Country music had a big moment in the 1990s, but many of the era's stars have,
unfortunately, fallen right off the map. Here's a question, though:
where did they actually end up? Here's what happened to these '90s country stars.
Country music fans will remember Ricky Van Shelton for his many chart smashes, such as
1988's "I'll Leave This World Loving You" and 1991's "I Am a Simple Man." Van Shelton even
teamed up with country legend Dolly Parton for the song "Rockin' Years," which was also
a chart-topping hit. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his first four albums were certified platinum,
and the singer released Greatest Hits Plus in 1992. A year later, he put out A Bridge
I Didn't Burn, but it failed to make as much of a splash as his previous albums.
Behind the scenes, however, Van Shelton grappled with
alcoholism for many years. In 1994, he told Country Music International:
"The drinking really started to mess up my life. Getting rid of alcohol
makes a big difference in somebody's life. I just don't do that anymore."
Then, in 2006, Van Shelton announced he was stepping away
from music to spend time with his family, writing:
"I need to share with you a very difficult decision that I have reached this week.
I have asked to be released from the performance obligations that
have been made for the rest of the year."
Nowadays, Van Shelton is currently staying busy as a licensed pilot and a cattle-raiser,
and tends to make very few public appearances.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues,
help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
LeAnn Rimes was just a teen when Blue, her debut record, reached No. 1 on the Billboard
country albums chart. She quickly made the crossover to country-pop with songs like
"How Do I Live" and "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)," the latter of which remains her only
No. 1 country single. Still, the artist was riding high in her music career, and in 2000
fully made the transition to pop music with her hit "Can't Fight the Moonlight," which
was featured on the soundtrack for the film Coyote Ugly and went gold in the United States.
Sadly, much of her personal life was tarnished by the tabloids as her success as a country
and pop artist came to fruition. She even filed a lawsuit against her own father for
stealing millions of dollars from her, which was eventually settled out of court in 2001.
Rimes made headlines again and again, mostly for her relationship with Eddie Cibrian
and separation from her husband Dean Sheremet. Then, in 2012,
People magazine reported Rimes had checked herself into treatment for "anxiety and stress."
"For myself, I think the best birthday gift I could ever give myself is to once again
be honest with myself and break down the the things that I've struggled with for so long."
She has since opened up about her healing,
even releasing a meditation album in 2020 titled CHANT: The Human & the Holy.
In December 2020, Rimes made headlines yet again
when she won a season of the bizarre reality series The Masked Singer.
Paul Brandt gave U.S. country fans his hit song "My Heart Has A History" in 1996,
which reached No. 5 on the Billboard country music chart, and that same year released the
track "I Do," which climbed up to the No. 2 position. The success of those two singles led
him to become the first male Canadian country artist on the Billboard Top 20 since the '70s,
and his album Calm Before the Storm was certified gold in the United States and platinum in Canada.
It appeared that Brandt was finding much more success as a country artist in Canada, however,
and even initially released his greatest hits album in that country alone. In 2002,
he started his own music label called Brand-T Records, releasing himself from Warner/Reprise,
and moved out of Nashville to his hometown of Alberta. He's gone on to win Album of the
Year at the Canadian Country Music Awards multiple times, and is currently the most
awarded male Canadian country artist in history. Brandt is also a member of both
the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and the Western Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
Sammy Kershaw led an impressive career as a country singer ever since he released his
1991 debut album Don't Go Near the Water, which produced hits like "Cadillac Style,"
"Yard Sale," and "I Can't Reach Her Anymore." His debut album went on
to reach platinum certification, and his second album, Haunted Heart, gave him his
only No. 1 song on the Billboard country music chart — with "She Don't Know She's Beautiful."
"We were rocking back then,
you know? We used to sell a million albums, not a million singles. We were rocking, man."
Kershaw would go on to sell over 5 million records, in fact, with six gold and three
platinum albums, but by the late '90s and early 2000s, his songs were beginning to make less of an
impact in the charts. In 2009, the country star filed for bankruptcy, with Kershaw admitting:
"My advice is to do everything you can to avoid
bankruptcy because it is a tough thing to get over."
Kershaw had also gone through four divorces by then, with his fourth
marriage to country singer Lorrie Morgan lasting from 2001 to 2007.
Since then, things seem to be going well for the country star as he welcomed his fifth child
with girlfriend Mendy Gregory, on September 11th, 2019, and continues to keep busy by going on tour.
Every country music lover knows the song "Strawberry Wine" by Deana Carter.
The track featured on 1996 record Did I Shave My Legs For This? and saw massive success as it
peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard country music chart — and won Song of the Year at the 1997
Country Music Association Awards. Carter's album has sold more than five million copies
since its debut and is one of the best-selling albums of all time from a female country singer.
After the release of "Strawberry Wine," Carter continued to see her songs hit the No.1 spot,
including "We Danced Away" and "How Do I Get There." However, her second album was not to be
as successful as her first, and neither would her other songs, with Carter telling Rolling Stone:
"We were trying to achieve the same amount. I was working my rear off on the road,
trying to write and record another record that was gonna top that record.
The saddest thing is there wasn't the time."
In 2013, Carter formed her own record label, Little Nugget Records,
and released her seventh studio album, Southern Way of Life.
Bryan White entered the country scene in 1994 when he was signed to Asylum Records,
releasing his first song "Eugene You Genius," off of his self-titled record.
While the song failed to chart, his next single "Look At Me Now" peaked at No. 24
on the Billboard country music chart. Soon White landed his two No. 1 hits: "Someone Else's Star"
and "Rebecca Lyn" Those songs helped White reach platinum certification by the RIAA.
White would go on to have a successful sophomore album that featured the songs
"I'm Not Supposed To Love You Anymore" and "So Much for Pretending," tracks
that also hit the top of the Billboard chart. However, as the '90s were coming to a close,
White's third and fourth albums failed to perform as well as his first two. Eventually,
he left music behind. It wasn't until 2006 that he put out another record, this time an EP,
and in 2009, he dropped an album titled Dustbowl Dreams. In 2014, he released a Kickstarter-funded
collection of songs called Shine. He continues to perform live shows throughout the USA.
Chely Wright earned an Academy of Country Music Award shortly after dropping her first album,
and from there the sky seemed to be the limit. However, her followup album,
Right in the Middle of It, failed to garner much commercial success. So the
country artist left her record company behind and signed with MCA Nashville,
eventually releasing Let Me In. The album's lead single, "Shut Up and Drive," went to No.
14 on the Billboard country music chart. Wright found greater success with her fourth album,
Single White Female, which produced the No.1 hit of the same name on the Billboard chart in 1999.
Wright would go on to release a total of eight studio albums, and her 2001 record
Never Love You Enough even reached the top 10 of the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. She
then took a brief hiatus after the release of her sixth album. In 2010, Wright made the news once
more when she came out as gay. Two weeks later, she opened up to Oprah about having come out.
"Does it feel like you're floating, does it feel like you're a new person, what does it feel like?"
"I feel like I'm about two weeks old."
However, Wright has since revealed that she believed her decision to share her
sexual orientation has affected her career negatively. For example, she told Auto Straddle:
"In coming out, I had a feeling that it would diminish my wage earning,
and that feeling was correct. And, I'm fine with that."
Since coming out, Wright has been a strong voice in the LGBTQ+ community and, in 2011,
married gay rights activist Lauren Blitzer.
David Lee Murphy began making country hits in 1995 with the release of his song
"Dust on the Bottle," which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard country music chart. His second record,
Gettin' Out the Good Stuff, produced the 1996 hit "Every Time I Get Around You,"
which peaked at the No. 2 spot. It wasn't until 2004 that the country star would have his next
big hit with "Loco," but from there he went on to find plenty of success as a songwriter.
Murphy found a passion for songwriting and has penned several hits for his fellow
country singers, such as Jason Aldean's "Big Green Tractor," Thompson Square's
"Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not," and Blake Shelton's "The More I Drink."
In 2018, Kenny Chesney convinced him to produce another record. Murphy wrote on his website:
"I wanted to record songs of mine that people haven't heard before,
that are new. We wanted to make the kind of album that you listen to if you were camping
or out on a lake, fishing. Or sitting anywhere, just having a good time."
That year, No Zip Code was released, which produced the hit song,
"Everything's Gonna Be Alright." The song became Murphy's second
hit to reach the No.1 position on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
Joe Diffie had a huge career in country music, beginning in the '90s,
when he released his debut album, A Thousand Winding Roads. His first single,
"Home," reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard country music list,
and he would go on to have five No. 1 songs and 17 Top 10s on that chart. He was one of
the few country stars of the '90s who continued to create hit after hit, seemingly without end.
Diffie never stopped sing in**ing country music, and continued to make records well into the 2000s,
even though his songs never quite reached the same chart positions as they did in the '90s — but
that's not to say his legacy waned. For example, Diffie was referenced in Jason Aldean's hit
"1994," and also went on tour with '90s country stars Sammy Kershaw and Aaron Tippin. Sadly,
however, tragedy struck in March 2020, when Diffie died due to complications related to COVID-19.
Being the daughter of the legendary country singer Mel Tillis,
Pam Tillis was pretty much born to sing country, and found a great deal of success in the 1990s.
While Pam was creating records well before that decade, though,
it wasn't until her 1994 song "Mi Vida Loca" that she truly found fame, after it peaked at
the No.1 spot on the Billboard country music chart. While that was her only No.1 hit,
Pam would go on to have 13 Top 10 hits on the Billboard chart throughout her singing career.
Starting in 1993, Pam found herself acting in a number of TV shows,
including L.A. Law, Promised Land, and Diagnosis:
Murder. She even had a stint on Broadway in 1999 when she starred in Smokey Joe's Cafe.
However, Pam didn't give up on music altogether, and in 2013 paired up with country singer Lorrie
Morgan for an album titled Dos Divas. She also released a solo studio album in 2020.
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