Artist Information
He won the "Hottest Video of the Year" honor at the fan-voted CMT Music Awards for "Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right" in 2006, the same year he received an ACM nod for Top New Male Vocalist. His hit duet with Shania Twain, "Party For Two," earned nominations from both the CMA and ACM, and "People Are Crazy" proved to be a career-defining hit that earned Grammy nominations for Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song in addition to being nominated for Single and Song of the Year from the Academy of Country Music, as well as Single, Song and Video of the Year from the Country Music Association.
Like many country entertainers, Billy began singing in church. "I met this preacher when I was 17. I heard about this church and just went there. They had a rocking little band," Billy remembers. The preacher invited him to sing the next week and Billy made quite an impression. Some of his musician friends from church asked him to sing with their band and then had to sneak the underage singer into clubs to perform. "It just started happening so fast," he says. "The next thing you know I'm playing in a band and the preacher is taking me to Nashville."
After that introductory visit, Billy decided Nashville was where he needed to be. He moved at 18 and began paying dues. He poured concrete and worked as a personal trainer at a gym during the day and played in bars at night. He began writing songs and singing on demos. "I was meeting all these songwriters. That led me into singing everybody's songs. I was doing 10 demos a day," he says. "Before you know it, I started getting deal offers from record labels."
Billy signed with Mercury Records and released his self-titled debut in 2003. His first single, "Walk a Little Straighter," quickly established Billy as a singer/songwriter of depth and substance. The song peaked at No. 8 and he followed with "I Got A Feelin,'" which became his first top five. From there, the hits continued as his sophomore album Doin' Somethin' Right spawned his first No. 1 with "Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right" and his second No. 1 with "Good Directions." Released in 2008, his third album, Little Bit of Everything, featured five songs co-written by Billy. The Bobby Braddock/Troy Jones penned "People Are Crazy" became his third No. 1 and he followed that with a song he co-wrote, "That's How Country Boys Roll," which also hit the top of the charts. In September 2010 Billy released Enjoy Yourself, which included the No. 1 hits "Pretty Good at Drinkin' Beer" and "Let Me Down Easy. Billy's album We Are Tonight finds Billy Currington in peak form. The songs are sometimes whimsical, often poignant and always compelling.
Seasoned by time and peppered with experience, his distinctive voice has never sounded better and he's a young man who appreciates the road he's traveled. He's humbled by the successes of his past yet always looking forward. "It's like you work so many years to get it and you finally got it," says Billy, who once again makes his home on Tybee Island. "I feel so blessed."
