Pictured (l-r) at this morning’s Garth Brooks press conference: Garth’s attorney Rusty Jones, Sony Music Entertainment’s EVP Business Affairs/General Counsel Julie Swidler and EVP/CFO Kevin Kelleher, Garth’s personal manager Bob Doyle, Brooks, Sony Music Entertainment CEO Doug Morris, Sony Music Nashville Chairman & CEO Gary Overton, and Garth’s business manager Kerry O’Neil.
Credit: Alan Poizner
Singer/songwriter Garth Brooks will release his first album of all-new material in more than a decade under a new agreement with Sony Music, it was announced today by Brooks and Sony Music Entertainment CEO Doug Morris at a press conference in Nashville.
Under the worldwide deal, Garth, who in 2000, was certified by the RIAA as the #1-selling solo artist in U. S. history, will put out a new solo album on or about Black Friday in November through his own Pearl imprint in conjunction with Sony Music’s RCA Nashville that will be listed as a Pearl/RCA Nashville release. Sony Music will provide distribution services and collaborate in marketing efforts, as RCA Nashville will promote singles at country radio. Additionally, for the first time ever, Garth catalogue music and as well as the new studio album will be available digitally, exclusively through his website at GarthBrooks.com, beginning with catalogue content in the next few weeks.
The worldwide entertainer, who has sold 134 million albums to date and has amassed virtually every music award possible, also confirmed his highly-anticipated world tour, with the first city scheduled to be announced on July 15.
“Words cannot express how excited I am to get to make new music and tour again,” remarked Garth. “I cannot thank Sony Music and RCA Nashville enough for making that dream a reality.”
Said Morris, “Garth Brooks is one of the most accomplished and beloved artists of all time. We are thrilled he is joining the Sony Music family, and excited to be joining forces with him to bring much anticipated new music to his many fans around the world.”
“Garth redefined the parameters of what country music could be, and what it could accomplish. We are beyond proud that he’s chosen to begin the next chapter of an extraordinary career with us,” said Sony Music Nashville Chairman & CEO Gary Overton.
Fans were able to see this morning’s news unfold in real time on GarthBrooks.com, where the press conference aired via Livestream, with Brooks’ site poised for an official re-launch on July 15.
About Garth Brooks
Since his first single, “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old),” debuted at country radio in 1989, Garth Brooks has taken 25 singles to the #1 position on country airplay charts and his albums have spent more weeks at #1 on sales charts than any other artist since the inception of SoundScan. Garth has received six RIAA Diamond Awards, each commemorating 10 million albums sold – and, he is the only solo artist in RIAA history to have accomplished this feat.
In 2001, Garth retired and moved back to Oklahoma to raise his children. In 2008 The President Elect, himself, requested that Garth headline President Obama’s Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. A crowd of over 300,000 did the “wave” to Garth’s performance of “Shout” while the President sang along. That same year the Governor of California asked Garth to help the State. Garth performed 5 concerts in 2 days with the proceeds from 83,000 tickets sold donated to efforts to prevent fire catastrophes. Portions of the live concerts were shown as a TV special, “Garth Brooks: Live in L.A.” allowing viewers to donate as well.
In December 2010, Garth finished an astonishing 9 sold out concerts in 6 days to raise money for the flood relief efforts in Tennessee. ABC World News Tonight declared Garth The Person of the Week and the Mayor of Nashville announced that this was a record December for downtown Nashville merchants due to the over 145,000 who attended the concerts.
In January, 2012 he was named the best selling artist of the last two decades by Billboard, Nielsen and SoundScan, with a whopping 68.5 million sales. Brooks also sold out his recent appearance at the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede. The sell out 15,000+ seats happened in less than a minute. Garth was recently inducted into the International Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York as well as the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In October he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Performing for his induction were his heroes George Strait, James Taylor and Bob Seger. On November 29th, 2013, Garth took the night with almost nine million viewers watching his CBS special “Live From Las Vegas.” That very day Garth released his new boxed set, Blame It All On My Roots, which debuted for the 13th time in Garth’s career at #1 on the country charts. The boxed set also rose to the top of the Billboard 200 Chart making it the 9th time Garth has been able to achieve that feat.
Garth recently broke another record when he sold out 5 consecutive dates at Croke Park in Dublin, a feat no other artist had achieved. In fact, over 400,000 tickets were sold. Just after this feat, Garth’s performance of “Friends in Low Places” was the last thing heard on The Tonight Show as Jay Leno ended his 22 year reign as The Tonight Show host.
About Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment is a global recorded music company with a current roster that includes a broad array of both local artists and international superstars. The company boasts a vast catalog that comprises some of the most important recordings in history. It is home to premier record labels representing music from every genre, including Arista Nashville, Beach Street/Reunion Records, Bystorm Entertainment, Columbia Nashville, Columbia Records, Day 1, Epic Records, Essential Records, Kemosabe Records, Legacy Recordings, MASTERWORKS, Polo Grounds, RCA Inspiration, RCA Nashville, RCA Records, Sony Classical, Sony Music Latin, Star Time International, Syco Music, Vested in Culture and Volcano. Sony Music Entertainment is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America.
