front Property, debuted on Billboard's country album charts at the #1 spot. It was something that had never happened before in the history of the Billboard charts. Only a month after it's release, the album was the best-selling in country music.




After seventeen years of recording and touring, it's hard to imagine what new worlds remain for George Strait to conquer. But the most successful country singer of the eighties is still feeling competitive in the nineties and his string of hit singles strongly suggests he still hasn't lost the magic touch.




After seventeen years of great music, Strait is still looking forward, still enjoying his chosen profession. Of course, he's smart about it. All the way back in 1981, he told Music City News he wanted to maintain his home in Texas, coming up to Nashville only for recording sessions. He got it his way. With a ranch south of San Antonio, Strait has managed to maintain the life that he has always wanted. He has time to spend with wife Norma and son George Jr. He works his cattle ranch, does a little team roping at rodeo events now and then, hunts and fishes whenever he can, records in Nashville every year like clockwork. Somehow, he's managed to have his cake and eat it too: he's a superstar and yet he's a regular guy.




          

I Cross My Heart