Cole Swindell

From selling t-shirts at Luke Bryan shows to headlining the Grand Ole Opry, Cole Swindell's hard-drinking, good-time, country-pop anthems helped him become one of Nashville's most successful crossover, party starters in 2014, before he showed a more emotional, sentimental side to his songwriting on his following albums. Born in Bronwood, Georgia, Swindell grew up on 1990s country music favourites like Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson, but studied marketing at Georgia Southern University where he started playing covers at bars and frat houses. It was there that he first met Luke Bryan, who was then a young songwriter returning to his old fraternity to play a show. With his father's encouragement Swindell completed his studies and headed to Nashville to pursue his dreams in 2007. On his arrival he became Bryan's merchandise seller and spent three years touring the US and working relentlessly on his own songs, as his friend became a major star and started selling-out arenas. Swindell finally landed a publishing deal with Sony in 2010 and penned songs for Craig Campbell, Thomas Rhett and Scott McCreery, before taking to the stage as a solo artist in 2012 and shooting to the top of the Country Charts with his hit single 'Chillin' It' the following year. Singles 'Hope You Get So Lonely Tonight' and 'Ain't Worth the Whisky' also became popular crossover hits and his self-titled debut album reached number three in the US charts and established Cole as one of the breakthrough stars of 2014. He also co-wrote Georgia Florida Line's hit 'This Is How We Role' and Bryan's track 'Roller Coaster' before touring with Jason Aldean and returning in 2016 with his second album 'You Should Be Here'. The album's title track refers to the sudden death of his father who was always a proud champion of Swindell's music but died shortly before his major success. It also featured the duet 'Flatliner' with Dierks Bentley and the popular ode to missed opportunities 'Middle of a Memory'. His fun, engaging, down-to-earth nature is well-reflected in his natural, blue-collar storytelling and Swindell set out on his own headlining tour before releasing third album 'All of It' in 2018.

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