Christopher Alvin "Chris" Stapleton (born April 15, 1978) is an American country, bluegrass musician signed to Universal Music Group Nashville. He is an established songwriter with six number one songs including the 5-week number one "Never Wanted Nothing More" recorded by Kenny Chesney, "Love's Gonna Make It Alright" recorded by George Strait and "Come Back Song" recorded by Darius Rucker.As a songwriter, over 150 of Stapleton's songs have appeared on albums by such artists as Adele, Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley. He has co-written with notable artists like Vince Gill, Peter Frampton and Sheryl Crow. Stapleton won the 2015 Country Music Association Award for Best Male Vocalist, New Artist of the Year, and Traveller won Album of the Year.
Stapleton was born in Lexington, Kentucky to a mother who worked at the local health department and a father who was a coal miner (as well as his father before him). He has an older brother and younger sister. Stapleton grew up in the small town of Staffordsville, Kentucky, which is located between Paintsville and Paintsville Lake, Kentucky. In 1996, attended Vanderbilt University with a possible major in engineering, but stopped after a year.In 2001, Stapleton moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a music career. As a songwriter, he signed with the publishing house Sea Gayle Music, a deal he got shortly after moving to Nashville. Stapleton worked as a songwriter, supplemented by odd jobs, for about 15 years. When he became a solo artist, his new publisher became Warner/Chappell Music.
