George Strait began 1998 ranked in the Top 10 among artists of all genres – in career record sales as well as
popularity. As a concert performer, he continues to break records – most of them set by himself – for ticket sales
and attendance. Amazingly, after 18 years and 23 gold, platinum and multi-platinum records, George Strait may
experience his greatest year yet in 1998.
He started off the year with a pair of American Music Awards, for Country Male Artist of the Year and Album of
the Year. His hit “Carrying Your Love With Me,” was nominated for a Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal
Performance, and he garnered a second Grammy nomination for Best Country Album for his role as co-producer of
Carrying Your Love With Me. In the spring of 1998, he headlined a new touring show, the George Strait Chevy
Truck Country Music Festival. The extravaganza features performances by a half-dozen stars plus a large area for
country lifestyle exhibits, including a Straitland exhibit. In typical Strait fashion, he set a record for ticket sales for
the tour’s kickoff show at Arizona’s Sun Devil Stadium, selling 56,000 tickets – outselling the Rolling Stones in the
same venue by 20,000 seats.
George Strait grew up in Pearsall, Texas, and got hooked on country music in the army while stationed in Hawaii.
He returned to Texas in the early 1970s and put together the Ace in the Hole Band. They were popular in the
dance halls of the southwest, able to fill entire evenings with Bob Wills songs if that’s what a crowd wanted.
MCA executive Erv Woolsey, who would later become Strait’s manager, convinced MCA to sign him, and his first
MCA single, “Unwound,” was released in 1981. In the Urban Cowboy era of packaged country music, country fans
knew the real thing when they heard it. Billboard magazine named Strait New Male Artist of the Year, and he
would ultimately become the top male artist of the entire decade. By the end of the 1980’s, a new generation of
“hat acts” were pointing to George Strait as their biggest influence.
In the 1990’s, Strait broadened his career with a starring role in the film Pure Country, and the soundtrack became
his most popular album, selling over 5 million copies. His 1995 boxed set, Strait Out Of The Box, was a monumental
collection of 72 cuts, ranging from 31 number one singles to obscure, intriguing recordings from his early days, all
with rare personal comments from Strait himself. It sold 4 million copies, making it the third-biggest-selling boxed
set in history, behind Bruce Springsteen and Led Zepplin. Every one of his 23 albums has been certified at least
gold, with 20 achieving platinum (1 million) or better. In cumulative record sales, he’s topped 42 million albums,
which ranks him #10 among all artists, between Boyz II Men and Eric Clapton. A Louis Harris poll ranked him in the
Top 10 of America’s favorite singers on a list that included Frank Sinatra and Whitney Houston.
Strait’s success as a recording artist is matched by his live performances. His concerts have always sold out, and
he’s now setting records for how quickly they sell out. He set a personal best in 1996, selling over 33,000 tickets
for three shows in Phoenix in less than two hours. At the Houston Astrodome, he broke his own attendance
record, playing to 125,000 people in two shows, and he’s now played to over 1 million fans at the Astrodome’s
annual rodeo.
Clearly, George Strait does keep on getting better and better. As always, he carries forward his personal tradition
of excellence and pushes an already stellar career to new heights.