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Keith Anderson Profile |
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Birth Date: January 12, 1968
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Birthplace: Miami, Oklahoma, USA
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Birth Name: Keith Anderson
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Biography |
Every song Keith sings sounds like a hit, and that includes
"Pickin' Wildflowers," his romping debut single for Arista
Nashville. He's already proven himself as an ace songwriter
with the Grammy-nominated "Beer Run (B Double E Double Are
You In?)," recorded as a duet by Garth Brooks and George
Jones, and "The Bed," recorded by the multi-Platinum
Gretchen Wilson as a vocal event with Big & Rich. He already
has a major publishing contract with EMI Music. His
energized live performances have brought him a large and
rabid fan following. He has contacts with some of the top
radio stations in the nation. He's had his own fan website
for years.
Even before joining Arista, Keith Anderson had endorsement
deals with Jim Beam, Bud Light, Gibson Guitars, GooGoo
Clusters, Jodie Head, Jim Dunlop brand guitar processors,
Nady Wireless Systems, and Elixir Strings.
He has successfully self-marketed his own CDs and
merchandise. Music Row magazine once dubbed him "an
industrial-strength hunk" for his physique, blue eyes, and
dazzling smile. While still an "unknown," he performed at
festivals for crowds of 10,000 and more. To top it all off,
he has personality to charm the birds from their trees and
an infectious sense of humor.
"I've had a really blessed life," says the Oklahoma native.
"Whatever I set my mind to do, I believe I can do."
Indeed. Within four years of forming his band and playing
the Nashville nightclubs, it seemed like everybody on Music
Row was talking about this new country music sensation. In
the wake of "Beer Run," dozens of song publishers courted
him. After a series of showcases in 2004, he was lured by
five record companies.
"His sound hits home with the core country music audience,
with Middle America," says RCA Label Group A&R Senior VP
Renee Bell, who signed him to Arista. "His music has so much
energy, and it's so much fun. It makes you feel good."
Just being around him does that. Keith Anderson was raised
deeply religious - and there's a sense of decency in him. He
was brought up in a small city - and there's an openhearted
friendliness about him. He comes from a close-knit, loving
family - and there's honest affection in his manner. He is
an athlete - and there's a "team player" quality in his
relationships.
Keith is a native of Miami, OK, a town of 10,000 or so, near
the Arkansas border and its Ozark Mountains. His father
LeRoy worked as a mechanic and handyman. His mother Janice
ran a dog grooming business from home. When Keith was a boy,
the Andersons began taking in foster children.
"They are amazing people," says Keith. "They are just angels
on earth. There were always loads of kids around, all kinds
of cousins. It's a big, hugging family. I still kiss my
parents when I see them. They are very, very affectionate."
Keith, his younger brother Jason and his older brother Brian
grew up to be best friends. Jason remained in Oklahoma,
where he is a successful accountant who created Keith's
original website. Brian built the computer system for NASA's
Mission Control in Houston and developed a self-guided
rocket ambulance that can ferry astronauts back to Earth
from the space station. Brian's scientific renown is such
that he has been featured on the Discovery Channel.
"That's why in my show, I joke and say, 'It really did take
a rocket scientist to teach me to play guitar.'"
While gregarious Keith was excelling in sports, quiet Brian
was alone in his room, practicing the guitar. At the senior
high talent show, Brian sang Dan Fogelberg's "Longer," and
the girls screamed. A light bulb went on over 14-year-old
Keith's head.
"All these girls were going nuts, and he wasn't the athlete!
That's when I got my first taste of how cool music was."
So as a teenager, he began backing his brother on drums at
their local church. He bought records by the Eagles and fell
in love with harmony singing. He learned the songs of Kenny
Rogers, James Taylor, Boston, and Willie Nelson. He made his
first attempts at writing his own. Then it was off to
college and academic excellence.
Keith earned his engineering degree at Oklahoma State,
graduating first in his class with a 3.9 GPA and playing
baseball well enough to be approached by the Kansas City
Royals. A shoulder injury ended his baseball career, but his
commitment to physical fitness led to him placing second in
the Mr. Oklahoma bodybuilding competition. All the while, he
was tinkering with songwriting.
He was hired by a top construction-engineering firm in
Dallas. The job paid quite well, but Keith quit it within a
year and a half.
"I became obsessed with music. At that time, there were four
major clubs in Dallas, and every Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday, there was somebody that I wanted to go see. I just
started falling in love with music and began to try to write
songs again. I went home at Christmas and asked my brother
to teach me chords on the guitar."
Back in Dallas, he auditioned for the Grapevine Opry, a show
that had been a springboard for LeAnn Rimes and others.
After three years as a regular there, Keith earned a
performing slot at the Six Flags Over Texas park. He also
entertained at the Texas State Fair.
The lifestyle change to making music was financially
difficult, but Keith Anderson was so happy doing what he
loved that he didn't care whether he had health insurance or
a house. By day, he worked as a landscaper and became
certified as a personal trainer. With an eye still on
education, he took pre-med courses and was accepted for the
rigorous Physical Therapy program at the University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
"The month before I started, I thought, 'Wait a minute. This
is going to be a whole bunch of commitment.
If I'm ever going to do music, I need to go for it 100%.
NOW. Physical therapy will always be there, and my
engineering degree will always be there.'
"But I was still looking for ways to make money. A
girlfriend got me into modeling. Not a lot of fashion.
Mostly catalogs for sports stuff, J.C. Penney's, Dr. Pepper,
and some others. I never really was a big, successful model.
I didn't get a lot of jobs. I was just being a ham and
listening and learning. And doing just enough to where it
helped teach me to do what I do now.
"Me and Rusty Gaston, my friend from the Six Flags show,
were talking one day. 'We're out of money.' 'What can we
do?' 'Well, we know every country love song on the charts.
Let's start a country singing-telegram business.'
Valentine's Day was two weeks away. We became the Romeo
Cowboys. And that's what got me in with radio."
Desperate to publicize the venture, Keith called a friend
from the gym who worked at a Dallas radio station. The Romeo
Cowboys went on the air the next morning, and business
exploded. Eventually, Keith wrote ad jingles for local
radio. He also noted that several of his fellow Grapevine
performers had their own CDs to promote to disc jockeys. He
scraped together some money, traveled to Nashville, hired
the band Western Flyer to back him in the studio, and
recorded six of his songs. He took the result around to
stations in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, trying to make
friends wherever he could.
"I just built a reputation. I started calling as many radio
stations as I could think of that I could go into,
interview, play live or play my CD, and just get them to
like what I did enough to write a little letter of
recommendation. And that's what I came to town with - a card
that had my 'head shot' photo, those letters of
recommendation, and my little CD."
Keith Anderson arrived in Nashville in the spring of 1998
with a terminally ill car and $2,000 he'd saved. He took a
job as a waiter at a restaurant on Music Row.
"I was a terrible waiter. I never figured out the computer
system. I was messing up every day. But fortunately, they
liked me enough to keep me on. I met a lot of music industry
people there just by trying to be a fun waiter and making
them laugh. And I always had my demo CD ready if somebody
asked for it."
When he was in Nashville making his six-song record in 1996,
Keith had played in a flag football game where one of his
fellow players was songwriter George Ducas. He invited Keith
to call him if he returned to town. They played softball
together in the summer of '98, became friends, and began
co-writing in the fall. That gave the newcomer an entry into
the Nashville songwriting community. If he was good enough
for George, he was good enough for Jeffrey Steele, John
Rich, Kim Williams, Craig Wiseman, Victoria Shaw, Bob
DiPiero, and the rest of his top-tier collaborators.
"I was able to say, 'I write with so-and-so,' and that would
make other people want to hear your stuff. It makes you
legitimate. And you can go from there. It just kinda
snowballed. Pretty soon, I had a good little catalog, and I
didn't even have a [song publishing] deal." He was also
appearing at nightclub songwriter shows with his
better-known co-writers.
"The Nashville audiences would know them, but they didn't
know me. But that's how I started building a following. I
built up a big e-mail base to invite people to my shows.
Then, in 2000, I put together a band."
In 2002, Keith Anderson's group won the Jim Beam Country
Band Search. The company's sponsorship led to opening a
concert for Montgomery Gentry, other endorsements, and a
host of nightclub opportunities. Within months, his
high-octane performances and genuine love of people were
drawing standing room only crowds. That enthusiasm led to
his Arista contract.
"The fans are great, and I try to treat them right. Look
around you at the CMA Music Festival. That's my family.
Those are the people I come from. I am one of them." |
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