Josh Turner

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Josh Turner
Josh Turner holding a guitar
Josh Turner holding a guitar
Background information
Birth name Josh Otis Turner
Born November 20, 1977 (age 29)
Origin Hannah, South Carolina
Genre(s) Country, Christian, Bluegrass
Instrument(s) Guitar
Years active 2001–present
Label(s) MCA
MCA Nashville

Josh Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977 in Hannah, South Carolina) is an American country music singer. Turner possesses a very distinctive bass voice. Pronounced a successful country artist from the start, Turner's first album, Long Black Train, was certified platinum. His sophomore album, Your Man, spawned two #1 country singles, two Grammy nominations and has spent forty-three weeks in the top 50 of Billboard's Hot 200 albums chart.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Josh with his wife Jennifer
Josh with his wife Jennifer

Growing up in church, Josh Turner sang baritone and bass parts in the choir. At his home church, he formed a gospel quartet called Thankful Hearts. Turner sang bass and occasionally lead in the quartet. After highschool, Turner started college in his home state of South Carolina. There, he took private voice lessons. Shortly afterwards, Turner moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music and attend Belmont University. At Belmont, Turner went through a classical training vocal program.

In 1996, Turner developed a lesion on his right vocal chord. Surgery was not needed, but he did have to go on vocal rest for close to a year. Turner states that he "learned how to whistle really good during that year."[1] Turner was examined by the Vanderbilt voice clinic who advised him to let it heal on his own. While Turner rested his voice back at home, he learned classical vocal techniques and how to take care of his voice and avoid developing further problems.

On December 21, 2001, Turner debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with a song he had written himself, "Long Black Train." The audience raved over Josh and the track, sealing its fate as a future hit.

In June 2003, Josh married Jennifer Ford. The two met at Belmont University and were married four months to the day before the release of Josh's first album.[2]

Josh and Jennifer welcomed their first child, a boy, Hampton Otis Turner, on October 6, 2006.[3]

[edit] Early success

Turner in the music video for "Long Black Train"
Turner in the music video for "Long Black Train"

In 2003, Turner released his debut album, Long Black Train. Prior to its release, Turner had released 7" vinyl singles of "She'll Go On You" and "Long Black Train." Both singles featured Long Black Train album track "Backwoods Boy" as a B-side. While neither "Backwoods Boy" nor "She'll Go On You" were successful, "Long Black Train" slowly started to climb the charts.

In 2004, the album was certified platinum thanks to the hit song of the same name. "Long Black Train" peaked at #13 on Billboard's US Country chart, spending more than 40 weeks on that chart.

Later in 2004, Turner released the next and last single off the album. "What It Ain't" was a moderate hit, charting at #31 on the US Country chart. The video received decent airplay on music video channels such as CMT and GAC.

[edit] Your Man

Turner in the music video for "Would You Go with Me"
Turner in the music video for "Would You Go with Me"

In early 2006, Turner released his sophomore album, Your Man. The album's first single and title track, "Your Man", was released in late 2005. The track's music video featured Josh with his wife, Jennifer, in a hotel room together. The song went on to become Turner's biggest hit at the time, hitting #1 on the US Country chart and climbing to #38 on the Hot 100. The song also did well in digital downloads.

Your Man was certified Gold by the RIAA just 4 weeks after its release. By comparison, it took Long Black Train 12 weeks to attain Gold certification. Your Man was certified Platinum seven months after its release. This came in the midst of a sales surge for the album. Twenty-four weeks into its release, the album began seeing weekly increases and eventually re-appeared in the top 30 albums in the United States.

"Would You Go With Me" was the second single released from Your Man. The song debuted at #47 on Billboard's Country chart and climbed into the top 40 in its third week. The eventually became Turner's second consecutive #1 single, staying at the top for two weeks. "Would You Go With Me" was a download hit and is considered Turner's biggest hit to date. Weeks after the song peaked on the charts, Turner performed it on the CMA Awards in November 2006. As a result, the song shot back up the download charts and re-emerged on the top half of the Hot 100 at #48.

Shortly after the albums release, it was speculated that Turner's collaboration with Ralph Stanley and Diamond Rio, "Me and God", would be released as a single to Christian radio. The song received a good deal of success among the Christian Country circuit and was eventually released as Turner's third single from Your Man to country radio. It debuted on the US Country chart at #54, and is currently active on the charts.

In December 2006, the 49th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced. Turner received nods for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and for Best Country Album.

[edit] Cross Country

In August 2006, CMT premiered a new show, Cross Country. The show is in the same style as one of CMT's most popular shows, Crossroads, which paired up a country artist and a rock artist. In Cross Country, both artists are country artists. Turner and Randy Travis were the first two performers featured on the show. They sang duets of both their songs, it was an hour long special.

[edit] Third Studio Album

In late 2006, Turner wrote in an online journal about a new track titled "Low Country" and confirmed it to be on the next album. He performed this song at a concert in South Carolina. He has also performed another as yet unreleased song titled "Everything Is Fine" in a separate concert. In December 2006, a featurette on CMT Insider showed Turner in the studio working on the album. He mentioned that he wanted it to sound like music in the 1700s and 1800s. Turner added that the album would feature whistling. A new album is expected to be released in late spring or early summer 2007.

[edit] Trivia

  • Josh is a devout Christian. He has written many songs about Jesus Christ and his songs often represent his Christian values.
  • Josh's wife Jennifer starred in the video for "Your Man" and also plays piano and sings backing vocals as part of Turner's road band.
  • Josh was nominated for the Horizon Award at the CMA Awards for two different years (2004 and 2006).
  • Josh is 6'1".
  • Josh has set up The Josh Turner Fund for the Arts. The fund is a non-profit account set up to help keep and get music into our schools.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Album Statistics Singles
Long Black Train
  • Released: October 14, 2003
  • Peak Chart Positions:
    • U.S. #29
    • U.S. Country #3
    • U.S. Heatseekers #1
  • U.S. Sales: 1,130,160+
  • RIAA Certification: ▲ Platinum (November 2004)
  • Record Label: MCA
 Singles Released
Your Man Singles Released

[edit] Singles

Year Single Album U.S. U.S. Country U.S. Pop U.S. Digital RIAA Certification
2002 "She'll Go On You"A Long Black Train - - - - -
2003 "Long Black Train" Long Black Train 72 13 - - Gold
2004 "What It Ain't" Long Black Train - 31 - - -
2005 "Your Man" Your Man 38 1 75 73 Gold
2006 "Would You Go With Me" Your Man 43 1 60 43 -
2006 "Me and God" (with Ralph Stanley)B Your Man - 18 - - -
  • A"She'll Go On You" was only released as a 7" vinyl single.
  • B"Me And God" is currently active on the charts.

[edit] Other Contributions

  • "Tears of God" - America Will Always Stand album
  • "In My Dreams" - Today - Tomorrow - Forever: A Collection Of Country Love Songs, Walmart Exclusive
  • "First Noel" - 2004 Target Christmas, Target Exclusive
  • "Softly and Tenderly" - Amazing Grace 3: A Country Salute To Gospel
  • "Long Black Train" - Three Wooden Crosses
  • "Good Woman Bad" - An Unfinished Life film
  • "Hard Headed" - iTunes exclusive single
  • "When I Paint My Masterpiece" - Endless Highway, 2007 - Tribute collection of the music of The Band

[edit] Awards & Nominations

  • Grammy Awards
    • 2007 - Male Country Vocal Performance - "Would You Go With Me" (Nomination)
    • 2007 - Country Album - Your Man (Nomination)
  • CMA Awards
    • 2004 - Horizon Award (Nomination)
    • 2004 - Song of the Year - "Long Black Train" (Nomination)
    • 2006 - Horizon Award (Nomination)
  • ACM Awards
    • 2004 - Top New Artist (Nomination)
    • 2005 - Top New Artist (Nomination)
    • 2007 - Single Record of the Year - "Would You Go With Me" (Nomination)
    • 2007 - Song of the Year - "Would You Go With Me" (Nomination)
    • 2007 - Vocal Event of the Year - "Me and God" (with Ralph Stanley and Diamond Rio) (Nomination)
  • Inspirational Country Music Awards
    • 2004 - Song of the Year - "Long Black Train" (Winner)
    • 2004 - Songwriter (Winner)
    • 2004 - Mainstream Country Artist (Nominee)
    • 2006 - Song of the Year - "Me And God" (Nomination)
    • 2006 - Songwriter (Nomination)
    • 2006 - Mainstream Country Artist (Nomination)

[edit] References

  1. ^ CMT 20 Questions with Josh Turner for CMT.com Retrieved December 20, 2006.
  2. ^ Official webstie biography for Joshturner.com Retrieved May 16, 2006.
  3. ^ People Magazine article for People.com Retrieved October 22, 2006.

[edit] External links

 v • d • e Josh Turner
Discography
Studio albums:
Long Black Train · Your Man · Untitled 2007 album
Singles:
"She'll Go On You" · "Long Black Train" · "What It Ain't" · "Your Man" · "Would You Go With Me"
"Me and God"
Related articles
MCA Nashville · Country music · Thankful Hearts
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