Chris Cagle

Chris Cagle (born November 10, 1968 in DeRidder, Louisiana) is an American country music artist. Signed with Virgin Records in 2000, Cagle made his debut on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts with the single "My Love Goes On and On", the first single from his debut album Play It Loud. The album, which was certified gold in the United States, also produced the Top 10 hit "Laredo" and "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out", his only Number One hit.

Play It Loud was followed in 2002 by Chris Cagle, released on Capitol Records. Also a gold album in the U.S., it produced the Top 5 hits "What a Beautiful Day" and "Chicks Dig It". Anywhere but Here, his third compilation, followed in 2005 and produced the #12-peaking "Miss Me Baby". A fourth studio album, titled My Life's Been a Country Song, was released in 2008, and its lead-off single, "What Kinda Gone", peaked at #3 on the country music charts in early 2008. Overall, his albums have accounted for thirteen singles, of which all but one have charted.

Biography

Chris Cagle was born in DeRidder, Louisiana on , 1968; by the time he was four years old, his family moved to Sugarland, Texas, just outside of Houston, Texas. He stayed there until moving to Baytown, Texas in high school. During his high school years, he took piano lessons before switching to guitar. After graduating high school, he attended University of Texas at Arlington for one year. Cagle later dropped out of college.

Musical career

For the next five years he worked odd jobs throughout Nashville, eventually landing a songwriting deal and co-writing album tracks for David Kersh. While working at a restaurant, he was discovered by an agent of the newly-formed Nashville division of Virgin Records, and was signed to a recording deal with the label in 2000.

Cagle's first album, Play It Loud, was issued in mid-2000. Serving as its lead-off single was "My Love Goes On and On", which reached a peak of #15 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts, while "Laredo", its follow-up, became his first Top Ten hit in mid-2001. After Virgin closed in 2001, the album was re-issued on Capitol Records with "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out" (which was also one of the songs that he had written for David Kersh in the late 1990s) added as a bonus track. Cagle's rendition became his first Number One hit in early 2002. By the end of the year, Play It Loud had been certified gold in the United States.

Capitol released Cagle's second album, Chris Cagle, in the middle of 2003. His second consecutive gold album, it produced the Top 5 singles "What a Beautiful Day" and "Chicks Dig It", as well as the #39-peaking "I'd Be Lying".

In early 2004, Cagle was diagnosed with multiple anomalies on his vocal cords, including a polyp, a lesion, a vocal fold cyst, and a granuloma. The diagnosis forced Cagle to cancel nearly twenty appearances that year, including opening dates for Rascal Flatts. He was ordered sixty days of vocal rest, although he did not sing for nearly three months after the diagnosis.

After his vocal recovery, Cagle began work on his third studio album, Anywhere but Here, which was released in 2005. "Miss Me Baby" served as the album's first single, reaching a peak of #12 on the country music charts. The other two singles ? "Wal-Mart Parking Lot" and the title track, which had also been a single for Brice Long in 2005 ? both failed to enter the Top 40.

In August 2006, a Nashville judge ordered Cagle to pay approximately $737,000 to former manager Mark Hybner, whom Chris had sued in 2004 in an effort to void management and publishing deals he had signed in 1999.

Chris' eleventh single, a song entitled "What Kinda Gone", was released to country radio in late 2007. Peaking at #3 on the country charts, it was the lead-off single to his fourth studio album My Life's Been a Country Song, which was released on February 19, 2008. The second single from the album, "No Love Songs", was released in May 2008, which debuted and peaked at #53 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts for the week of , 2008. "Never Ever Gone", the third single, was released in August 2008, which failed to chart. Cagle parted ways with Capitol Nashville in 2008.

Personal life

Cagle graduated Ross S. Sterling High school (Baytown) in 1987. He married Elizabeth Filer in 2001, but the marriage ended in divorce a short time later. On October 3, 2005, he announced on his web site that he was not the biological father of his then-girlfriend's baby. Chris is a brother of the Missouri Theta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta.

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Original Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris Cagle