Chuck Cannon

Charles Marion "Chuck" Cannon, Jr. (born in Greenville, South Carolina) is an American country music songwriter. His compositions include hit singles for Toby Keith and John Michael Montgomery. Cannon has also received awards for Broadcast Music Incorporated, as well as an Academy of Country Music award for Song of the Year. He is the husband of singer Lari White.

Biography

Cannon was born and raised in South Carolina. His father was a Pentecostal preacher.^[2] He was inspired at an early age by local folk songs as well as black spiritual songs.^[3] He later performed at local venues, then moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1984 to attended Belmont University. By 1988, he was signed to a songwriting contract.

Cannon's "If I Was Jesus" was nominated for the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards for Americana Song of the year.

Writing career

One of Cannon's first notable compositions was "I Love the Way You Love Me", a Number One hit for John Michael Montgomery in 1993, which Cannon co-wrote with Victoria Shaw.^[2] This song also won the Song of the Year award at the Academy of Country Music awards, which is awarded to songwriters.^[4] From there, Cannon began working primarily for Toby Keith, including "Me Too", "Dream Walkin'", "We Were in Love", "Getcha Some", "If a Man Answers" and "When Love Fades" in the late 1990s, "How Do You Like Me Now?!" in 2000, and "American Soldier" in 2003-2004.^[3] "How Do You Like Me Now?!" was also the Number One country song of the year according to the Billboard Year-End charts. Both it and "I Love the Way You Love Me" earned Eight-Million-Air awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated for receiving eight million spins at radio.^[2] Cannon also self-released two albums: God Shaped Hole and Love and Money in 2006 and 2008, respectively.

Family

Cannon is married to Lari White, for whom he has also written singles.^[3] They have two daughters, M'Kenzy and Kyra, and a son, Jaxon.

Singles written by Cannon

This list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Sarah Buxton – "Space"
• Billy Dean – "This Is the Life"
• Wynonna Judd – "Heaven Help Me", "Flies on the Butter (You Can't Go Home Again)"
• Toby Keith – "Me Too", "Dream Walkin'", "We Were in Love", "Getcha Some", "If a Man Answers", "When Love Fades", "How Do You Like Me Now?!", "American Soldier"
• Lonestar – "Saturday Night"
• Shane Minor – "Slave to the Habit"
• John Michael Montgomery – "I Love the Way You Love Me"
• Lari White – "What a Woman Wants", "That's My Baby", "That's How You Know (When You're in Love)"
• John & Audrey Wiggins – "She's in the Bedroom Crying"
• Danny Gokey – "I Will Not Say Goodbye"
• Night Ranger – "Forever All Over Again"

References