Alan Jackson是继Garth Brooks之后，90年代最著名的乡村音乐男歌手，他完整的继承了80年代的新传统主义运动。这位倍受歌迷喜爱的乡村男歌手谦虚而朴实，他擅长自己创作并演唱歌曲，唱法朴实自然，音乐富有深意，他一共拥有着20多首冠军单曲以及更多的前十名单曲。 1958年10月17日，Alan Jackson出生于美国佐治亚州的一个名叫Newnan的小镇。他最早的音乐历程是从教堂开始，在他很小的时候，他就开始在教堂唱歌，回到家中，也是歌兴难收。当他十几岁的时候，他就成为当地小有名气的乡村二重唱团体的一员。在他离开学校以后，他和高中时的恋人，一位漂亮的空姐Denise结婚。迫于生计，在80年代初期，他停止了音乐生涯，成为了一名汽车销售员，而且还担任过建筑工人和铲车司机这样的工作。直到有一天，他的妻子Denise遇到了著名的乡村音乐明星Glen Campbell。 当Denise把丈夫的几盘磁带递到Campbell的手里的时候，一切都改变了。Campbell把Alan Jackson带到了自己的唱片公司，就这样Alan Jackson来到了乡村音乐的“圣地”纳什维尔（Nashville）。然而在Campbell的公司，Alan Jackson得到的只是更多的锻炼和提高，白天工作的他只是在晚上才参与一些唱片的录制工作。1989年，Alan Jackson终于以歌手的身份签约Arista唱片公司，这时的他已经过了而立之年。 1990年，32岁的Alan Jackson终于发行了第一张个人专辑《Here in the Real World》，白金的唱片销量和四首前五名的单曲，很快使这位老新人成为人们注意的对象。当1991年第二张专辑《Don't Rock the Jukebox》发行的时候，Alan Jackson已经成为了明星级的人物，在这张专辑中诞生的几首冠军单曲中，许多都已成为了Alan Jackson的代表作。在这以后他还被邀请参与了Randy Travis的专辑《High Lonesome》的歌曲创作，这使得Alan Jackson的名字更进一步的为人所知晓。1992年，Alan Jackson发行了他最为著名的专辑《A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'Bout Love)》，这张专辑把他带到了一个前所未有的高度，这一时期，Alan Jackson在乡村音乐界成为了最为顶尖的歌手之一。1993年他发行了短暂退休以前的最后一张专辑《Honky Tonk Christmas》。 在经过了一年的短暂休息以后，1994年和新专辑《Who I Am》一起，Alan Jackson又重新返回了音乐界，并且新专辑的销量依然没有丝毫影响，连续两周成为乡村专辑的冠军！并且从中诞生了四首冠军单曲！1995年，发片仅仅5年的Alan Jackson发行了第一张精选集《The Greatest Hits Collection》，这张收录了Alan Jackson此前所有金曲的专辑仅仅一年时间，销量就超过三百万张！随后，Alan Jackson的专辑风头越来越强劲，1996年的《Everything I Love》在乡村专辑榜上取得了四连冠的成绩！1998年的《High Mileage》则不仅在乡村专辑榜上名列榜首，而且还在Billboard 200专辑榜上取得了第四名的成绩，此前他的专辑曾经有四次达到过第五名的位置。 在1999年的《Under the Influence》和2000年的《When Somebody Loves You》两张同样成功的专辑之后，2002年的专辑《Drive》把他带向了事业的顶峰，这不仅是他的第七张乡村冠军专辑，也是他第一次站在了Billboard 200专辑榜的塔尖上！该专辑中纪念“9·11”事件的单曲《Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)》还获得了2002年度，第45届格莱美年度最佳乡村歌曲奖。
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After Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson was the most popular male country singer of the 90s. An heir to the new traditionalist movement of the 80s, Jacksons approach was rooted in classic honky tonk yet remained comfortably within the contemporary mainstream. Jacksons hallmark was consistency — he wrote many of his own hits, and his way with a hook was part of the reason he never really hit a commercial dry spell, even into the new millennium. He also projected a modest, wholesome, down-to-earth image that made him one of the best-liked stars of his era even apart from his music. The total package resulted in an astounding 20 number one singles and 20 more Top Ten hits, all in the first 12 years of his career.
Jackson was born in the small town of Newnan, GA, on October 17, 1958. He grew up singing gospel music, both in church and at home with his family, and as a teenager performed locally as part of a country duo. He left school to work and married his high school sweetheart, Denise, who worked as an airline stewardess. During the early 80s, Jackson held down a series of odd jobs — car salesman, construction worker, forklift operator at K-Mart — while playing the local club circuit with his band, Dixie Steel, and working on his songwriting. He caught his big break when Denise found country-pop star Glen Campbell waiting for a flight and gave him a copy of her husbands demo tape; Campbell in turn gave her contact information for his music publishing company, and the Jacksons picked up and moved to Nashville shortly thereafter. Campbells company suggested that Alan take a year and hone his songwriting even further, and so he worked more odd jobs — including the mail room at The Nashville Network, plus some session singing — before finally signing on as a staff writer. By night, he performed in Nashville clubs and recorded an updated demo with songwriter/producer Keith Stegall. In 1989, Jackson became the first artist signed to Aristas new country division.
Jacksons debut album, Here in the Real World, was issued in 1990 and became a platinum-selling hit on the strength of four Top Five hits: the title cut, Chasin That Neon Rainbow, Wanted, and the first of many chart-toppers, Id Love You All Over Again. He shot to full-fledged superstardom with the follow-up, 1991s Dont Rock the Jukebox, whose title track was an inescapable number one smash that year. The record produced three more number ones (Someday, Dallas, Loves Got a Hold on You) and also contained one of Jacksons signature songs, the Top Five Midnight in Montgomery, which told the story of a visit to Hank Williams grave. Also in 1991, Jackson co-wrote several songs with Randy Travis for Travis High Lonesome album. With 1992s A Lot About Livin (And a Little Bout Love), Jackson took his place as not only one of the most popular stars of his time, but also one of the best. The number one smash Chattahoochee became another signature tune, and Jackson also topped the charts with Shes Got the Rhythm (And I Got the Blues), while scoring three more Top Five hits from the album — which became his first to top the country LP charts.
In late 1993, Jackson released the stopgap holiday album Honky Tonk Christmas, which actually avoided standards in favor of lesser-known material. He returned in 1994 with Who I Am, his second straight number one country album, which gave him a staggering four number one singles: a cover of Eddie Cochrans Summertime Blues, the music-biz satire Gone Country (a dig at executives hopping on the commercial country bandwagon), Livin on Love, and I Dont Even Know Your Name. In only his fifth year on the scene, Jackson was able to issue The Greatest Hits Collection in 1995 and scored hits with three newly minted songs: a cover of George Jones Tall Tall Trees, Ill Try (both number one), and Home. It took The Greatest Hits Collection only a year to sell over three million copies. And, of course, Jackson was far from done. 1996s Everything I Love became his fourth straight release to top the country album charts, and it gave him five Top Ten hits, including the number ones Little Bitty (a Tom T. Hall cover) and There Goes. The 1998 follow-up, High Mileage, also hit number one and became Jacksons highest-charting album on the pop side, reaching number four; it contained four more Top Tens, including the chart-topping Right on the Money.
Jackson paid tribute to his favorite country singers of the past on the easygoing 1999 covers album Under the Influence, which featured material by Jones, Merle Haggard, Charley Pride, Jimmy Buffett, Hank Williams, Jr., Don Williams (the chart-topping It Must Be Love), and Jim Ed Brown (the Top Ten Pop a Top), among others. Although Under the Influence just missed hitting number one, 2000s When Somebody Loves You returned Jackson to the top of the album charts and gave him another number one in Where I Come From. That year, he also teamed up with George Strait for the duet Murder on Music Row, a strident defense of traditional country in the face of a new wave of crossover stars.
The year 2001 brought an enormous hit in Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning), a poignant attempt to make sense of the aftermath of September 11; rush-released after an awards-show premiere, the song rocketed to the top of the country charts and also became his first single to crack the pop Top 30. It was followed by the full-length Drive in 2002, which spawned another number one in Drive (For Daddy Gene), a tribute to Jacksons late father. The album was Jacksons seventh to top the country charts, and it also became his first to top the pop charts. His second greatest-hits collection appeared in 2003 and featured the crossover hit Its Five OClock Somewhere, a duet with Jimmy Buffett. A year later the well-received What I Do became the purest country album from Jackson in years. Precious Memories, released in 2006, was a collection of 15 hymns originally recorded as a Christmas gift for his mother. Later that same year, Jackson released Like Red on a Rose, a mellow Alison Krauss production. Live at Texas Stadium, a concert set with George Strait and Jimmy Buffett, followed in 2007.