Randy Travis

A pivotal figure in country music with more than a dozen chart-topping singles, Randy Travis struck it big in the mid-1980s with Storms Of Life, which sold over 4 million copies. He was hailed as a leader of the neotraditional country boom, and when the hits dried up, he found more critical acclaim by switching to gospel music. The son of a horse breeder in Marshville, North Carolina, Travis was born on May 4, 1959. Storms of Life marked his major-label debut in 1986, triggering a long run of hits with the Number 1 singles "On the Other Hand," "No Place Like Home," and "Diggin' Up Bones." He continued to turn out country hits through the rest of the decade, including "Deeper Than the Holler," "It's Just a Matter of Time," and the double-platinum classic "Forever and Ever, Amen." Travis began pursuing a parallel acting career in 1992 and starred in a number of TV shows, including Touched By An Angel and Frasier. Meanwhile, he began recording gospel music, too, earning Dove Awards for songs like the chart-topping "Three Wooden Crosses." The song became his final Number 1 hit in America, although a duet with Carrie Underwood ("I Told You So") came close, reaching Number 2 in 2009. During the following decade, a number of strokes and other medical issues rendered Travis unable to sing with the same deep, booming baritone that had made his famous. With help from artificial intelligence, he returned to the Top 40 in 2024 with "Where That Came From," a song whose vocal performance was created using a combination of AI, old recordings of Travis' singing, and new vocal performances from fellow singer James Dupré.

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