Garth Brooks announced his impending retirement from country music in October 2000, he had become, in just nine meteoric years, the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music. In the United States alone, his albums had sold more than 100 million copies. Brooks' live concerts were equally pace setting. During his 1996-1998 concert tour, he played 350 shows in 100 cities and sold more than 5.3 million tickets. He sold more than 1.8 million tickets in 1996, prompting the trade magazine Amusement Business to rank it as the top country music tour of all time.
Garth Troyal Brooks was born on Feb. 7, 1962, in Tulsa, Okla., and raised in Yukon, Okla., just outside of Oklahoma City. His parents are Troyal Raymond Brooks and the late Colleen Carroll Brooks. Colleen Carroll recorded for Capitol Records in the 1950s and performed with Red Foley on the Ozark Jubilee.
Brooks attended Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, from which he graduated in 1984 with a degree in advertising. Drawn to country music by his admiration for George Strait, Brooks became a popular regional performer during his college years, both as the leader of a country band and as a guitar-picking soloist.
After an abortive one-day trip to Nashville in 1985, Brooks returned permanently in 1987. The following year, he signed a recording contract with Capitol Records. His first single for Capitol -- "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)" -- was released in March 1989, and his first ...
