Coordinates	52°24′29″N1°30′38″N
name	Pretty Good Privacy
title	Pretty Good Privacy
author	Phil Zimmermann
developer	Phil Zimmermann
released	In 1991
programming language	Multi-language
operating system	Linux, Mac OS X, Windows
website	http://www.openpgp.org }}

Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is a data encryption and decryption computer program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication. PGP is often used for signing, encrypting and decrypting texts, E-mails, files, directories and whole disk partitions to increase the security of e-mail communications. It was created by Phil Zimmermann in 1991.

PGP and similar products follow the OpenPGP standard (RFC 4880) for encrypting and decrypting data.

How PGP encryption works

PGP encryption uses a serial combination of hashing, data compression, symmetric-key cryptography, and, finally, public-key cryptography; each step uses one of several supported algorithms. Each public key is bound to a user name and/or an e-mail address. The first version of this system was generally known as a web of trust to contrast with the X.509 system which uses a hierarchical approach based on certificate authority and which was added to PGP implementations later. Current versions of PGP encryption include both options through an automated key management server.

Compatibility

As PGP evolves, PGP systems that support newer features and algorithms are able to create encrypted messages that older PGP systems cannot decrypt, even with a valid private key. Thus, it is essential that partners in PGP communication understand each other's capabilities or at least agree on PGP settings.

Confidentiality

PGP can be used to send messages confidentially. For this, PGP combines symmetric-key encryption and public-key encryption. The message is encrypted using a symmetric encryption algorithm, which requires a symmetric key. Each symmetric key is used only once and is also called a session key. The session key is protected by encrypting it with the receiver's public key thus ensuring that only the receiver can decrypt the session key. The encrypted message along with the encrypted session key is sent to the receiver.

Digital signatures

PGP supports message authentication and integrity checking. The latter is used to detect whether a message has been altered since it was completed (the ''message integrity'' property), and the former to determine whether it was actually sent by the person/entity claimed to be the sender (a ''digital signature''). In PGP, these are used by default in conjunction with encryption, but can be applied to the plaintext as well. The sender uses PGP to create a digital signature for the message with either the RSA or DSA signature algorithms. To do so, PGP computes a hash (also called a message digest) from the plaintext, and then creates the digital signature from that hash using the sender's private key.

Web of trust

Both when encrypting messages and when verifying signatures, it is critical that the public key used to send messages to someone or some entity actually does 'belong' to the intended recipient. Simply downloading a public key from somewhere is not overwhelming assurance of that association; deliberate (or accidental) impersonation is possible. PGP has, from its first versions, always included provisions for distributing a user's public keys in an 'identity certificate' which is also constructed cryptographically so that any tampering (or accidental garble) is readily detectable. But merely making a certificate which is impossible to modify without being detected effectively is also insufficient. It can prevent corruption only after the certificate has been created, not before. Users must also ensure by some means that the public key in a certificate actually does belong to the person/entity claiming it. From its first release, PGP products have included an internal certificate 'vetting scheme' to assist with this; a trust model which has been called a web of trust. A given public key (or more specifically, information binding a user name to a key) may be digitally signed by a third party user to attest to the association between someone (actually a user name) and the key. There are several levels of confidence which can be included in such signatures. Although many programs read and write this information, few (if any) include this level of certification when calculating whether to trust a key.

The web of trust protocol was first described by Zimmermann in 1992 in the manual for PGP version 2.0:

The web of trust mechanism has advantages over a centrally managed public key infrastructure scheme such as that used by S/MIME but has not been universally used. Users have been willing to accept certificates and check their validity manually or to simply accept them. No satisfactory solution has been found for the underlying problem.

Certificates

In the (more recent) OpenPGP specification, ''trust signatures'' can be used to support creation of certificate authorities. A trust signature indicates both that the key belongs to its claimed owner and that the owner of the key is trustworthy to sign other keys at one level below their own. A level 0 signature is comparable to a web of trust signature since only the validity of the key is certified. A level 1 signature is similar to the trust one has in a certificate authority because a key signed to level 1 is able to issue an unlimited number of level 0 signatures. A level 2 signature is highly analogous to the trust assumption users must rely on whenever they use the default certificate authority list (like those included in web browsers); it allows the owner of the key to make other keys certificate authorities.

PGP versions have always included a way to cancel ('revoke') identity certificates. A lost or compromised private key will require this if communication security is to be retained by that user. This is, more or less, equivalent to the certificate revocation lists of centralized PKI schemes. Recent PGP versions have also supported certificate expiration dates.

The problem of correctly identifying a public key as belonging to a particular user is not unique to PGP. All public key / private key cryptosystems have the same problem, if in slightly different guise, and no fully satisfactory solution is known. PGP's original scheme, at least, leaves the decision whether or not to use its endorsement/vetting system to the user, while most other PKI schemes do not, requiring instead that every certificate attested to by a central certificate authority be accepted as correct.

Security quality

To the best of publicly available information, there is no known method which will allow a person or group to break PGP encryption by cryptographic or computational means. Indeed, in 1996, cryptographer Bruce Schneier characterized an early version as being "the closest you're likely to get to military-grade encryption." Early versions of PGP have been found to have theoretical vulnerabilities and so current versions are recommended. In addition to protecting data in transit over a network, PGP encryption can also be used to protect data in long-term data storage such as disk files. These long-term storage options are also known as data at rest, i.e. data stored, not in transit.

The cryptographic security of PGP encryption depends on the assumption that the algorithms used are unbreakable by direct cryptanalysis with current equipment and techniques. For instance, in the original version, the RSA algorithm was used to encrypt session keys; RSA's security depends upon the one-way function nature of mathematical integer factoring. Likewise, the secret key algorithm used in PGP version 2 was IDEA, which might, at some future time, be found to have a previously unsuspected cryptanalytic flaw. Specific instances of current PGP, or IDEA, insecurities—if they exist—are not publicly known. As current versions of PGP have added additional encryption algorithms, the degree of their cryptographic vulnerability varies with the algorithm used. In practice, each of the algorithms in current use is not publicly known to have cryptanalytic weaknesses.

New versions of PGP are released periodically and vulnerabilities that developers are aware of are progressively fixed. Any agency wanting to read PGP messages would probably use easier means than standard cryptanalysis, e.g. rubber-hose cryptanalysis or black-bag cryptanalysis i.e. installing some form of trojan horse or keystroke logging software/hardware on the target computer to capture encrypted keyrings and their passwords. The FBI has already used this attack against PGP in its investigations. However, any such vulnerabilities apply not just to PGP, but to all encryption software.

In 2003, an incident involving seized Psion PDAs belonging to members of the Red Brigade indicated that neither the Italian police nor the FBI were able to decrypt PGP-encrypted files stored on them.

A more recent incident in December 2006 (see ''United States v. Boucher'') involving US customs agents and a seized laptop PC which allegedly contained child pornography indicates that US Government agencies find it "nearly impossible" to access PGP-encrypted files. Additionally, a judge ruling on the same case in November 2007 has stated that forcing the suspect to reveal his PGP passphrase would violate his Fifth Amendment rights i.e. a suspect's constitutional right not to incriminate himself. The Fifth Amendment issue has been opened again as the case was appealed and the federal judge again ordered the defendant to provide the key.

Evidence suggests that as of 2007, British police investigators are unable to break PGP, so instead have resorted to using RIPA legislation to demand the passwords/keys. In November 2009 a British citizen was convicted under RIPA legislation and jailed for 9 months for refusing to provide police investigators with encryption keys to PGP-encrypted files.

History

Early history

Phil Zimmermann created the first version of PGP encryption in 1991. The name, "Pretty Good Privacy", is humorously ironic and was inspired by the name of a grocery store, "Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery", featured in radio host Garrison Keillor's fictional town, Lake Wobegon. This first version included a symmetric-key algorithm that Zimmermann had designed himself, named BassOmatic after a Saturday Night Live sketch. Zimmermann had been a long-time anti-nuclear activist, and created PGP encryption so that similarly inclined people might securely use BBSs and securely store messages and files. No license was required for its non-commercial use. There was not even a nominal charge, and the complete source code was included with all copies.

In a posting of June 5, 2001, entitled "PGP Marks 10th Anniversary", Zimmermann describes the circumstances surrounding his release of PGP:

PGP found its way onto the Internet, and it very rapidly acquired a considerable following around the world. Users and supporters included dissidents in totalitarian countries (some affecting letters to Zimmermann have been published, and some have been included in testimony before the US Congress), civil libertarians in other parts of the world (see Zimmermann's published testimony in various hearings), and the 'free communications' activists who call themselves cypherpunks (who provided both publicity and distribution).

Criminal investigation

Shortly after its release, PGP encryption found its way outside the United States, and in February 1993 Zimmermann became the formal target of a criminal investigation by the US Government for "munitions export without a license". Cryptosystems using keys larger than 40 bits were then considered munitions within the definition of the US export regulations; PGP has never used keys smaller than 128 bits so it qualified at that time. Penalties for violation, if found guilty, were substantial. After several years, the investigation of Zimmermann was closed without filing criminal charges against him or anyone else.

Zimmermann challenged these regulations in a curious way. He published the entire source code of PGP in a hardback book, via MIT Press, which was distributed and sold widely. Anybody wishing to build their own copy of PGP could buy the $60 book, cut off the covers, separate the pages, and scan them using an OCR program, creating a set of source code text files. One could then build the application using the freely available GNU Compiler Collection. PGP would thus be available anywhere in the world. The claimed principle was simple: export of ''munitions''—guns, bombs, planes, and software—was (and remains) restricted; but the export of ''books'' is protected by the First Amendment. The question was never tested in court with respect to PGP. In cases addressing other encryption software, however, two federal appeals courts have established the rule that cryptographic software source code is speech protected by the First Amendment (the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Bernstein case and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Junger case).

US export regulations regarding cryptography remain in force, but were liberalized substantially throughout the late 1990s. Since 2000, compliance with the regulations is also much easier. PGP encryption no longer meets the definition of a non-exportable weapon, and can be exported internationally except to 7 specific countries and a list of named groups and individuals (with whom substantially all US trade is prohibited under various US export controls).

PGP 3 and founding of PGP Inc.

During this turmoil, Zimmermann's team worked on a new version of PGP encryption called PGP 3. This new version was to have considerable security improvements, including a new certificate structure which fixed small security flaws in the PGP 2.x certificates as well as permitting a certificate to include separate keys for signing and encryption. Furthermore, the experience with patent and export problems led them to eschew patents entirely. PGP 3 introduced use of the CAST-128 (a.k.a. CAST5) symmetric key algorithm, and the DSA and ElGamal asymmetric key algorithms, all of which were unencumbered by patents.

After the Federal criminal investigation ended in 1996, Zimmermann and his team started a company to produce new versions of PGP encryption. They merged with Viacrypt (to whom Zimmermann had sold commercial rights and who had licensed RSA directly from RSADSI) which then changed its name to PGP Incorporated. The newly combined Viacrypt/PGP team started work on new versions of PGP encryption based on the PGP 3 system. Unlike PGP 2, which was an exclusively command line program, PGP 3 was designed from the start as a software library allowing users to work from a command line or inside a GUI environment. The original agreement between Viacrypt and the Zimmermann team had been that Viacrypt would have even-numbered versions and Zimmermann odd-numbered versions. Viacrypt, thus, created a new version (based on PGP 2) that they called PGP 4. To remove confusion about how it could be that PGP 3 was the successor to PGP 4, PGP 3 was renamed and released as PGP 5 in May 1997.

OpenPGP

Inside PGP Inc., there was still concern about patent issues. RSADSI was challenging the continuation of the Viacrypt RSA license to the newly merged firm. The company adopted an informal internal standard called "Unencumbered PGP": "use no algorithm with licensing difficulties". Because of PGP encryption's importance worldwide (it is thought to be the most widely chosen quality cryptographic system), many wanted to write their own software that would interoperate with PGP 5. Zimmermann became convinced that an open standard for PGP encryption was critical for them and for the cryptographic community as a whole. In July 1997, PGP Inc. proposed to the IETF that there be a standard called OpenPGP. They gave the IETF permission to use the name OpenPGP to describe this new standard as well as any program that supported the standard. The IETF accepted the proposal and started the OpenPGP Working Group.

OpenPGP is on the Internet Standards Track and is under active development. The current specification is RFC 4880 (November 2007), the successor to RFC 2440. Many e-mail clients provide OpenPGP-compliant email security as described in RFC 3156.

The Free Software Foundation has developed its own OpenPGP-compliant program called GNU Privacy Guard (abbreviated GnuPG or GPG). GnuPG is freely available together with all source code under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and is maintained separately from several Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) that interact with the GnuPG library for encryption, decryption and signing functions (see KGPG, Seahorse, MacGPG). Several other vendors have also developed OpenPGP-compliant software.

Network Associates acquisition

In December 1997, PGP Inc. was acquired by Network Associates, Inc. ("NAI"). Zimmermann and the PGP team became NAI employees. NAI was the first company to have a legal export strategy by publishing source code. Under NAI, the PGP team added disk encryption, desktop firewalls, intrusion detection, and IPsec VPNs to the PGP family. After the export regulation liberalizations of 2000 which no longer required publishing of source, NAI stopped releasing source code.

In early 2001, Zimmermann left NAI. He served as Chief Cryptographer for Hush Communications, who provide an OpenPGP-based e-mail service, Hushmail. He has also worked with Veridis and other companies. In October, 2001, NAI announced that its PGP assets were for sale and that it was suspending further development of PGP encryption. The only remaining asset kept was the PGP E-Business Server (the original PGP Commandline version). In February 2002, NAI canceled all support for PGP products, with the exception of the re-named commandline product. NAI (now McAfee) continues to sell and support the product under the name McAfee E-Business Server.

Current situation

In August 2002, several ex-PGP team members formed a new company, PGP Corporation, and bought the PGP assets (except for the command line version) from NAI. The new company was funded by Rob Theis of Doll Capital Management (DCM) and Terry Garnett of Venrock Associates. PGP Corporation supports existing PGP users and honors NAI's support contracts. Zimmermann now serves as a special advisor and consultant to PGP Corporation, as well as continuing to run his own consulting company. In 2003, PGP Corporation created a new server-based product called PGP Universal. In mid-2004, PGP Corporation shipped its own command line version called PGP Command Line, which integrates with the other PGP Encryption Platform applications. In 2005, PGP Corporation made its first acquisition—the German software company Glueck and Kanja Technology AG, which is now PGP Deutschland AG. In 2010, PGP Corporation acquired Hamburg-based certificate authority TC TrustCenter and its parent company, ChosenSecurity, to form its PGP TrustCenter division.

Since the 2002 purchase of NAI's PGP assets, PGP Corporation has offered worldwide PGP technical support from its offices in Draper, Utah, Offenbach, Germany and Tokyo, Japan.

On April 29, 2010 Symantec Corp. announced that it would acquire PGP for $300 million with the intent of integrating it into its Enterprise Security Group. This acquisition was finalized and announced to the public on June 7, 2010.

PGP Corporation encryption applications

:''This section describes commercial programs available from PGP Corporation. For information on other programs compatible with the OpenPGP specification, see OpenPGP implementations below.''

While originally used primarily for encrypting the contents of e-mail messages and attachments from a desktop client, PGP products have been diversified since 2002 into a set of encryption applications which can be managed by an optional central policy server. PGP encryption applications include e-mail and attachments, digital signatures, laptop full disk encryption, file and folder security, protection for IM sessions, batch file transfer encryption, and protection for files and folders stored on network servers and, more recently, encrypted and/or signed HTTP request/responses by means of a client side (Enigform) and a server side (mod openpgp) module. There is also a Wordpress plugin available, called wp-enigform-authentication, that takes advantage of the session management features of Enigform with mod_openpgp.

The PGP Desktop 9.x family includes PGP Desktop Email, PGP Whole Disk Encryption, and PGP NetShare. Additionally, a number of Desktop bundles are also available. Depending on application, the products feature desktop e-mail, digital signatures, IM security, whole disk encryption, file and folder security, self decrypting archives, and secure shredding of deleted files. Capabilities are licensed in different ways depending on features required.

The PGP Universal Server 2.x management console handles centralized deployment, security policy, policy enforcement, key management, and reporting. It is used for automated e-mail encryption in the gateway and manages PGP Desktop 9.x clients. In addition to its local keyserver, PGP Universal Server works with the PGP public keyserver—called the PGP Global Directory—to find recipient keys. It has the capability of delivering e-mail securely when no recipient key is found via a secure HTTPS browser session.

With PGP Desktop 9.x managed by PGP Universal Server 2.x, first released in 2005, all PGP encryption applications are based on a new proxy-based architecture. These newer versions of PGP software eliminate the use of e-mail plug-ins and insulate the user from changes to other desktop applications. All desktop and server operations are now based on security policies and operate in an automated fashion. The PGP Universal server automates the creation, management, and expiration of keys, sharing these keys among all PGP encryption applications.

The current shipping versions are PGP Desktop 10.1 (Windows and Mac-OS Platforms) and PGP Universal 2.12 . Version 3.x of Universal Server is announced for being released in March 2010.

Also available are PGP Command Line, which enables command line-based encryption and signing of information for storage, transfer, and backup, as well as the PGP Support Package for BlackBerry which enables RIM BlackBerry devices to enjoy sender-to-recipient messaging encryption.

New versions of PGP applications use both OpenPGP and the S/MIME, allowing communications with any user of a NIST specified standard.

See also

E-mail encryption

E-mail privacy

GPG—free software equivalent

PGP word list

PGPDisk

Public-key cryptography

S/MIME—secured e-mail

X.509

ZRTP

References

Further reading

External links

OpenPGP implementations

PGP Corporation (→ redirects to the Symantec website)

GNU Privacy Guard

OpenPGP::SDK

cl.cam.ac.uk PGP information

Support

PGP Corporation Support Forum community support plus contributions from PGP Support staff

Phil Zimmermann's Home Page

MIT Public Key Directory for Registration and Search

List of public keyservers

IETF OpenPGP working group

OpenPGP Alliance

Category:1991 software Category:Cryptographic software Category:Email authentication Category:History of cryptography Category:Internet privacy Category:Internet standards Category:Open standards Category:PGP Category:Privacy software Category:Public-key cryptography

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Coordinates	52°24′29″N1°30′38″N
name	Phil Zimmermann
birth date	February 12, 1954
birth place	Camden, New Jersey
nationality
known for	Creator of Pretty Good Privacy
occupation	}}

Philip R. "Phil" Zimmermann Jr. (born February 12, 1954) is the creator of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), the most widely used email encryption software in the world. He is also known for his work in VoIP encryption protocols, notably ZRTP and Zfone.

Background

He was born in Camden, New Jersey. His father was a concrete mixer truck driver. Zimmermann received a B.S. degree in computer science from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton in 1978, and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

PGP

In 1991, he wrote the popular Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) program, and made it available (together with its source code) through public FTP for download, the first widely available program implementing public-key cryptography. Shortly thereafter, it became available overseas via the Internet, though Zimmermann has said he had no part in its distribution outside the US.

Criminal investigation by US Customs

After a report from RSA Data Security, Inc., who were in a licensing dispute with regard to use of the RSA algorithm in PGP, the Customs Service started a criminal investigation of Zimmermann, for allegedly violating the Arms Export Control Act. The US Government had long regarded cryptographic software as a munition, and thus subject to arms trafficking export controls. At that time, the boundary between permitted ("low-strength") cryptography and impermissible ("high-strength") cryptography placed PGP well on the too-strong-to-export side (this boundary has since been relaxed). The investigation lasted three years, but was finally dropped without filing charges.

After the government dropped its case without indictment in early 1996, Zimmermann founded PGP Inc. and released an updated version of PGP and some additional related products. That company was acquired by Network Associates (NAI) in December 1997, and Zimmermann stayed on for three years as a Senior Fellow. NAI decided to drop the product line and in 2002, PGP was acquired from NAI by a new company called PGP Corporation. Zimmermann now serves as a special advisor and consultant to that firm. Zimmermann is also a fellow at the Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society. He was a principal designer of the cryptographic key agreement protocol (the "association model") for the Wireless USB standard.

Trivia

In the very first version of PGP, an encryption algorithm was given the humorous name BassOmatic (after a skit on Saturday Night Live) and Pretty Good Privacy itself is named after a Lake Wobegon fictional grocery store named "Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery".

In popular culture

Zimmermann's name appears in the novel ''The Da Vinci Code'': }} In The Code Book there is a whole chapter on Zimmermann and PGP.

Awards

Zimmermann has received numerous technical and humanitarian awards for his pioneering work in cryptography:

In 2008, PC World named Zimmermann one of the 'Top 50 Tech Visionaries' of the last 50 years.

In 2006 eWeek ranked PGP 9th in the 25 Most Influential and Innovative Products introduced since the invention of the PC in 1981.

In 2003 Reason named him a "Hero of Freedom"

In 2001 Zimmermann was inducted into the CRN Industry Hall of Fame.

In 2000 InfoWorld named him one of the 'Top 10 Innovators in E-business'.

In 1999 he received the Louis Brandeis Award from Privacy International.

In 1998, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Secure Computing Magazine

In 1996, he received the Norbert Wiener Award for Social and Professional Responsibility for promoting the responsible use of technology.

In 1995, he received the Chrysler Design Award for Innovation, and the Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

In 1995, Newsweek also named Zimmermann one of the "Net 50", the 50 most influential people on the Internet.

Publications

''The Official PGP User's Guide'', MIT Press, 1995

''PGP Source Code and Internals'', MIT Press, 1995

See also

Pretty Good Privacy

ZRTP

Zfone

PGPfone

PGP word list

GNU Privacy Guard

Information security

Data privacy

Information privacy

References

External links

Official website

Why I wrote PGP.

Conversation With Phil Zimmermann, Mikael Pawlo, GrepLaw, June 6, 2003.

E-mail security hero takes on VoIP, Declan McCullagh , C|net, 15 August 2006.

VON Pioneers: Philip Zimmermann Encrypts VoIP, VON Magazine, Jan 2007.

Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:Cypherpunks Category:Modern cryptographers Category:Public-key cryptographers Category:People from Camden, New Jersey Category:Florida Atlantic University alumni Category:Privacy activists Category:American human rights activists

ar:فيل زيمرمان cs:Phil Zimmermann de:Phil Zimmermann es:Phil Zimmermann eo:Philip Zimmermann fr:Philip Zimmermann it:Phil Zimmermann he:פיל צימרמן hu:Philip R. Zimmermann nl:Philip Zimmermann ja:フィル・ジマーマン no:Philip Zimmermann pt:Phil Zimmermann ru:Циммерманн, Филипп

Coordinates	52°24′29″N1°30′38″N
name	Billy Currington
background	solo_singer
birth name	William Matthew Currington
born	November 19, 1973 Savannah, Georgia, USA
origin	Rincon, Georgia, USA
instrument	Vocals, guitar
genre	Country
occupation	Singer-songwriter
years active	2003–present
label	Mercury Nashville
associated acts	Luke Bryan, Carson Chamberlain, Shania Twain
website	BillyCurrington.com }}

William Matthew "Billy" Currington (born November 19, 1973) is an American country music artist. Signed to Mercury Nashville Records in 2003, he has released four studio albums for the label: 2003's ''Billy Currington'', 2005's ''Doin' Somethin' Right'', 2008's ''Little Bit of Everything'', and 2010's ''Enjoy Yourself''. These four albums have produced nine singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, including six #1 hits "Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right", "Good Directions", "People Are Crazy", "That's How Country Boys Roll", "Pretty Good at Drinkin' Beer", and "Let Me Down Easy". He has also charted as a duet partner on Shania Twain's single "Party For Two" and his own non-album single "Tangled Up", for a total of eleven Top 40 hits.

Early life and career

Billy Currington was born in Savannah, Georgia, raised in Rincon, Georgia, and currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He has four sisters (Lexie, Ann, Kim, and Kellie) and two brothers (Charles and Jason). When he was one and a half years old, his mother married Laurie (Larry) Currington. He also has a Chocolate Lab named Paco.

When he was a junior in Effingham County High School (Springfield, Georgia), Currington auditioned for a spot at Opryland, the renowned country music theme park located in Nashville, Tennessee, the country music capital. Failing the audition, after high school he moved to Nashville to pursue his career in country music. His first stint did not last too long, and he later sang for a bar named Cavalier Country Club in Georgia. In Nashville, Currington also worked for a concrete company, and also as a personal trainer. One of the clients he worked with as a personal trainer led Currington to recording demo tapes, as well as writing songs. He eventually had cuts by George Strait, Tracy Byrd, and Marty Raybon. After almost being offered to join RCA Records, he signed to Mercury Records in 2003.

Musical career

''Billy Currington''

His self-titled debut album was released in 2003. The first single was "Walk a Little Straighter" about his relationship with his alcoholic stepfather, including a chorus that Currington wrote when he was twelve years old. "Walk a Little Straighter" went on to peak at #8 that year on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and established Currington as a major Country performer in Nashville. He first hit the Top 5 on the country charts with his second single, "I Got a Feelin'", also from his debut album.

He scored a third consecutive top 10 hit with Shania Twain in late 2004, on the song "Party for Two". The song was from Twain's ''Greatest Hits'' album and was released in two formats: a pop version with Mark McGrath as Twain's duet partner, and the country version, which featured Currington.

''Doin' Somethin' Right''

In 2005, Currington released a second album entitled ''Doin' Somethin' Right'', which peaked at #2 on the Top Country Albums chart and #11 on the Billboard 200. ''Doin' Somethin' Right'' produced his first Number One in "Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right", followed by "Why, Why, Why" at #13 and another Number One in "Good Directions". Co-written by Capitol Records artist Luke Bryan, the latter was the #2 country song of 2007 according to the Billboard Year-End charts. ''Doin' Somethin' Right'' is certified platinum by the RIAA. ''Doin' Somethin' Right'' also featured "Lucille" which was a song Currington covered from original artist Kenny Rogers.

''Little Bit of Everything''

On July 19, Currington announced he had cancelled the rest of his 2007 tour dates because of laryngitis. His 2007 single, "Tangled Up", peaked at #30 in late 2007, and his third album was delayed. He also had to undergo therapy due to trauma induced by the abuse that he suffered as a child.

He was absent from the charts for nearly a year before the release of his next single, "Don't", in mid-2008. It was the first single from his third studio album, ''Little Bit of Everything'', which was released on October 14. Currington co-wrote five of the songs on this album. "Don't" peaked at #2 on the country charts in early 2009. "People Are Crazy", co-written by Bobby Braddock and Troy Jones, was released as the second single from the album in March 2009 and this became his third Number One hit in July 2009. The third single to be issued, "That's How Country Boys Roll" became his fourth Number One hit in March 2010. The song was the first that Billy shared writing credit on to reach Number One.

On August 1, 2009, Billy Currington suffered a concussion at the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alberta after the stage on which he was performing collapsed during a massive wind storm that also injured Currington's bass guitarist and killed a spectator.

''Enjoy Yourself''

In May 2010, he released his tenth solo single overall, "Pretty Good at Drinkin' Beer", which hit #1 in September. Also written by Troy Jones, it was the first single from his fourth studio album, entitled ''Enjoy Yourself''---which was released on September 21, 2010. The album's second single "Let Me Down Easy" went to radio on October 4, 2010 and reached #1 in 2011. The album's third single "Love Done Gone" released to country radio on April 18, 2011.

Awards and nominations

! Year	! Association	! Category	! Result
2005	Juno Award	Country Recording of the Year — "Party for Two" (with Shania Twain)
2006	CMT Music Awards	Hottest Video of the Year — "Must Be Doin' Something Right"
	Grammy Award
	Single Record of the Year — "People Are Crazy"
Song of the Year — "People Are Crazy"

Discography

References

External links

Official Site

Official Billy Currington UMG Nashville Artist Page

Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:American country singers Category:American male singers Category:People from Savannah, Georgia Category:People from Effingham County, Georgia Category:Musicians from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Mercury Records artists

de:Billy Currington fr:Billy Currington it:Billy Currington