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地板

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发表于 2018-12-21 04:12:46
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Music career
During the early 1980s, Travis was rejected by every major record label in Nashville. His early demo tapes were criticized by record executives as being "too country." To support them, Hatcher took a job as manager of a nightclub, The Nashville Palace, and hired Travis as a cook and singer,[7] where he performed under the name Randy Ray.[12] In 1982, Travis recorded an independent album Live at the Nashville Palace, and Hatcher used the album to secure a deal with Warner Bros. Records' Nashville branch. As part of the contract, label executives insisted they keep their romance a secret, and changed his stage name again, to Randy Travis.[11]
In 1985, Warner Bros. Records released the single "On the Other Hand" which peaked at No. 67 on the country charts. His next single, "1982", became a Top 10 hit single. In 1986, Warner Bros. re-released "On the Other Hand", and the re-release became Travis's first No. 1 single on that chart.[1] These songs were included on his major-label debut Storms of Life, which produced another number-one country single in "Diggin' Up Bones", plus "No Place Like Home", which held the No. 2 position on the Billboard country charts in early 1987. "On the Other Hand", "Diggin' Up Bones", and "No Place Like Home" were all co-written by Paul Overstreet.[2] "Diggin' Up Bones" also won Travis his first Grammy Award in 1986, for Best Male Vocal Country Performance.[13] Storms of Life received its highest Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sales certification in 1992, when it was certified triple-platinum for shipments of 3 million copies.[14] The album's producer was Kyle Lehning, who would also serve in this capacity for nearly all of Travis's subsequent albums.
Travis's second album for Warner Bros. was Always & Forever. Released in April 1987, it accounted for four singles, all of which made No. 1 at Billboard: "Forever and Ever, Amen" (also co-written by Overstreet), "I Won't Need You Anymore (Always and Forever)", "Too Gone Too Long", and "I Told You So", the last of which Travis wrote himself.[2] Of these, "Forever and Ever, Amen" held the top position for three weeks.[2] Always & Forever won Travis his second Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 1987.[2] Old 8×10, his third album, was issued in July 1988. Its first three singles, "Honky Tonk Moon", "Deeper Than the Holler", and "Is It Still Over?", all reached No. 1 as well, while "Promises" was less successful at No. 17.[2] The album achieved its highest RIAA certification of double-platinum in 1996.[14] This was followed by Travis's first Christmas album, An Old Time Christmas, late in 1989.
In 1989, Travis recorded a cover of "It's Just a Matter of Time", which was originally recorded by Brook Benton thirty years prior. Travis cut the song for a multi-artist tribute album titled Rock, Rhythm & Blues which was also released by Warner Bros., and persuaded the label to include it on what would become his fourth Warner album, No Holdin' Back. Travis's version of the song, produced by Richard Perry (who also provided bass vocals on it), was the lead single to that album, and charted at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs in December 1989. It was the second time that a rendition of that song had topped the country charts, as Sonny James had previously sent his version to No. 1 in 1970.[15] Two more singles were released from No Holdin' Back: "Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart", which became Travis's longest-lasting No. 1 single at four weeks in 1990, and "He Walked on Water", which peaked at No. 3.[2] The album included one other cover song, "Singing the Blues",[16] along with the track "Somewhere in My Broken Heart", co-written and later recorded by Billy Dean.[17] |
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