Chesney Gets Award for 25 Million Records Sold
Posted: February 17, 2006 8:21 pm
Silver Times Platinum --
Chesney Gets Award for 25 Million Records Sold
Nashville, TN: Having just sung about “Living In Fast Forward” and “The Good Stuff,” Kenny Chesney looked out at the assembled radio programmers and country music VIPs and smiled. Since loading up his pick-up truck on the day the Gulf War started and driving to Nashville to chase a dream, his crazy notion had turned out alright - and the Luttrell, Tennessean wanted the people on the 20th annual RCA Boat Cruise to know how grateful he was for the role they'd played in bringing his impossible wish to life.
And then RLG Chairman Joe Galante came onstage with a plaque. A plaque that spoke volumes about how powerful crazy dreams dreamed with passion and commitment and driven by hard work and clear thinking can be. The plaque celebrated 25 million records sold around the world, through the record clubs, over the internet and in Wal-Marts, record stores and maybe even a truck stop or two.
“You don't even know what to think about all that,” said a clearly moved Chesney after the presentation. “You know, you just don't… the idea THAT many people would hear your songs and hear something that reflected their lives, too. When I came here, I was a kid who wanted to sing songs and do like the people who'd inspired me: Keith Whitley, Conway Twitty, Alabama… not that I could ever be any of them.”
Nor could they do what Chesney's managed to achieve. Last year alone, he was the only country star to headline 3 football stadiums - in the decidedly non-country environs of Pittsburgh, Washington, DC and Boston - and was the subject of his own ABC network television special “Kenny Chesney: Somewhere In The Sun.” For the 4th year in a row, he played to well over 1 million fans, maintaining some of the lowest ticket prices in the business - and yet still ending 2005 gracing the cover of Billboard with Mick Jagger and U2's Bono as the year's top earning acts.
“It's a long way from that first RCA boat show that I went on in 1994,” he acknowledged with a smile, “Back then, I was just off Capircorn, signed to what I thought then and now know is the best record label going… and I was just so excited to be there. A lot has happened to me since then, but some feelings never change.”
With “Living In Fast Forward” heading to the top of the charts like a heat-seeking missile and his The Road & The Radio tour is now in major production rehearsals for a March 23 kick-off with two shows in Dayton, Ohio.
Chesney Gets Award for 25 Million Records Sold
Nashville, TN: Having just sung about “Living In Fast Forward” and “The Good Stuff,” Kenny Chesney looked out at the assembled radio programmers and country music VIPs and smiled. Since loading up his pick-up truck on the day the Gulf War started and driving to Nashville to chase a dream, his crazy notion had turned out alright - and the Luttrell, Tennessean wanted the people on the 20th annual RCA Boat Cruise to know how grateful he was for the role they'd played in bringing his impossible wish to life.
And then RLG Chairman Joe Galante came onstage with a plaque. A plaque that spoke volumes about how powerful crazy dreams dreamed with passion and commitment and driven by hard work and clear thinking can be. The plaque celebrated 25 million records sold around the world, through the record clubs, over the internet and in Wal-Marts, record stores and maybe even a truck stop or two.
“You don't even know what to think about all that,” said a clearly moved Chesney after the presentation. “You know, you just don't… the idea THAT many people would hear your songs and hear something that reflected their lives, too. When I came here, I was a kid who wanted to sing songs and do like the people who'd inspired me: Keith Whitley, Conway Twitty, Alabama… not that I could ever be any of them.”
Nor could they do what Chesney's managed to achieve. Last year alone, he was the only country star to headline 3 football stadiums - in the decidedly non-country environs of Pittsburgh, Washington, DC and Boston - and was the subject of his own ABC network television special “Kenny Chesney: Somewhere In The Sun.” For the 4th year in a row, he played to well over 1 million fans, maintaining some of the lowest ticket prices in the business - and yet still ending 2005 gracing the cover of Billboard with Mick Jagger and U2's Bono as the year's top earning acts.
“It's a long way from that first RCA boat show that I went on in 1994,” he acknowledged with a smile, “Back then, I was just off Capircorn, signed to what I thought then and now know is the best record label going… and I was just so excited to be there. A lot has happened to me since then, but some feelings never change.”
With “Living In Fast Forward” heading to the top of the charts like a heat-seeking missile and his The Road & The Radio tour is now in major production rehearsals for a March 23 kick-off with two shows in Dayton, Ohio.