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Billy Ray Cyrus

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Billy Ray Cyrus was born in 1961 in Flatwoods, Kentucky. His grandfather was a minister in a Pentecostal congregation, and Billy Ray grew up amid bluegrass and gospel. He went to college on a baseball scholarship, but after a Neil Diamond concert he decided to become a musician. In the 1980s he played in the band Sly Dog. It was a hard time: in Los Angeles he slept for a period in his neighbours' car. In 1990 he signed with Mercury.

Music and breakthrough

His debut album Some Gave All appeared in 1992 and was an enormous success. It spent seventeen weeks in a row at number 1 on the American album chart, longer than any debut by a country artist. The big hit was Achy Breaky Heart, a cheerful, simple country song that also caught on outside America. Thanks to the video, line dancing became a craze all over the world. He went on making albums and became an actor, including in the Disney series Hannah Montana, alongside his daughter Miley Cyrus.

Influence

In 2019 he was in the news again. Lil Nas X had made a song, Old Town Road, that mixed country and hip hop, and a discussion arose about whether it was country at all. Cyrus sang on a remix, and that version spent nineteen weeks at number 1 in America. It earned him his first two Grammys. In this way a country star of the 1990s became a bridge between country and the hip hop of the streaming age.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the remix of Old Town Road by Lil Nas X with Billy Ray Cyrus. Notice the banjo and the hip hop beat with deep basses, and hear how Cyrus's voice gives the song a real country side.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

See also

Categories: Artists