[Photography credit to Edward Wright, WrightDesign75]

Scotty McCreery was born on October 9, 1993, in Garner, North Carolina, the son of Judy and Michael McCreery and brother to older sister Ashley.

 His earliest musical influence was Elvis Presley. As he grew older, other musical heroes included Garth Brooks, George Strait, Randy Travis, Ronnie Milsap, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Conway Twitty, Josh Turner, and R&B legend Charlie Wilson. He learned to play guitar by the time he was ten years old.

 In his teens, McCreery attended First Baptist Church in Garner, where he led the church’s youth praise band, Audience of One. He also sang in his high school chorus and was a pitcher of his high school baseball team. 

 At the age of 16, McCreery won a singing contest called “Clayton Idol,” which was held at the Clayton Harvest Festival in Clayton, North Carolina. After winning, he held several local shows with WQDR-FM, raising money for sick children. McCreery was working as a bagger at Lowes Foods when he auditioned for “American Idol,” traveling to Milwaukee to audition for the show.

 McCreery would eventually become “Idol’s” youngest male winner and second youngest winner overall at the age of 17. One of the highlights of that season was his return to Garner for a huge show at Lake Benson Park that attracted a live audience bigger than the population of the town.

 McCreery released his single “I Love You This Big” immediately after winning “American Idol.” The song entered the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart at number 32, and would later be certified gold on August 25th, 2011.

 After signing with Mercury Nashville, his debut studio album, Clear as Day, was released in October 2011, and would be certified platinum soon after. McCreery made music history by being the first country artist and the youngest male artist of any genre to debut his first album at No.1 on the all-genre Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The album also included his second top 20 hit “The Trouble with Girls” and the fan favorite song “Water Tower Town.”  

  A year later, he released a holiday album, Christmas with Scotty McCreery, in October 2012 which was later certified gold. 

 McCreery released his album See You Tonight in October 2013. Its title track became his first single to reach the Top Ten on Billboard’s Country Singles Chart, followed by his hit “Feelin’ It.” 

 After parting ways with Mercury Nashville in 2016, McCreery released his first book, Go Big or Go Home: The Journey Toward the Dream, and hit the road on a book tour.

 In 2017, McCreery returned with a new single, “Five More Minutes” which had been inspired by the passing of his grandfather. The singer/songwriter has said often that it is his favorite song he’s ever written. With this song, McCreery became the only country music artist in Country Aircheck/Mediabase history to chart a Top 50 song without the backing of a record label. After McCreery signed with Triple Tigers Records, the song topped both the Billboard and Country Aircheck/Mediabase charts in the Spring of 2018 and went on to be certified Triple Platinum. 

Soon after, he released his album, Seasons Change, which became McCreery’s fourth to chart at No.1 on a Billboard album chart. The album also featured the No.1 hits “This Is It” and “In Between.” Rolling Stone named Seasons Change as one of the “40 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2018.” 

 On June 16, 2018, McCreery married his high school sweetheart Gabi Dugal, whom he met on the first day of kindergarten. Gabi has been featured in many of her husband’s music videos. 

 McCreery’s most recent album, Same Truck, was released on September 17, 2021, containing his three-week No 1 hit “Damn Strait,” as well as the popular “You Time” and “It Matters to Her.”  

 On his own, McCreery has performed sold out concerts around the world. He has also toured with Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley, and Rascal Flatts, and has opened shows for artists including Garth Brooks and Jason Aldean, among many others. 

 To date, McCreery has achieved five consecutive No.1 hits; earned ACM, BMI, CMT, NSAI, and Carolina Beach Music Awards; attained one Triple Platinum, five Platinum and three Gold certified singles as well as one Platinum and two Gold albums; and received North Carolina’s highest civilian award, the Order of the Long Leaf Pines. He has also executive produced two Hallmark holiday movies based on his song “Five More Minutes.” McCreery and wife Gabi welcomed their first child, son Merrick Avery McCreery, in October 2022.

McCreery may travel the world to perform his music, but he always comes home to North Carolina.