2. Clint Black

Clint Black is another artist who got his start singing in a band with his brothers as a child. Eventually, he went solo and got a record contract with RCA. His first single was released in 1989, placing him in country music’s legendary “Class Of ‘89” which also included Garth Brooks (2012 Hall Of Fame inductee), Alan Jackson (2017 inductee), Travis Tritt, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Clint went pretty traditional with his music throughout his career, so he was never going to have the crossover success of Garth Brooks or Shania Twain. But even without being a crossover star, Clint ended up being one of the big country stars of the 1990s. He wrote all of his own songs, played guitar on all of his tracks, 11 Grammy nominations, won 2 CMA awards, won 5 ACM awards, didn’t miss the top ten for an entire decade, and sold over 20 million albums. By the year 2000, he was ready to get out of the tough cycle of the Nashville industry, essentially ending his run at radio. But by that point he already built up an impressive resume. Today, his songs may not have held up as much as other ’90s hit-makers but he still was able to make an important legacy with country music.