Garth Brooks fled Nashville in a day, then outsold Elvis
On his first trip to Nashville, armed with a lawyer's contact list and borrowed credit cards, Garth Brooks lasted less than 24 hours before heading home to Oklahoma. He went back, and eventually became the best-selling solo albums artist in American history, with nine Diamond-certified records, more than any act including the Beatles.
Brooks grew up in Yukon, Oklahoma, where his family held weekly talent nights and every child had to sing or perform a skit. His mother had recorded country songs for Capitol in the 1950s, but his own early focus was sport. He went to Oklahoma State University on a track scholarship as a javelin thrower, worked nights as a bar bouncer, and led a band that played whatever the students requested. George Strait's debut single in 1981 persuaded him that country, rather than the rock he loved, was his lane.
Dallas entertainment attorney Rod Phelps heard him in 1985 and paid for a demo, then nudged him toward Nashville. After the aborted first attempt, Brooks and his wife moved there in 1987. His debut album in 1989 produced the hit The Dance, and No Fences followed in 1990 with Friends in Low Places, eventually shipping 18 million copies at home. In 1991 Ropin' the Wind entered the Billboard 200 at number one, a first for a country artist. On stage he borrowed from arena rock, running around with a wireless headset microphone and citing Kiss and Queen alongside the rodeo singer Chris LeDoux.
He also picked fights. In 1993 he pushed Capitol Records to withhold In Pieces from shops that sold used CDs, which he argued cheated artists of royalties; antitrust lawsuits followed and Capitol backed down. British critics mocked him as Garth Vader, yet he sold out Wembley Arena, something no American country act had managed.
Family pressures led him to stop recording and touring from 2001 until 2005, though albums kept selling through an exclusive Walmart deal. Comebacks followed, including a Las Vegas residency and a world tour with his wife Trisha Yearwood. By 2020 the RIAA counted 162 million domestic units, ahead of Elvis Presley.
Source: Garth Brooks
