Brooks Garth

American country-western musician considered the most-loved and best-paid in history. Beginning with his No. 1 hit in 1989, "If Tomorrow Never Comes," to 1998 his multimillion-dollar career portfolio includes 15 No.1 hits, 67 million albums sold, a touring company, film and video production, publishing and merchandising paraphernalia. In April 1991 he won six Academy of Country Music Awards including Entertainer of the Year. His mom, Colleen, was an aspiring country star in the 50s who gave up her career when she met and married his dad, Troyal, who worked as a draftsman for 33 years. With five siblings, three from his moms previous marriage, he grew up in the small farming town of Yukon, OK. All the kids excelled. One sister, Betsy Smittle, played guitar, singing and winning talent shows. She later became his bass player. (In 1993 he outed her as a lesbian without her permission.) Garths main love was sports and in high school he was a four-letter man. He attended Oklahoma State University on an athletic scholarship where he majored in advertising and marketing. After graduating he went on to pursue his first interest, music, becoming a professional musician in 1985. After his first No.1 hit, by the early 90s he had three albums standing out in the Top-20. In April 1991 he won six Academy of Country Music award including Entertainer of the Year. His album of "Sevens," released on 11/25/97 sold 3.4 million copies in its first five weeks, though sales dropped off drastically after Christmas. On 2/09/98 Brooks went on the TV show "Oprah" and pledged to donate proceeds from "Sevens" to her Angel Network of charities if shed plug the album on her show every day for a week. Oprah did and Brooks donated $500,000. During the "Oprah" week, sales tripled and the album went from No.24 to No.4. Since Brooks had quietly donated untold sums to charities throughout his career, Nashville execs wondered why this gift had to come with plugs for his album attached; using charity to boost flagging sales. Brooks has a genial, unassuming, sport-loving, mud-spattered-truck-driving, good ole boy image, keeping his off-hours business persona hidden from his fans. He works overtime to present himself as a shy and kindhearted Christian with solid family values, a wrangler with a pizza paunch. Underneath the Middle American, reliable, regular guy act is a shrewd businessman, able to discuss share prices on the London Stock Exchange and the optimum conditions for corporate takeovers. He talks of grabbing a 150-acre homestead he bought for his folks when foreclosed land could be scooped up for a fraction it its value. Though many public figures have private flaws, we seldom see such magnitude of diversity in a public vs. private image. During the late 90s, Nashville executives turned on him. Among the insiders such words were heard as "egomaniac," "bully" and even "bastard" and "monster." A former manager with whom he had a two-year dispute about her settlement says the disarming thing about him is how charming he is on the outside; that his veneer is insidious - but false. He met his wife, Sandy Mahl, at college and married in 1986; they have three daughters. Their first daughter, Taylor, born in 1992, was named after the singer James Taylor. Their marriage has seen its ups and downs. In 1990 something led to a breakup but they reconciled and in 1991 he admitted being unfaithful to her during his early days on the road. Brooks owns the Read less