Jan. 20: Country music artist, John Michael Montgomery - "I Swear" - is 46 today.



Born in Danville, Kentucky, John Michael Montgomery has produced more than thirty singles on the Billboard country charts, including two of Billboard’s Number One country singles of the year: "I Swear" in 1994, and "Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)" in 1995.

Besides these two songs, five more of Montgomery's singles have reached the top of the country charts: "I Love the Way You Love Me," "Be My Baby Tonight," "If You've Got Love," "I Can Love You Like That," and "The Little Girl," while thirteen more have reached Top Ten.

From John Michael's Website

Montgomery's recordings of "I Swear" and "I Can Love You Like That" were both released concurrently with R&B versions by the group All-4-One. Montgomery has also released eleven studio albums, counting a Christmas album. The most recent, Time Flies, was released on his own Stringtown label in late 2008.

Born Jan. 20, 1965, in Danville, Kentucky and raised and lived in Garrard County, Kentucky, Montgomery received musical encouragement from his father, who performed in a local country band and taught his son his first chords. John Michael joined the family band (which also included his brother, Eddie Montgomery, who would later join Troy Gentry in the duo Montgomery Gentry) as guitarist before taking the lead singing role when his parents divorced.

Afterwards, he made a frugal living on the local honky-tonk scene as a solo artist playing what he referred to as "working man's country." Eventually, Atlantic Records signed him.

(Continued below video and Amazon portals ...)

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John Michael Montgomery arrived on the country music scene in 1992 with a debut album, Life's a Dance, that became the only million-seller on the country charts by a new artist that year. Its title track was a #4 hit single and was followed by his first country chart-topper, "I Love the Way You Love Me" (also a #60 pop hit), and the #21 "Beer and Bones." "I Love the Way You Love Me" was named Single of the Year by the Academy of Country Music, and Life's a Dance earned triple-platinum RIAA certification.

In late 2008, Montgomery founded his own label, Stringtown Records. That year, he released his next album, Time Flies. This album produced three singles: "Mad Cowboy Disease," "If You Ever Went Away," and "Forever." Although the first two both failed to chart, "Forever" peaked at #28 on the country charts, representing his first chart entry in over four years.

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