**Blake Shelton** is an American **country singer, songwriter, and television personality** born June 18, 1976, in Ada, Oklahoma.[3] He moved to Nashville at age 17 to pursue a music career after graduating high school, working at a music publishing company and obtaining a production contract with Sony Music in 1997.[3] Shelton achieved breakthrough success in 2001 with his debut single "Austin," a love ballad written as a series of answering-machine messages.[1] The song spent five weeks at number one on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, tying a record set by Billy Ray Cyrus and making Shelton the first debut male country artist to simultaneously top both Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and Top Country Singles Sales chart.[3] His platinum-certified self-titled debut album also produced two additional top-20 entries: "All Over Me" and "Ol' Red."[3] Throughout the 2000s, Shelton established himself as a major country music figure. His second album, *The Dreamer* (2003), reached number two on the country chart, while *Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill* (2004) featured the charming single "Some Beach."[1] In 2011, his album *Red River Blue* became his first Billboard 200 number-one album and spawned three number-one singles: "Honey Bee," "God Gave Me You," and "Drink on It."[2] Beyond music, Shelton gained widespread mainstream recognition as a coach on the reality television competition *The Voice*, which debuted in 2011.[1] His subsequent albums, *Red River Blue* (2011) and *Based on a True Story...* (2013), received Grammy nominations for best country album.[1] By 2014, Shelton had accumulated 17 number-one songs, breaking his own record for most consecutive number-ones on country radio.[6] He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2010 and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2014.[3]