Lonestar John Rich was born on January 7, 1974, the son of Jim, a Baptist preacher, and Judy Overton Rich. John graduated from Dickson County Senior High in
Dickson, Tennessee, and after graduation moved to
Nashville where he worked as a singer at
Opryland USA. He wanted to be a professional
team roper. Not long after, he met up with the group Texasee, which eventually changed its name to Lonestar. While in Lonestar, Rich was the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist with
Richie McDonald. Their 1996 single "
Heartbroke Every Day" was the only one to feature Rich on lead vocals. Rich also co-wrote two of the band's singles: "
Come Cryin' to Me" and "
Say When", the former being a number-one single for the group. In January 1998, Rich departed from Lonestar, but was never officially replaced, causing Lonestar to continue as a four-piece band. Afterward, Rich became a solo artist with
BNA Records, the same label to which Lonestar was signed. He charted two singles for the label and recorded an album which did not see release until 2006. In 2001, he recorded and self-released
Rescue Me, an album he was inspired to record after meeting cancer patient Katie Darnell.
Big & Rich Rich joined
Big Kenny in 2002 to form the duo
Big & Rich. The duo recorded three studio albums for
Warner Bros. Records:
Horse of a Different Color, ''
Comin' to Your City and Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace'', in 2004, 2005 and 2007 respectively. These albums accounted for ten singles on the country charts, including the Number One "
Lost in This Moment". Rich also co-wrote all of the duo's singles, primarily with Big Kenny. In the wake of Big & Rich's success, his 1999 solo album
Underneath the Same Moon was issued via BNA, coinciding with the release of Big Kenny's previously unreleased solo album
Live a Little. A fourth Big & Rich studio album was released in the summer of 2012, with the inspiring "That's Why I Pray" reaching No. 15 on the country charts.
Work for other artists During Big & Rich's success, Rich also worked as a songwriter and producer for other artists. His work included production for
Gretchen Wilson,
Keith Anderson,
Jewel and
John Anderson. In the same time span, he co-wrote multiple singles for other artists, including the Number One hits "
Redneck Woman" for Wilson, "
Mississippi Girl" for
Faith Hill and "
Why" for
Jason Aldean. He also has a co-write on
Taylor Swift's 2008 album
Fearless, titled "
The Way I Loved You". In 2011, Rich recorded a song with
heavy metal band
Black Label Society, entitled "Darkest Days", featured on their compilation album,
The Song Remains Not the Same. In 2016, Rich added his voice to a duet with
Marie Osmond on her album
Music Is Medicine with the song titled "Love This Tough".
Son of a Preacher Man In January 2009, Rich released his third solo single on Warner Bros. Records. The song, "Another You", is the lead-off single to Rich's second studio album,
Son of a Preacher Man, which was released on March 24, 2009. He followed this song up with another single, "
Shuttin' Detroit Down", recorded only one week before its release in January 2009. Rich promoted the song, which addresses the
Chrysler and
General Motors bailouts, at Michigan radio stations. The song debuted at No. 34 on the
Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the chart week of February 14, 2009, becoming his first solo Top 40 hit and peaking at No. 10 in April. A third single, "The Good Lord and the Man", debuted at No. 59 on the country chart and peaked at No. 56 in July 2009.
Rich Rocks and For the Kids Both
Rich Rocks and
For the Kids have only produced one single between them.
Country Done Come to Town was released as a single from
Rich Rocks in mid-2010 and was a minor chart success. ==Television work==