X

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

Continue with Facebook Continue with email

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

Toby Keith Biography

Birth Name:
Toby Keith Covel
Birth Place:
Clinton, Oklahoma, United States
Profession
Singer, songwriter, producer

Fast Facts

  • Received his first guitar when he was 8
  • Worked at a supper club run by his grandmother while he was in school
  • After he finished his work, the house band would allow him to join them on stage
  • Worked in the oil fields of Oklahoma after graduating high school
  • Met his wife, Tricia, in 1979 at a club where his band, Easy Money, was performing; they dated for three years before marrying
  • For two years during the early '80s, played defensive end for the Oklahoma Drillers, a semipro team affiliated with the USFL's Oklahoma Outlaws
  • His 1993 self-titled debut went platinum; and the single "Should've Been a Cowboy" from that album went onto become the most-played country song of the 1990s
  • Wrote the 2001 single "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" in response to the September 11 attacks and as a tribute to his late father's patriotism
  • Established his own record company, Show Dog Nashville, in 2005
  • First album released under the new label was 2006's White Trash With Money

Relationships

  • Tracy K. Covel -- Brother
  • Krystal -- Daughter
  • Shelly -- Daughter
  • Hubert "H.K." Covel Jr. -- Father
  • Carolyn Joan Covel -- Mother
  • Tonni Karan -- Sister
  • Stelen -- Son
  • Tricia Keith -- Wife