John Rich

John Rich (born on January 7, 1974) is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur. From 1992 to 1998, he was a member of the country band Lonestar, in which he played bass guitar, co-writing his inaugural #1 hit song called "Come Cryin' to Me" and sharing lead vocal duties with Richie McDonald. Departing from Lonestar in 1998, he ventured into a solo career under BNA Records in the late 1990s, where he released two singles and recorded Underneath the Same Moon, which was delayed until 2006. In 2001, he singlehandedly released Rescue Me, an album inspired by a cancer patient named Katie Darnell. By 2003, he teamed up with Big Kenny to establish the duo Big & Rich, achieving success with three albums under Warner Bros. Records as well as ten singles, notably chart topper "Lost in This Moment". After Big & Rich went on hiatus in 2007, Rich began work on a third solo album, Son of a Preacher Man, yielding two more chart singles including the Top Ten hit song "Shuttin' Detroit Down." In 2011, he released two extended plays, Rich Rocks and For the Kids, before re-vitalizing Big & Rich in 2012. They launched Big and Rich Records in 2014, experiencing considerable success with big hits like "Look At You", "Loving Lately", and "Run Away with You."

Lonestar
John Rich was born on January 7, 1974, in Amarillo, Texas, the son of Jim, a non-denominational preacher and teacher, and Judy Overton Rich. John graduated from Dickson County Senior High in Dickson, Tennessee, and after graduation moved to Nashville where he worked as a singer at Opryland USA. He wanted to be a professional team roper. Not long after, he co-founded the group Texasee, which eventually changed its name to Lonestar. While in Lonestar, Rich was the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist with Richie McDonald. Their 1996 single "Heartbroke Every Day" was the only one to feature Rich on lead vocals. Rich also co-wrote two of the band's singles: "Come Cryin' to Me" and "Say When", the former being a number-one single for the group. In January 1998, Rich departed from Lonestar, but was never officially replaced, causing Lonestar to continue as a four-piece band. Afterward, Rich became a solo artist with BNA Records, the same label to which Lonestar was signed. He charted two singles for the label and recorded an album which did not see release until 2006. In 2001, he singlehandedly recorded and released "Rescue Me", an album inspired to record after coming in contact with a cancer patient Katie Darnell.

Big & Rich
In 2002, Rich partnered with Big Kenny to establish the duo Big & Rich. Together, they released three studio albums under Warner Bros. Records: "Horse of a Different Color" in 2004 "Comin' to Your City" in 2005, and "Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace", in 2007. These albums produced ten singles on the country charts, including the Number One "Lost in This Moment". Additionally, Rich co-wrote all of the duo's singles, primarily collaborating with Big Kenny. Following the success of Big & Rich, his 1999 solo album Underneath the Same Moon was released via BNA, coinciding with the launch of Big Kenny's previously unreleased solo album Live a Little. In the summer of 2012, a fourth Big&Rich album was released featuring the uplifting track "That's Why I Pray" which peaked at No. 15 on the country charts.

Work for other artists
During Big & Rich's success, Rich also worked as a songwriter and producer for other artists. His work included production for Gretchen Wilson, Keith Anderson, Jewel and John Anderson as well as country icons Kenny Rogers and Randy Owen. In the same time span, he co-wrote multiple singles for other artists, including the Number One hits "Redneck Woman" "Here For The Party" "All Jacked Up" "When I Think About Cheating" "California Girls" for Wilson, "Mississippi Girl" "Sunshine and Summertime" and the Grammy winning "Like We Never Loved At All" for Faith Hill. Rich also wrote "Hicktown" "Amarillo Sky" "Johnny Cash" and "Why" for Jason Aldean.

He also has a co-write on Taylor Swift's 2008 album, Fearless, titled "The Way I Loved You". Rich was named ASCAP Songwriter of the year for three years in a row from 2005-2007, making him the only artist/writer to ever accomplish this feat in country music.

In 2011, Rich recorded a song with heavy metal band Black Label Society, entitled "Darkest Days", featured on their compilation album, The Song Remains Not the Same.

In 2016, Rich added his voice to a duet with Marie Osmond on her album Music Is Medicine with the song titled "Love This Tough".

Son of a Preacher Man
In January 2009, Rich released his third solo single on Warner Bros. Records. The song, "Another You", is the lead-off single to Rich's second studio album, Son of a Preacher Man, which was released on March 24, 2009. He followed this song up with another single, "Shuttin' Detroit Down", recorded only one week before its release in January 2009. Rich promoted the song, which addresses the Chrysler and General Motors bailouts, at Michigan radio stations. The song debuted at No. 34 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the chart week of February 14, 2009, becoming his first solo Top 40 hit and peaking at No. 10 in April. A third single, "The Good Lord and the Man", debuted at No. 59 on the country chart and peaked at No. 56 in July 2009.

Rich Rocks and For the Kids
Both Rich Rocks and For the Kids have produced one single between them. Country Done Come to Town was released as a single from Rich Rocks in mid-2010 and became the theme song for his CMT hit reality TV show, "Gone Country."

Television work
In 2007, Rich hosted the first season of a reality show on Country Music Television called Gone Country, which featured celebrities such as Brady Bunch actress Maureen McCormick and singers Bobby Brown, Sisqo, Julio Iglesias Jr., Dee Snider, Carnie Wilson and American Idol runner-up Diana DeGarmo as they were paired with professional Nashville songwriters in attempts to write songs themselves. The show was filmed at the former home of Barbara Mandrell. He has hosted two more seasons since then, and the show became the highest-rated series in CMT history.

Rich also served as a judge on the 2008 version of Nashville Star on NBC along with Jewel, singer-songwriter Jeffrey Steele, and host Billy Ray Cyrus.

Rich was a candidate in the 2011 season of The Celebrity Apprentice, which premiered on March 6. In episode 5, he lost as project manager for the men's team, Backbone. Despite the first loss, he later won two more tasks as project manager, raising $1,266,908 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Rich competed with Marlee Matlin in the live season finale, where he was declared the season winner, and received an additional $250,000 for his charity. Rich became the all-time leading fundraiser in the history of the show.

Rich served as a mentor in the 2012 reality/competition series The Next: Fame Is at Your Doorstep.

Personal life
John Rich and his wife, Joan, married on December 6, 2008. He has two sons, Cash and Colt.

On April 7, 2015, Rich's song "Shuttin' Detroit Down" was featured in Senator Rand Paul's 2016 presidential campaign announcement. He later declared his support for presumptive nominee Donald Trump following Paul's exit from the race. Big & Rich would later perform at a pre-inaugural ceremony on January 19, 2017, after Trump's victory in the general election.

On May 30, 2019, he released "Shut Up About Politics" featuring presenters of the Fox News Channel program The Five. Rich also released six songs from his independent label Rich Records, five of which reached the #1 status on the iTunes all-genre download chart. Those songs are "Earth To God," "Progress," "Santa's Got A Dirty Job," "Shut Up About Politics," "I'm Offended," and "Revelation."

Singles

 * A "I Pray for You" also peaked at number 63 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart.