Before Chris Young was a Nashville Star, he was a regular ol’ kid from the Boro, who didn’t even know he could sing.
He was recruited to join the musical troupe, Kids from the Boro, not because of his vocal ability, but because of his gender.
“They stuck me in that group because they needed another guy and they found out I could sing,” Young says.
Terry Womack, Cultural Arts Director for Murfreesboro Parks & Recreation, often tells the story of Young’s mother hearing him really sing for the first time and because she couldn’t see him, thinking it was another Chris in the group. She said something along the lines of, “Wow, he can really sing,” unaware that the child behind the voice was indeed her Chris.
“We found out I could sing by accident,” Young says of the incident.
This was a pivotal moment that may have pushed Young closer to his destiny. Inspired by influential country artists such as Keith Whitley and Randy Travis, Young chose country music as his profession. However, he clearly states that he loves all types of music. He counts Al Jarreau and Frank Sinatra among his non-country musical influences.
Many of Young’s fans may be surprised to know that he once sang in a six-man jazz vocal group that performed at Harlem’s World Famous Apollo Theater. What might be even more surprising to his fans is that he’s a former breakdancer, a rare trait for a country music performer.
Now Young has gone from “Kid From the ’Boro” to beating out 20,000 hopefuls and snagging the coveted Nashville Star title. Young says that he and the other nine contestants were kept very busy and rarely had a chance to do laundry during the two and half months he spent taping the show.
Young says his life hasn’t really changed a lot since the show, other than new fans soliciting autographs and photos, which he thinks is “pretty cool.”
When asked about the backlash doled out to shows like Nashville Star and the ever-popular American Idol, for creating instant stars, Young takes a realistic approach.
“I try not to think about negative stuff because in this business, that’s going to happen. People are going to think negative,” he says.
Though he has been holding his own as a musician for years, Young says he did the show for more visibility.
Young says he’s honored to be signed to RCA Records, with housed acts like Ronnie Milsap, Keith Whitley, John Anderson and Alabama.
“It’s such a great label,” he says.
After independently producing two albums, Young is finally writing and recording his major label debut. He hopes that his first single will be out at the end of the month or early next month, with the album following in November.
“The coolest thing is that you get to express yourself and it’s on paper. It’s like a snapshot of where you are as a musician, as a person,” says the former MTSU recording industry major. “As an artist, you have a lot of power, you can really touch somebody. That’s the coolest part.”
Though Young seems very happy to have his career taking off, he would be doing it with or without the deal. “If I’m one of those guys sitting on Second Ave. with a bucket in front of me, playing when I’m 80, I’ll be doing it,” he says. “It’s something that I love and wouldn’t give anything else for and I’m just really happy that I’m getting a chance to do it for a living.”
