Kenny Chesney

Early life

Chesney was born at St. Mary's Medical Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, and raised in Luttrell. His father, David Chesney, was an elementary school teacher, and his mother, Karen Chandler, worked as a hair stylist. He has a younger sister named Jennifer Chandler. After graduating from Gibbs High School in 1986, where he played baseball and football, he studied advertising at East Tennessee State University. There he joined the ETSU Bluegrass Program and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, graduating in 1990. While a student, he recorded a self-released demo album, Good Old Boy At Heart, selling 1,000 copies at local clubs. He moved to Nashville in 1990 and began performing at venues including The Bluebird Cafe and The Turf.

Career

In 1992, BMI's Clay Bradley recommended Chesney to Opryland Music Group's Troy Tomlinson, leading to a songwriter's contract. A year later, a showcase performance earned him a contract with Capricorn Records. His debut album, In My Wildest Dreams, was released in April 1994 on Capricorn; its singles "Whatever It Takes" and "The Tin Man" charted low on Billboard's country chart. His second album, All I Need to Know, produced two top-10 singles, "Fall in Love" and the title track, and a number-23 single, "Grandpa Told Me So.

He co-wrote Confederate Railroad's "When He Was My Age" that year. The album featured fiddle and pedal steel to emphasize a traditional country sound. His third album, Me and You, released in June 1996, yielded the number-2 singles "Me and You" and "When I Close My Eyes. It became his first RIAA-certified gold album, later reaching platinum, and peaked at number 78 on the Billboard 200. A cover of Mac McAnally's "Back Where I Come From" was included but not released as a single.

Personal life

In 2000, Chesney and Tim McGraw were arrested in Buffalo, New York, after Chesney rode a State Police horse and refused to dismount; McGraw intervened. Chesney was charged with disorderly conduct and McGraw with assault; both were acquitted in 2001. He married actress Renée Zellweger on May 9, 2005, on St. John island, having met her in January at a tsunami relief event. After four months, they announced plans for an annulment in September 2005; Zellweger cited fraud in legal papers but clarified it was legal language, not a reflection on Chesney.

Chesney said the marriage failed because he panicked. The annulment was finalized in late December 2005. He supports the Tennessee Volunteers football team and has expressed fondness for the Boston Red Sox. After the hurricane, he donated use of his private jet to reunite two stranded teenagers with their mother and established the Love for Love City charitable fund, donating proceeds from Songs for the Saints to it.

In September 2024, he made surprise donations exceeding $1 million to Massachusetts charities supporting youth music programs, animal shelters, and the Foxborough police and fire departments.