The Untold Truth Of Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks is a well-known country musician who has built an impressive career in the music industry. According to Biography, the singer went through difficult challenges as he tried to get noticed as a struggling musician in the 1980s. In an effort to become successful, he would often sing and perform in clubs as well as bars as a college student.
Even after he became highly popular as a musician several years later, Brooks stayed humble and didn't let fame get to his head. When he was called cool in an interview, he simply said that he found it sweet, implying that he didn't think of himself as a cool guy (via CBS News). He added, "I'm not beautiful, I'm not thin, I'm not — you know, and the voice is not of, you know, cinematic quality." Also, Brooks somehow never stopped being astounded by the amount of love that was showered upon him by his fans. He went on to add that when an artist isn't sure as to why their fans keep coming back, they're always wondering whether the fans will return the next time. In Brooks' case, they have for several years.
This is the untold truth of Garth Brooks.
His parents were very supportive
Garth Brooks was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1962, per Biography. He was lucky from the beginning. The singer told Rolling Stone in a conversation that his parents were always there to motivate him and offer moral support. They played their parts really well. For example, his mother focused on teaching her son how to dream big while his dad introduced him to the practical aspects of life.
Brooks said, "My mom gave me the limitless feeling of dreaming. Mom can be standing on a bridge that is burning like hell and she'll say: 'Well, this bridge'll hold up. I'll just walk right off here.'" According to Brooks, she was always an optimist. Meanwhile, Brooks' father worked really hard to support the family and juggled two jobs. He would also make it a point to remind his son that life was not going to be a cakewalk. Brooks said, "Every time I go home, he pulls me over and says, 'Garth, you know you're not living in the real world, don't you?'" Brooks would always tell him that he was aware of this.
Garth Brooks' family was protective
While it's true that Garth Brooks came from a loving and supportive background, he was also in a bubble of his own for a really long time. Per Rolling Stone, he was one of the youngest kids in the family, and he was perceived to be spoiled. Brooks admitted that he had a "protected" upbringing. Also, there were rules that he needed to follow. For example, he wasn't permitted to step out of the yard unless he got permission from his parents first.
He said that this was something that lasted for a long time. Brooks explained, "I mean, not just when I was four or five, we're talking twelve, thirteen. I didn't date till I was sixteen." However, Brooks didn't mind and didn't feel bad about these things at all. He said that there was a lot happening at home, and he was fairly occupied. For example, his mom and sister would often start singing songs while his dad would strum the guitar. He recalled, "Everything that was cool to me was going on inside my house."
He was into athletics as a kid
Garth Brooks loved playing sports as a school kid. According to "Garth Brooks: A Biography" by Michael McCall, Brooks discovered that he was good at javelin in school. This inspired him to work on his fitness levels. Brooks would work hard in the gym, lifting heavy weights and becoming stronger. He got skilled enough to be granted a partial scholarship to Oklahoma State University. Per his former coach, Brooks was really easy to work with and got along with his peers. He called him "down-to-earth" and praised his athleticism, calling him a "reasonably good javelin thrower."
Per Outsider, Brooks was also interested in football when he was a high school student. Despite his aptitude for sports, Brooks knew that this wasn't his ultimate dream. Brooks told Country Weekly, "It [the sport] was for the good guys who would eat, sleep, and think javelin. They'd work on it all the time and didn't consider it work. Me, just hauling that damn thing down the runway was work" (via Outsider).
He had serious doubts at first
While Garth Brooks studied advertising in college, he could never stop thinking about his passion for the performing arts. After he earned his college degree, Brooks went to his mom and told her about his decision to pursue music seriously (via "Garth Brooks: Country Music Superstar"). She wasn't excited about this and simply told him, "I'll pray for you."
Determined, Brooks prepared his first demo tape in a bid to reach out to music executives who might be able to help him get noticed. By 1985, Garth Brooks had let go of his job at a sports store and left his apartment, moving to Nashville in the hope that he would get his big break as a performer. He was naive: He thought that it would be a straightforward path to success. It wasn't. He was in for a rude shock when a music executive seemed unimpressed with his work and told him, "You [will] either starve as a songwriter or get five people together ... and starve as a band." He was brutal and said that Brooks should return to Oklahoma.
The musician decided to pay heed to his words and got back to his old life. However, he wasn't giving up. He decided to spend a year working on his music and creating a new band, slowly working on achieving his goals.
His performing style was unusual
As far as Garth Brooks was concerned, playing music presented the perfect opportunity to entertain his listeners. Per Forbes, he was truly an entertainer who could keep a crowd engaged with just his music. It was clear that he knew exactly what needed to be done to make the concert a huge hit. For example, he didn't hesitate to provide some context and background when he sang one of his first songs at a gig. He dove deep into his own life and spoke about the musicians that had an impact on him as a child such as Simon & Garfunkel, Elton John, James Taylor, and more.
It helped that Brooks had really good storytelling skills. He would talk about some of his own songs and how they came to be, his family, some of his profound memories, and much more. He also motivated his fans to join him as he belted out popular tracks from his albums. As a performer, Brooks was highly interactive and friendly. He earned a lot of praise for being the performer that he was. A manager from the industry once remarked that Brooks was "a cheerleader running around onstage, whipping up enthusiasm." He was also really polite and easy to like, making an effort to really communicate with his fans (via "Garth Brooks: Country Music Superstar").
He has briefly worked as a baseball player
Garth Brooks took his love for baseball very seriously at some point. According to ESPN, Brooks was interested in being a baseball player all his life. He said, "I just love baseball, and always have. I've been playing since I was 4 years old." He also mentioned that his idol was legendary Puerto Rico baseball player Roberto Clemente.
Brooks started exploring a stint in baseball by trying out for the San Deigo Padres. He knew that he could fit in many places and remarked, "I see myself in a utility role — right field, center field, left field, third and first base." He added that he simply could not get enough of athletic sports himself and enthusiastically followed college sports.
Brooks even played for The New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals (via Taste of Country). Unfortunately, he didn't deliver an extraordinary performance, and professional baseball wasn't something that he was able to pursue for a long time.
He feels strongly about gay rights
Garth Brooks has been vocal about gay rights for several years. According to "Garth Brooks: Country Music Superstar," he had some perspective thanks to his half-sister, Betsy Smittle, who was gay. He said, "The longer you live with it, the more you realize that it's just another form of people loving one another." Smittle was a country musician herself who often spoke up about LGBTQ+ rights. She died in 2013 after being diagnosed with cancer.
Per Billboard, Smittle and Brooks collaborated with each other and released a song in the 1990s called "We Shall Be Free." Some of the most powerful lyrics in the song made things pretty clear. Brooks sang, "When we're free to love anyone we choose ... when this world's big enough for all different views." According to The New Yorker, Brooks himself acknowledged that the song was rather controversial by his standards. Everything said and done, it managed to become a big hit and made Brooks a bigger icon than he was.
Also, it was a brave move considering the fact that country music was unfamiliar with musicians addressing homosexuality so openly in their work (via Newsweek). Brooks had his doubts before the song was launched. He was quoted as saying, "I was really scared to put it out because I thought we'd get a lot of people misunderstanding what the song says."
He tried to help fellow musician Chris LeDoux
Garth Brooks didn't mind going out of his way to help those close to him. According to several accounts, he once said that he would be okay with donating a part of his liver to a friend who needed it to survive. The friend in question was musician Chris LeDoux. Per Associated Press, the two were really close and even created a song together in the 1990s titled "Whatcha Gonna Do With a Cowboy." It was a roaring hit.
Brooks even sang about LeDoux in one of his tracks called "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)." The lyrics were, "A worn-out tape of Chris LeDoux, lonely women and bad booze ... seem to be the only friends I've left at all." LeDoux definitely needed this boost as he was fighting hard to stay relevant in the music industry while working with an independent label.
Garth Brooks never stopped rooting for his dear friend. According to CBS, when it was revealed that LeDoux had liver cancer, Brooks volunteered to act as a donor without hesitation. However, he was not compatible. According to Associated Press, LeDoux did get a liver transplant in 2000 but passed away five years later.
Garth Brooks came across his first wife rather unexpectedly
When Garth Brooks was still in college, he worked part-time to keep himself going. According to the book, "Garth Brooks: Country Music Superstar," he slogged at a sporting goods store, acted as a pizza delivery boy, and even worked as a bouncer at a night club. He unexpectedly came across his first wife, Sandy Mahl, on the job.
She was a rowdy guest, and Brooks was asked to deal with her. Mahl had apparently gotten into a fight with another lady as they argued over an ex-boyfriend. Brooks continued talking to her and realized that she went to the same university as him. The two ended up staying in touch and got close during their time at Oklahoma State University, courting each other and falling in love.
The two went through a rough patch when Brooks moved to Nashville but got back together once he returned. They tied the knot on May 24, 1986 in Oklahoma. Sadly, after 14 years with each other, the couple decided to call it quits in 2000. Brooks said that he would do his best to be a good father to their kids. He said, "I want to try and become for them what my Dad was and still is for me."
He had an alter ego
In 1999, Garth Brooks decided to push himself out of his comfort zone and came up with an alter ego. According to The Daily Beast, he even wore a wig to look the part and called himself Chris Gaines. This was meant to generate publicity for a movie role that Brooks was working on. He was going to be in a film called "The Lamb" and wanted to make sure that his fans knew about it. He was even a part of a mockumentary titled "Garth Brooks Presents ... The Life of Chris Gaines."
The public response wasn't great. His album didn't work as expected and critics were brutal. In fact, the movie never even saw an official release, and Brooks stopped being associated with Chris Gaines. Safe to say, over the years, his alter-ego has completely vanished from his life. In fact, his publicist once declared, "Garth doesn't talk about Chris Gaines anymore."
Per Rolling Stone, when Garth Brooks still believed in the Chris Gaines character, he really didn't leave any stone unturned to play the role. He even joined in and made fun of Gaines when comedian Tracy Morgan called him out on "Saturday Night Live" and told him to "drop Chris Gaines like a hot plate."
He decided to retire for his family
In 2000, Garth Brooks made a huge decision. He said that he was stopping work as a musician to look after his family. Per Rolling Stone, Brooks felt strongly about his decision to leave music. He said, "It's a thing I feel good about. I feel like what I am trading it for is more important at this point in my life." He added that he needed to be there for his children. The musician also said that his wife had acted as their kids' mother and father for a really long time and that he wanted to fulfill his duties "and accept the true rewards that come from being a father."
According to People, he put the extra time to good use and prepared his kids' lunch boxes with personalized notes. He also supported his kids in extra-curricular activities such as soccer games. The musician got a chance to appreciate what family life can be like. He said, "You start being a part of the community. The dads across the soccer field looked at me as a dad just like them. And I was very grateful."
He also gained some perspective and realized that what he really needed was for his children to be healthy. Also, he felt that no matter how much he supported and taught his kids to be a certain way, they were destined to follow their own paths.
His comeback was interesting
It took many years before the singer felt ready to head back into the music industry. According to People, Garth Brooks returned in 2015 and made a splash with his new music. Fans were happy to see him return to performing onstage. What's more, his wife Trisha Yearwood gave him company and belted out songs with Brooks. The singer said, "This is not work. I just love to see people having a good time."
Brooks wanted to stay true to himself. He told The Guardian that following trends in the industry weren't his cup of tea. He said, "There's nothing more unflattering than someone who's chasing [trends]." He also explained that what he really wanted to do was combine the old with the new, implying that he wanted to appeal to all kinds of listeners. As always, Brooks focused on performing well at his shows and doing things like playing around with only his guitar while singing a song. Brooks thinks that this made his performances a lot more authentic.