About
Vince Gill is a renowned American country singer, known for his high-quality songwriting skills and resonant tenor voice. Before setting out on his solo career, Gill was a member of the country-rock group Pure Prairie League, which produced the major hit “Amie.” Gill has taken home 14 Grammys, and won more Country Music Awards than any performer in history.
Gill was born in Norman, Oklahoma, and had learned the banjo, guitar, fiddle, dobro, mandolin, and bass by the time he was a teenager. In high school, he played in the bluegrass band Mountain Smoke, which gained enough local notice to open a concert for Pure Prairie League. After graduation, Gill played short stints with various bluegrass bands before auditioning in 1979 for Pure Prairie League and subsequently being hired as their lead singer. Gill recorded three albums with Pure Prairie League before landing a solo deal with RCA in 1983.
After moving to Nashville, Gill put out his debut album, Turn Me Loose, which produced a Top 40 hit “Victim of Life’s Circumstance.” The following year he got his first Top Ten hit, a duet with Rosanne Cash “If It Weren’t for Him,” as well as a Top Five hit in “Cinderella,” from his second album The Way Back Home.
Gill left RCA and signed with MCA in 1989. His label debut, When I Call Your Name, was an immediate hit, with the title track reaching number 2 in the charts and winning Gill his first Grammy. Following his success with this album, Gill was offered a spot as a member of Dire Straits, but declined. His next album, Pocket Full of Gold (1991) was another smash hit, producing four Top ten singles and the number two hit “Take Your Memory with You,” but his third album with MCA made him a true star. I Still Believe in You (1992) went platinum in just a few months, spun off three number one hits, and sold over four million copies. Gill’s success continued into his next album, When Love Finds You (1994), which also sold millions of copies and secured five Top 5 hits.
Instead of resting on his laurels, Gill experimented with a new blend of American roots music styles for his next project, High Lonesome Sound (1996). The album was commercially and critically successful. 1998 saw the release of Gill’s most acclaimed album to date, The Key, which went platinum and was his first to top the country charts. After a divorce and a new marriage, Gill released 2003’s Next Big Thing the first album he had produced entirely by himself. Another successful set of albums followed throughout the 2000s, including These Days (2006), Guitar Slinger (2011), and the collaborative Bakersfield (2013). Three years later he released the soulful Down to My Last Bad Habit, which debuted at four on Billboard’s Country charts.
Gill joined the Eagles as a touring member in 2017, and in 2019 released his latest album Okie. Gill still performs regularly, and is often booked for private parties and corporate entertainment events.
