One of the most prominent Blake Shelton’s facts is that he’s the comic relief of The Voice. It’s safe to say that aside from his soulful country voice, his witty banter has captured his fan’s hearts since 2001.
With several Grammy Awards nominations under his belt, Blake Shelton has truly come a long way with his career. Moving forward, it’s obvious that this “Minimum Wage” singer could stash more trophies. For now, let’s look back at the most notable facts about Blake Shelton:
Blake Shelton was born in Oklahoma
Blake Shelton is the middle child of Dorothy Shelton and Richard Shelton. He was born on 18 June 1976. His parents are a beauty salon and a used-car dealer and together, they raised Blake in Ada, Oklahoma.
Way back in high school, he was praised and encouraged by an established songwriter after hearing him perform. His encounter with Mae Boren Axton won’t be the first time he would run into big names in the music industry.
He moved to Nashville, Tennessee, at 17
Upon Shelton’s high school graduation in 1994, he moved to the place where country singers try to make it happen for them. Axton, the songwriter who saw him perform when he was in high, also lived in his new city.
She helped Blake land a job as a house painter. Along the way, she would introduce the budding singer to big names in the music industry.
Some reports say that he also got a job at a publishing company. But he lost it soon enough due to his attempts at talking to songwriters.
Blake wrote his first song at 15
Blake Shelton’s drive with meeting songwriters stems from his interest developed at an early age. He first held and learned how to play guitar at 12, all thanks to his uncle. At 15 years old, he wrote the first of his many songs. A year after that, he won the ‘Denbo Diamond Award.’ It’s Oklahoma’s most prominent award for budding entertainers.
“Austin” was Shelton’s debut single
Three years after relocating to Nashville, Shelton met with songwriter/producer Bobby Braddock.
He helped the young artist bag a recording contract with Giant Records in 1997. In 2001, he would release his first single, “Austin,” with the label that would later set his tracks as another country chart-topper.
The single easily climbed to the top spot on Billboard’s country singles chart. It also peaked at 18 on the Hot 100 listing. When his first label closed its doors, Warner Brothers, Giant Record’s parent company, was quick to sign Blake.
In mid-2001, Blake Shelton released his debut album that landed as the third-best country album.
His second album’s lead single peaked at number 1, again
Two years after releasing his first album, Blake Shelton released another studio album. “The Dreamer (2003)” was under Warner Bros Records with “Baby” as its lead single. Like Blake’s first album, the song peaked at number on the US Country Charts. It stayed on top for two weeks.
Meanwhile, his second album stayed at number 28 on the US Billboard 200. It’s one of his moderate successes throughout his singing career.
Overall, Blake has raked over 25 number-one singles
In 2014, the “Hillbilly Bone (2009)” singer set the record for most consecutive top songs on the Country Charts. His “Doin’ What She Likes (2014)” helped him complete his streak starting from 2009.
When not in the top spot, his albums/singles stay in the top 10
His seventh studio album called “Cheers, It’s Christmas (2012)” peaked at the top 8 on the Billboard 200. It included popular singles like “White Christmas,” “The Christmas Song,” and “Jingle Bell Rock,”
Meanwhile, his tenth studio album called “If I’m Honest (2016)” peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard 200. Its notable singles include “Came Here to Forget” and “Straight Outta Cold Beer.” The said album also did well in Australia, peaking at number thirteen.
Blake Shelton was up for 118 awards nominations
As of 2021, Blake’s expressive voice has gained him a total of 118 nominations. 112 of them the singer won. His distinguished wins include 26 ‘American Society of Composers and five ‘Academy of Country Music Awards.’
Blake launched a cancer research program in his home city
Outside his career-related affairs, Blake has also been active in supporting a cancer research program. He established this in 2018 at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital. The gesture is in honor of Aspen, his infant cousin who went through cancer treatment in the said hospital’s children’s center.
Blake Shelton runs two “Ol’ Red”
Aside from his hit cover of ’90s-George Jones song, “Ol’ Red,” Shelton also has a famous restaurant bearing the same name. He runs them in his two home cities, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Aside from its menu, it attracts people with its laid-back music venue.
Blake is one of the few country hitmakers who doesn’t go home in Nashville.
While Nashville was his home while trying to make it into the spotlight, the Oklahoma native moved back to his original home city. It’s the location of his first restaurant and entertainment venue, too. Aside from moving away from the country-singers oasis city, he now also spends his days in California. It’s where Gwen Stefani, his girlfriend for five years and now fiancée, lives.
In 2017, Blake was named as the People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive
Blake Shelton replaced Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson as the Sexiest Man Alive in the previous year’s issue. In an interview, the singer can’t believe the news and he said, “Wow, you must be running out of people.” His fiancée pushed him to accept the award.
For You
Shelton rocked mullet in the early 2000s
In the early days of the country singer’s career, Shelton paraded long hair paired with a cowboy hat. In a 2003 interview with CMT, he said that yes, he knows that it looks like crap. As a budding artist, he found fun in irritating people with his looks. However, he settled on a clean-cut for his 2007 album called Pure BS.
While he decided to lose the mullet in the later years of his career, the singer teamed up with his fiancée to bring it back in 2020. In a Twitter post, he delivered a “mullet update” as of March 26, 2020. The post shows Gwen Stefani feathering the little length he sported.
Blake Shelton’s 4th number 1 single is all thanks to his first wife
Yes, Blake Shelton was married first to Miranda Lambert. All thanks to her secretly putting Michael Buble’s “Home” in his iPod, the singer wouldn’t have heard and released a cover of it.
The cover was key in making his 2007 album Pure BS a platinum-selling album.
Blake first coached on another singing competition
Before he became a mainstay coach in The Voice, Blake was in Clash of the Choirs. It’s a show following The Voice’s format. During his appearance here, he created a singing team that went up against groups led by Patti LaBelle and Michael Bolton. In the end, his team placed third.
After which, he also played as a judge in Nashville Star in 2007.
Blake was the voice of Earl in “Angry Birds (2016)
In the famous animated film, Blake sang a song called “Friends.” He voiced the character of a country minion pig that’s a prominent character throughout the Angry Birds seasons.
Blake appeared in an American TV series
Along with other famous country superstars like Reba McEntire, Blake also appeared in Malibu Country. The show ran for four months from 2012 to 2013.
Blake Shelton wrote many songs for Gwen Stefani
Blake Shelton wrote four songs for his fiancée. One of the most remarkable ones was “Go Ahead and Break My Heart (2016).” He attempted to impress Gwen with this gesture. During the process of composing the song, he sent the first half to his muse, whom he might have forgotten was also a famous songwriter.
Ultimately, Gwen filled the rest of the song, rendering the song a duet. It was released in May 2016 as part of Blake’s 10th studio album, If I’m Honest. The song peaked at the 13th spot of Billboard’s US Hot Country Songs and 17th on the Canada Digital Songs.
The duo has made many heartfelt performances of the song over the years. One of which was in the 10th season of The Voice, where the couple boasted their chemistry as their eyes were locked for most of the song.
Blake Shelton’s Net Worth
The country sensation’s net worth landed at the 70th spot of Forbes Top 100 Celebrity Earnings in 2020. One would expect that singing and composing country songs made Blake Shelton take the prominent spot.
Yet, his years’ worth of appearance in The Voice made him one of the richest musicians today. He makes a whopping $13 million per The Voice season, alongside fellow judges Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, and John Legend.
Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the singer grosses around a million dollars per city while he was on the road.
Blake Shelton is tying the knot with Gwen Stefani
As they met on The Voice in 2014 as coaches, their love blossomed through their mirroring divorce scenarios and love for music. After 5 years of being in a relationship, the couple decided to hear the wedding bells ringing. If you want to know how they ended up being “Happy Anywhere” together, here’s all YNTK about Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani relationship timeline.
While everyone’s excited about more details regarding his upcoming wedding, fans are also waiting for his upcoming album in 2021.
As his newest lead single called “Minimum Wage” makes headlines, we’re sure that we’re adding more awards (and juicy details) in this list of Blake Shelton’s facts.
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