John Rich
John Rich (born January 7, 1974) is an American country music singer-songwriter, hit record producer and successful entrepreneur. From 1992 to 1998, he was a member of the country band Lonestar, in which he played bass guitar, wrote his first #1 song called "Come Cryin'To Me" and alternated with Richie McDonald as lead vocalist. After departing from the band in 1998, he embarked on a solo career on BNA Records in the late 1990s, releasing two singles for the label and recording Underneath the Same Moon, which was not released until 2006. In 2001, he self-released Rescue Me, an album he was inspired to record by a cancer patient named Katie Darnell. By 2003, he joined Big Kenny to form the duo Big & Rich, who released three albums on Warner Bros. Records as well as ten singles, including the Number One "Lost in This Moment". After Big & Rich went on hiatus in 2007, Rich began work on a third solo album, Son of a Preacher Man, which produced two more chart singles including the Top Ten song "Shutting Detroit Down." In 2011, Rich released two extended plays, Rich Rocks and For the Kids, before re-establishing Big & Rich in 2012. Big and Rich launched "Big and Rich Records" in 2014 and scored big hits with "Look At You", "Loving Lately", and "Run Away With You."
This article is about the American musician. For other uses, see John Rich (disambiguation).
John Rich
January 7, 1974
Amarillo, Texas, U.S.
Dickson, Tennessee, U.S.
Singer-songwriter, record producer
Vocals, bass guitar, guitar
1992–present
Television work[edit]
In 2007, Rich hosted the first season of a reality show on Country Music Television called Gone Country, which featured celebrities such as Brady Bunch actress Maureen McCormick, singers Bobby Brown, Sisqo, Julio Iglesias Jr., Dee Snider, Carnie Wilson and American Idol runner-up Diana DeGarmo as they try to become songwriters with the help of Nashville songwriters as the celebrities are paired together with the songwriters. The show was filmed at the former home of Barbara Mandrell. He hosted two more seasons since then, and the show became the highest-rated series in CMT history.
Rich also served as a judge on the 2008 version of Nashville Star on NBC along with Jewel, singer-songwriter Jeffrey Steele, and host Billy Ray Cyrus.
Rich was a candidate in the 2011 season of The Celebrity Apprentice, which premiered on March 6. In episode 5, he lost as project manager for the men's team, Backbone. Despite the first loss, he later won 2 more tasks as project manager, raising $1,266,908 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Rich competed with Marlee Matlin in the live season finale, where he was declared the season winner, and received an additional $250,000 for his charity. Rich became the all-time leading fundraiser in the history of the show.
Rich served as a mentor in the 2012 reality/competition series The Next: Fame Is at Your Doorstep.[6]
Personal life[edit]
John Rich and his wife, Joan, married on December 6, 2008. He has two sons, Cash and Colt.
On April 7, 2015, Rich's song "Shuttin' Detroit Down" was featured in Senator Rand Paul's 2016 presidential campaign announcement.[7] He later declared his support for presumptive nominee Donald Trump following Paul's exit from the race.[8] Big & Rich would later perform at a pre-inaugural ceremony on January 19, 2017, after Trump's victory in the general election.[9] On May 30, 2019, he released "Shut Up About Politics" featuring presenters of the Fox News Channel program The Five. Rich also released 6 songs from his independent label Rich Records, 5 of which reached the #1 status on the iTunes all-genre download chart. Those songs are "Earth To God," "Progress," "Santa's Got A Dirty Job," "Shut Up About Politics," "I'm Offended," and "Revelation."
