Chris Cagle

Biography

Christopher Norris Cagle (born November 10, 1968) is an American country music artist. He was first known for writing songs for David Kersh before signing to Virgin Records Nashville in 2000. Cagle made his debut on Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts with "My Love Goes On and On", the first single from his debut album Play It Loud×Play It Loud24 October 2000 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1My Love Goes On and On3:042Laredo3:503The Safe Side4:484Country by the Grace of God3:315Ton of Love4:056Play It Loud3:037Who Needs the Whiskey3:328The Love Between a Woman and a Man3:529Lovin’ You Lovin’ Me3:3210Rock the Boat3:02. The album, which was certified gold in the US, also produced the Top 10 "Laredo" and "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out", his only No. 1 hit.
Play It Loud was followed in 2002 by Chris Cagle, released on Capitol Records Nashville. A gold album in the United States, it produced the Top 5 hits "What a Beautiful Day" and "Chicks Dig It". Anywhere but Here, his third album, followed in 2005 and produced the No. 12 hit "Miss Me Baby". A fourth studio album, titled My Life's Been a Country Song, was released in 2008, and its lead-off single, "What Kinda Gone×What Kinda Gone7 August 2007 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1What Kinda Gone3:03", peaked at No. 3 on the country music chart in early 2008. After exiting Capitol in 2008, he signed with Bigger Picture Music Group in 2011, before retiring from music in 2015.

Biography

Christopher Norris Cagle was born in DeRidder, Louisiana, on November 10, 1968; by the time he was 4, his family had moved to Sugar Land, Texas, just outside Houston. He stayed there until moving to Baytown, Texas, in high school. During his high school years, he took piano lessons before switching to guitar. His senior year he moved to White Settlement, Texas, where he attended Brewer High School before moving back to Baytown and graduating from Ross S. Sterling High School in 1987. He attended the University of Texas at Arlington for one year. He skipped his finance courses to audit music classes, and performed at night in nearby clubs. He also spent a brief period attending classes at Lee College in Baytown. Cagle later dropped out of college and moved to Nashville in 1994 at the behest of entertainment attorney Rod Phelps. Chris told Phelps that he "...had no place to live, no job, and no money." Phelps hired Cagle as a nanny for his and wife Sheila Wagnon's three daughters, Shayna, Ashley, and Tiffany. Chris remained for several months. While in Nashville, Cagle was waiting tables and tending bar while working to improve himself as a songwriter. One big break came when he met the legendary Harlan Howard, who was so impressed with Chris's songwriting progress that he was the first to publish one of his songs. Chris then landed a publishing deal and had songs recorded by David Kersh. A woman he met while waiting tables led him to Virgin Records head Scott Hendricks, who signed him to a record deal.

Musical career

For the next five years he worked odd jobs throughout Nashville, eventually landing a songwriting deal and co-writing album tracks for David Kersh. While working at a restaurant, he was discovered by an agent of the newly formed Nashville division of Virgin Records, and was signed to a recording deal with the label in 2000.

2000–2002: Play It Loud

Cagle's first album, Play It Loud×Play It Loud24 October 2000 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1My Love Goes On and On3:042Laredo3:503The Safe Side4:484Country by the Grace of God3:315Ton of Love4:056Play It Loud3:037Who Needs the Whiskey3:328The Love Between a Woman and a Man3:529Lovin’ You Lovin’ Me3:3210Rock the Boat3:02, was issued in mid-2000. Serving as its lead-off single was "My Love Goes On and On", which reached No. 15 on Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs), while "Laredo", its follow-up, became his first Top Ten hit in mid-2001. After Virgin closed in 2001, the album was re-issued on Capitol Records with "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out" (which was also one of the songs that he had written for David Kersh in the late 1990s) added as a bonus track. Its b-side, "Country by the Grace of God", was the fourth and final single from the album. "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out" became his only No. 1 hit in early 2002. By the end of the year, Play It Loud had been certified gold in the United States.

2003–2004: Chris Cagle

Capitol released Cagle's second album, Chris Cagle, in the middle of 2003. His second consecutive gold album, it produced the Top 5 singles "What a Beautiful Day" and "Chicks Dig It", as well as the No. 39 "I'd Be Lying".
In 2003, Cagle also performed "Don't Ask Me No Questions" for the Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie soundtrack; it plays during the end credits of the film.
In early 2004, Cagle was diagnosed with multiple anomalies on his vocal cords, including a polyp, a lesion, a vocal fold cyst, and a granuloma. The diagnosis forced him to cancel nearly twenty appearances that year, including opening dates for Rascal Flatts. He was ordered sixty days of vocal rest and did not sing for nearly three months after the diagnosis.

2005–2006: Anywhere but Here

After his vocal recovery, Cagle began work on his third studio album, Anywhere but Here×Anywhere but Here4 October 2005 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1You Might Want to Think About It3:322Wal‐Mart Parking Lot4:243Miss Me Baby3:574Maria4:445Anywhere but Here4:056You Still Do That to Me4:187Hey Ya’ll3:568I Was Made for You4:269Wanted Dead or Alive5:0310When I Get There4:1311I’d Find You3:31, which was released in 2005. "Miss Me Baby" served as the album's first single, reaching No. 12 on the country chart. The other two singles — "Wal-Mart Parking Lot" and the title track, which had also been a single for Brice Long in 2005 – both failed to enter the Top 40.
In August 2006, a Nashville judge ordered Cagle to pay approximately $737,000 to former manager Mark Hybner, whom Chris had sued in 2004 in an effort to void management and publishing deals he had signed in 1999.

2007–2010: My Life's Been a Country Song and The Best of Chris Cagle

His eleventh single, "What Kinda Gone×What Kinda Gone7 August 2007 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1What Kinda Gone3:03", was released to country radio in late 2007. Peaking at No. 3, it was the lead-off single to his fourth studio album My Life's Been a Country Song, which was released on February 19, 2008. The second single from the album, "No Love Songs", was released in May; it debuted and peaked at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of May 24, 2008. "Never Ever Gone" did not chart, and Cagle parted ways with Capitol Nashville by year's end. The label released a greatest hits album in 2010 titled The Best of Chris Cagle×Best of Chris Cagle9 February 2010 · Album · CompilationSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Hey Y’all3:532Country by the Grace of God3:283What a Beautiful Day3:454I Breathe In, I Breathe Out4:045My Life’s Been a Country Song3:186Wal‐Mart Parking Lot4:227I’d Be Lying4:268My Love Goes on and On3:029What Kinda Gone3:0110Look at What I’ve Done4:5511Anywhere but Here4:0412Laredo3:4913Miss Me Baby3:5414No Love Songs3:5915Chicks Dig It3:59.

2010–2013: Back in the Saddle

In 2010, Cagle signed with the Bigger Picture Music Group. He released a new single, "Got My Country On", on June 28, 2011. The song became Cagle's first top 20 country hit since "What Kinda Gone×What Kinda Gone7 August 2007 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1What Kinda Gone3:03". His first album for the label, Back in the Saddle×Back in the Saddle22 May 2012 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Got My Country On3:532I’ll Grow My Own3:583Something That Wild3:354Let There Be Cowgirls4:335Dance Baby Dance3:286When Will My Lover Come Around3:127Southern Girl4:248Probably Just Time4:019Thank God She Left the Whiskey3:3710Now I Know What Mama Meant4:3711Just Enough4:3712Summer Again3:11, was released on June 26, 2012. The album produced two more singles, "Let There Be Cowgirls×Let There Be Cowgirls24 July 2012 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Let There Be Cowgirls4:33" and "Dance Baby Dance×Dance Baby Dance16 April 2013 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Dance Baby Dance3:29", before Bigger Picture Music Group folded in 2013. In October 2015, Cagle announced his retirement from the music industry. He currently lives in Houston, Texas, as of 2020.

Personal life

Cagle graduated from Ross S. Sterling High School in Baytown, Texas, in 1987.
He married school teacher Elizabeth Filer on September 10, 2001, in Houston, Texas, but the marriage ended in divorce in 2003. On October 3, 2005, he announced on his website that he was not the biological father of his then-girlfriend's baby. Cagle is a brother of the Texas Kappa chapter of Phi Delta Theta.
In 2008, Cagle and his girlfriend, Jennifer Tant, were jailed following a domestic assault issue for which Cagle was arrested in November 2007.
In December 2010, Cagle married his second wife, Kay, and became a stepfather to Khloe, her daughter from a previous marriage. Cagle has two biological daughters with Kay; Stella (b. 2010) and Piper (b. 2011).
On December 15, 2013, he was arrested in Greenville, Texas, on "suspicion of driving while intoxicated."