Look up Alan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Alan may refer to:

People[link]

• Alan (given name), the given name

• alan (Chinese singer), female Chinese singer active in Japan
• Alan (Mexican singer), Mexican boy band singer
• Alan (wrestler), aka Gato Eveready, who wrestles in Asistencia Asesoría y Administración
• Alan I, King of Brittany, the Great
• Alan II, Duke of Brittany
• Alan III, Duke of Brittany
• Alan IV, Duke of Brittany, aka Alan Fergant ("the Younger" in Breton language)
• Alan, abbot of Tewkesbury
• Alan of Lynn, 15th-century monk

Saint Alan or Alain

• Alain de la Roche, or Alanus de Rupe, canonized saint, "Alan of the Rock"
• Alain de Solminihac (1593-1659), French Catholic religious reformer and bishop of Cahors

Fictional characters

• Alan (Sesame Street) in the television series Sesame Street
• Alan (Modern Toss) in the television series Modern Toss
• Alan, the main antagonist in the video game Kya: Dark Lineage
• Alan, the main character in David Firth's animation Alan

Places[link]

• Alan, Russia, name of several rural localities in Russia
• Alan, Haute-Garonne, a commune in France

Other meanings[link]

• Alan (automobile), a short-lived German automobile
• Alan (crater), a crater on the Moon
• Alan (mythical creature), a race of winged spirits from Tinguian folklore
• Cyclone Alan (disambiguation), several tropical storms

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Alan"
• Alans
• Alen (given name)
• Allan (disambiguation)
• Alleine
• Allen (disambiguation)

References[link]

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Alan Alan
Alan Alan at The Magic Spot
Born	Alan Rabinowitz November 1926
Occupation	escapologist and magician

Alan Alan (born Alan Rabinowitz in November 1926) is a retired British escapologist and magician.^[1] He originated tricks that have subsequently become familiar features of the repertoire of other performers and he has been honoured by The Magic Circle.^[2]

Alan achieved fame through a series of stunts staged for the media. He made headline news in 1949 when a "buried alive" stunt, performed for Pathe News, nearly went wrong.^[2] He is credited with devising the burning-rope straitjacket escape,^[3] in which he is suspended upside-down from a crane with a length of thick rope doused with petrol, once ignited there is a short time to escape before the rope burns through. He appeared in a number of television magic shows, including The Magic of David Copperfield.^[4] He also "taught" the inmates of Wormwood Scrubs prison how to escape from handcuffs in his performance with a number of other magicians.^[5] In more recent years he was seen on Simon Drake's TV show Secret Cabaret.

He was proprietor of Alan Alan's Magic Spot, a magic shop based on Southampton Row, London until its lease expired in the mid 1990s.

Alan's standing and influence in the world of magic was formally recognised in 2006 when The Magic Circle chose him to receive the coveted Maskelyne award for services to British magic.^[2]

References[link]

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Alan Garner
Garner in 2011
Born	Alan Garner (1934-10-17)17 October 1934 Congleton, Cheshire, England
Occupation	Author, Folklorist
Nationality	English
Genres	Fantasy, low fantasy, folklore
Notable work(s)	The Weirdstone of Brisingamen The Moon of Gomrath Elidor The Owl Service
Spouse(s)	Griselda Garner

Alan Garner OBE (born 17 October 1934) is an English novelist who is best known for his work in children's fantasy and his retellings of traditional British folk tales. His work is firmly rooted in the landscape, history and folklore of his native county of Cheshire, North West England, being set in the region and making use of the native Cheshire dialect.

Born into a working class family in Congleton, Cheshire, Garner grew up around the nearby town of Alderley Edge, and spent much of his youth in the wooded area known locally as 'The Edge', where he gained an early interest in the folklore of the region. Studying at Manchester Grammar School and then Oxford University, in 1957 he moved to the nearby village of Blackden, where he bought and renovated an Early Modern building known as Toad Hall. His first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, was published in 1960. A children's fantasy novel set on the Edge, it incorporated elements of local folklore into its plot. It was followed by a sequel, The Moon of Gomrath (1963), although Garner never produced the envisioned third part of the trilogy. Instead he produced a string of further fantasy novels, Elidor (1965), The Owl Service (1967) and Red Shift (1973).

Turning away from fantasy as a genre, Garner produced The Stone Book Quartet (1979), a series of four short novellas detailing a day in the life of four generations of his family. He also published a series of British folk tales which he had rewritten in a series of books entitled Alan Garner's Fairy Tales of Gold (1979), Alan Garner's Book of British Fairy Tales (1984) and A Bag of Moonshine (1986). In his subsequent novels, Strandloper (1996) and Thursbitch (2003), he continued writing tales revolving around Cheshire, although without the fantasy elements which had characterised his earlier work.

Biography[link]

Early life: 1934-1956[link]

Garner was born in the front room of his grandmother's house in Congleton, Cheshire, on 17 October 1934.^[2] He grew up not far away, on Alderley Edge, a well-to-do rural Cheshire village that had effectively become a suburb of Manchester.^[2] Growing up in a "a rural working-class family",^[3] Garner's ancestry had been connected to Alderley Edge since at least the 16th century, with Alan tracing his lineage back to the death of William Garner in 1592.^[4] The Garner family had passed on "a genuine oral tradition", teaching their children the folk tales about The Edge, which included a description of a king and his army of knights that slept under it, guarded by a wizard,^[3] and in the mid 19th century, Alan's great-great grandfather Robert had carved the face of a bearded wizard onto the rock of a cliff next to a well that was known in local folklore as the Wizard's Well.^[5] Living in this rural environment, Robert Garner and his other relatives had all been craftsmen, with each successive generation trying to "improve on, or do something different from, the previous generation."^[6]

Alan's own grandfather, Joseph Garner, "could read, but didn't and so was virtually unlettered", but instead taught his grandson the various folk tales about The Edge,^[3] with Alan later remarking that as a result he was "aware of [the Edge's] magic" as a child, when he would often play there with his friends.^[7] The story of the king and the wizard living under the hill played an important part in the young Alan's life, becoming "deeply embedded in my psyche" and heavily influencing his later novels.^[3]

Garner faced several life-threatening childhood illnesses.^[2] He meanwhile went to a local village school, where he found that despite being praised for his intelligence, he was punished for speaking in his native Cheshire dialect.^[2] Moving on, he went on to attend Manchester Grammar School,^[2] before proceeding to study Classics at Magdalen College, Oxford.^{[citation needed]} Garner was the first member of his family to receive anything more than a basic education, although he noted that this resulted in him being removed from his "cultural background" and led to something of a schism with other members of his family, who "could not cope with me, and I could not cope with" them.^[3]

[edit] The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath: 1957-1964

In 1957, Garner purchased and began renovating Toad Hall at Blackden in Cheshire.

In 1957, Garner purchased Toad Hall, a Late Mediaeval building in Blackden, seven miles away from Alderley Edge. In the late 19th century the Hall had been divided into two agricultural labourers' cottages, but Garner obtained both for a total of £670, and proceeded to convert it back into a single home.^[8]

It was at Toad Hall that Garner set about writing his first novel, which would be titled The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderley. Set in Alderley Edge, it revolved around two children, Susan and Collin, who are sent to live in the area with their mother's old nurse maid, Bess, and her husband, Gowther Mossock. Setting about to explore the Edge, they discover a race of malevolent creatures, the svart alfar, who dwell in the Edge's abandoned mines and who seem intent on capturing them, until they are rescued by the wizard Cadellin who reveals that the forces of darkness are amassing at the Edge in search of the titular "weirdstone of Brisingamen". Whilst engaged in writing in his spare time, Garner attempted to gain employment as a teacher, but soon gave that up, believing that "I couldn't write and teach; the energies were too similar", and so began working as a general labourer for four years, remaining unemployed for much of that time.^[3]

Garner sent his debut novel to the publishing company Collins, where it was picked up by the company's head, Sir William Collins, who was on the look out for new fantasy novels following on from the recent commercial and critical success of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1954–55).^[9] Garner, who would go on to become a personal friend of Collins, would later relate that "Billy Collins saw a title with funny-looking words in it on the stockpile, and he decided to publish it."^[9] Following its release in 1960, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen proved to be a "resounding success... both critically and commercially", later being described as "a tour de force of the imagination, a novel that showed almost every writer who came afterwards what it was possible to achieve in novels ostensibly published for children."^[10]

With his first book published, Garner abandoned his work as a labourer and gained a job as a freelance television reporter, living a "hand to mouth" lifestyle on a "shoestring" budget.^[3] He also worked on a sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, which would be known as The Moon of Gomrath.

The Moon of Gomrath also revolves around the adventures of Colin and Susan, with the latter being possessed by a malevolent creature called the Brollachan who has recently entered the world. With the help of the wizard Cadellin, the Brollachan is exorcised, but Susan's soul also leaves her body, being sent to another dimension, leading Colin to find a way to bring it back.

In a later interview given in 1989, Garner admitted that he had left scope for a third book following the adventures of Collin and Susan, envisioning a trilogy, but that he had intentionally decided not to write it, instead moving on to write something different.^[3] However Boneland, the conclusion to the sequence, will be published in August 2012.^[11]

[edit] Elidor, The Owl Service and Red Shift: 1964-1973

Set in contemporary Manchester, Elidor told the story of four children who enter into a broken down Victorian church, only to find a portal to the magical realm of Elidor. Here, they are entrusted by King Malebron to help rescue four treasures which have been stolen by the forces of evil who are attempting to take control of Elidor. Successfully doing so, the children return home to Manchester with the treasures, but are pursued by the evil forces who need them to seal their victory.

The Owl Service was set in Wales, and used as its basis a story in the Mediaeval Welsh epic, the Mabinogion.

Garner at his home in Blackden, 2011.

[edit] The Stone Book Quartet and Folkloric collections: 1974-1994

The Stone Book (which received the Phoenix Award in 1996) is poetic in style and inspiration. Garner pays particular attention to language, and strives to render the cadence of the Cheshire tongue in modern English. This he explains by the sense of anger he felt on reading "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight": the footnotes would not have been needed by his father. This and other aspects of his writing are the subject of Neil Philip's A Fine Anger, (Collins, 1981), which offers a detailed analysis of his work.

In a 1989 interview, Garner noted that whilst writing The Stone Book Quartet had been "exhausting", it had been "the most rewarding of everything" he'd done to date.^[3]

[edit] Strandloper, Thursbitch and Boneland: 1995-present

1996 saw the publication of Garner's novel Strandloper.

His collection of essays and public talks, The Voice That Thunders, contains much autobiographical material (including an account of his life with bipolar disorder), as well as critical reflection upon folklore and language, literature and education, the nature of myth and time. Garner is an accomplished public speaker.

Garner's next novel, Thursbitch, was published in 2003.

Garner's latest novel, Boneland, is set for release in 2012.

Literary style[link]

Although Garner's early work is often labelled as "children's literature", Garner himself rejects such a description, informing one interviewer that "I certainly have never written for children" but that instead he has always written purely for himself.^[3] Neil Philip, in his critical study of Garner's work (1981), commented that up till that point, "Everything Alan Garner has published has been published for children",^[12] although he went on to relate that "It may be that Garner's is a case" where the division between children's and adult's literature is "meaningless" and that his fiction is instead "enjoyed by a type of person, no matter what their age."^[13]

The English author and academic Charles Butler noted that Garner was attentive to the "geological, archaeological and cultural history of his settings, and careful to integrate his fiction with the physical reality beyond the page."^[14] As a part of this, Garner had included maps of Alderley Edge in both The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath.^[15] Garner has spent much time investigating the areas that he deals with in his books; writing in the Times Literary Supplement in 1968, Garner commented that in preparation for writing his book Elidor:

I had to read extensively textbooks on physics, Celtic symbolism, unicorns, medieval watermarks, megalithic archaeology; study the writings of Jung; brush up my Plato; visit Avebury, Silbury and Coventry Cathedral; spend a lot of time with demolition gangs on slum clearance sites; and listen to the whole of Britten's War Requiem nearly every day.^[16]

Recognition and legacy[link]

The Medicine House, an Early Modern building that was moved to Blackden by Garner.

In the fiftieth anniversary edition of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, published by HarperCollins in 2010, several notable British fantasy novelists praised Garner and his work. Susan Cooper related that "The power and range of Alan Garner's astounding talent has grown with every book he's written", whilst David Almond called him one of Britain's "greatest writers" whose works "really matter".^[17] Philip Pullman, the author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, went further when he remarked that:

"Garner is indisputably the great originator, the most important British writer of fantasy since Tolkien, and in many respects better than Tolkien, because deeper and more truthful... Any country except Britain would have long ago recognised his importance, and celebrated it with postage stamps and statues and street-names. But that's the way with us: our greatest prophets go unnoticed by the politicians and the owners of media empires. I salute him with the most heartfelt respect and admiration."^[18]

Another British fantasy author, Neil Gaiman, claimed that "Garner's fiction is something special" in that it was "smart and challenging, based in the here and the now, in which real English places emerged from the shadows of folklore, and in which people found themselves walking, living and battling their way through the dreams and patterns of myth."^[18] Praise also came from Nick Lake, the editorial director of HarperCollins Children's Books, who proclaimed that "Garner is, quite simply, one of the greatest and most influential writers this country has ever produced."^[19]

Awards[link]

He was appointed OBE for services to literature in the 2001 New Year's Honours list.

• 'The Owl Service' won the Guardian Award and the Carnegie Medal in 1968
• The Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (before 1980)^{[clarification needed]}
• Artist Patrick James Lynch won the 1987 Mother Goose Award for his illustrative work on 'A Bag of Moonshine'.
• 'The Stone Book' received the Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature Association (USA) in 1996
• The 1981 film 'Images' won First Prize at the Chicago International Film Festival
• Karl Edward Wagner Award (British Fantasy Award, Special Award) won in 2003
• On 20 January 2011, the University of Warwick awarded him the degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa).^[20]

Television and radio adaptations[link]

• The Owl Service (1969), a British TV series transmitted by Granada Television based on Garner's novel of the same name.
• Elidor was read in installments on a BBC children's radio program in the early 1970s
• Red Shift (BBC, transmitted 17 January 1978); directed by John Mackenzie; part of the BBC's Play for Today series.
• To Kill a King (1980), part of the BBC series of plays on supernatural themes, Leap in the Dark: an atmospheric story about a writer overcoming depression and writer's block. The hero's home appears to be Garner's own house.
• Garner and Don Webb adapted Elidor into a children's television series for the BBC. The series consisted of six half-hour episodes starring Damian Zuk as Roland and Suzanne Shaw as Helen^[21]

Works[link]

Novels[link]

Alan Jackson
Jackson in April 2010
Background information
Birth name	Alan Eugene Jackson
Born	(1958-10-17) October 17, 1958 (age 53)
Origin	Newnan, Georgia USA
Genres	Country, Neotraditional country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Arista Nashville EMI Nashville/Alan's Country Records
Associated acts	Keith Stegall, George Strait, The Wrights, Zac Brown Band, Jeff Foxworthy, The Bellamy Brothers, George Jones
Website	www.alanjackson.com

Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista Nashville label. More than 50 of his singles have appeared on Billboard's list of the "Top 30 Country Songs". Of Jackson's entries, 35 were number-one hits, with 50 in the Top 10. He is the recipient of 2 Grammys, 16 CMA Awards, 17 ACM Awards and nominee of multiple other awards. Jackson is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

Early life[link]

Jackson was born to Joseph Eugene Jackson and Ruth Musick in Newnan, Georgia, and has four older siblings. Jackson is of English descent.^[1][2] As a youth, Jackson listened primarily to gospel music. Otherwise he was not a major music fan. However, a friend of his introduced him to the music of Gene Watson, John Anderson and Hank Williams Jr. Jackson attended the local Elm Street Elementary and Newnan High School, starting a band after high school. After a time, he and his wife of six years, Denise Jackson, moved from Newnan to Nashville where Jackson hoped to pursue music full-time.^[3]

Jackson sang in church as a child. He, his father, mother, and four sisters lived in a small home. At one point, his bed was in the hallway for lack of room. His mother lives in the home to this day. His first job, at 12, was in a shoe store. He wrote his first song in 1983. He worked as a car salesman in his 20s.

Career[link]

This section requires expansion with: More info on each individual album, critical reception, etc. etc..

In Tennessee, Jackson got a job in The Nashville Network's mailroom.^[3] Denise connected him with Glen Campbell, who helped jumpstart his career.^[4] Jackson eventually signed with Arista.^[3] By 1989, he became the first signee to the newly-formed Arista Nashville branch of Arista Records.^[5]

Arista released Jackson's debut single, "Blue Blooded Woman", in late 1989. Although the song failed to reach top 40 on Hot Country Songs, he reached number three by early 1990 with "Here in the Real World".^[6] This song served as the title track to his debut album, Here in the Real World, which also included two more top five hits ("Wanted" and "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow") and his first number one, "I'd Love You All Over Again".^[6]

Don't Rock the Jukebox was the title of Jackson's second album. Released in 1991, it included four number-one singles: the title track, "Someday", "Dallas" and "Love's Got a Hold on You", and the number three "Midnight in Montgomery".^[6] Jackson also co-wrote several songs on Randy Travis' 1992 album High Lonesome.^[5]

A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'bout Love), his third album, accounted for the number one hits "She's Got the Rhythm (And I Got the Blues)" (which Travis co-wrote) and "Chattahoochee", plus the top five hits "Tonight I Climbed the Wall", "Mercury Blues" and "(Who Says) You Can't Have It All". "Chattahoochee" also won him the 1994 Country Music Association (CMA) awards for Single and Song of the Year.

In 1994 Jackson left his management company, Ten Ten Management, which had overseen his career up to that point, and switched to Gary Overton.^[7] His fourth album was titled Who I Am, and it contained four number one hits: a cover of the Eddie Cochran standard "Summertime Blues", followed by "Livin' on Love", "Gone Country" and "I Don't Even Know Your Name". An additional track from the album, a cover of Rodney Crowell's "Song for the Life", made number six. In late 1994, Clay Walker reached number one with "If I Could Make a Living", which Jackson co-wrote.^[8] Alan also appeared on an episode of Home Improvement, singing his hit song Mercury Blues in 1996, appearing on Tool Time to sing about his 1950 Mercury.

Mid-late 1990s[link]

"The Greatest Hits Collection" was released on October 24, 1995. The disc contained 17 hits, two newly-recorded songs ("I'll Try" and "Tall, Tall Trees"), and the song "Home" from "Here in the Real World" that had never been released as a single.^[9] These first two songs both made number one.

Everything I Love followed in 1996. Its first single was a cover of Tom T. Hall's "Little Bitty", which Jackson took to the top of the charts in late 1996. The album also included the number one hit "There Goes" and a number two cover of Charly McClain's 1980 single "Who's Cheatin' Who". The album's fifth single was "A House with No Curtains", which became his first release since 1989 to miss the top 10.^[6]

High Mileage was led off by the number four "I'll Go On Loving You". After it came the album's only number one hit, "Right on the Money", co-written by Phil Vassar.

With Jackson's release of Under the Influence in 1999, he took the double risk on an album of covers of country classics while retaining a traditional sound when a rock- and pop-tinged sound dominated country radio.^[10]

When the Country Music Association (CMA) asked George Jones to trim his act to 90 seconds for the 1999 CMA awards, Jones decided to boycott the event. In solidarity, Jackson interrupted his own song and launched into Jones's song "Choices" and then walked offstage.^[11]

2000s-present[link]

Jackson performing in 2002

After country music changed toward pop music in the 2000s, he and George Strait criticized the state of country music on the song "Murder on Music Row". The song sparked debate in the country music community about whether or not "traditional" country music was actually dead or not.^[12] Despite the fact that the song was not officially released as a single, it became the highest-charting nonseasonal album cut (not available in any retail single configuration or released as a promotional single to radio during a chart run) to appear on Hot Country Singles & Tracks in the Broadcast Data Systems era, beating the record previously held by Garth Brooks' "Belleau Wood." The duo were invited to open the 2000 Academy of Country Music Awards (ACMAs) with a performance of the tune.^[13] Rolling Stone commented on Jackson's style remarking, "If Garth and Shania have raised the bar for country concerts with Kiss-style production and endless costume changes, then Alan Jackson is doing his best to return the bar to a more human level."^[14] After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Jackson released "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" as a tribute to those killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The song became a hit single and briefly propelled him into the mainstream spotlight.

At the 2001 CMA Awards, Jackson debuted the song "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning". The performance was generally considered the highlight of the show, and Jackson's site crashed the next day from server requests.^[15] The song came to Jackson suddenly, and had not been scheduled for any official release, but the live performance began receiving radio airplay and was soon released as a single.

Jackson released a Christmas album, titled Let It Be Christmas, October 22, 2002.^[16]

Jeannie Kendall contacted Jackson to do a duet, and he suggested the song "Timeless and True Love". It appeared on her first solo album, released in 2003.^[17]

In early 2006, Jackson released his first gospel music album entitled Precious Memories. He put together the album by the request of his mother, who enjoys religious music. Jackson considered this album a "side project" and nothing too official, but it was treated as such. Over 1.8 million albums were sold.

Only mere months after the release of Precious Memories in 2006, Jackson released his next album Like Red on a Rose, which featured a more adult contemporary/folk sound.

Unlike his previous albums, Like Red on a Rose had a different producer and sound. Alan's main producer for his music, Keith Stegall, was notably absent from this album. Instead, Alison Krauss was hired to produce the album. She also chose the songs.

Despite being labeled as "country music" or "bluegrass", Like Red on a Rose had a mainstream sound to it, upsetting some fans, even making some of them believe that Jackson was abandoning his traditional past and aiming toward a more mainstream pop sound.

However, for his next album, he went back to his country roots. Good Time was released on March 4, 2008. The album's first single, "Small Town Southern Man", was released to radio on November 19.

"Country Boy", "Sissy's Song" and the final single from the album, "I Still Like Bologna", were also released as singles.

"Sissy's Song" is dedicated to a longtime friend of the Jackson family (Leslie "Sissy" Fitzgerald) who worked in their house everyday. Fitzgerald was killed in a motorcycle accident in mid-2007.

His sixteenth studio album, Freight Train, was released on March 30, 2010. The first single was "It's Just That Way", which debuted at #50 in January 2010. "Hard Hat and a Hammer" is the album's second single, released in May 2010.

On November 23, 2010, Jackson released another greatest hits package, entitled 34 Number Ones, which features a cover of the Johnny Cash hit "Ring of Fire", as well as the duet with Zac Brown Band, "As She's Walking Away".

On Jan. 20, 2011, it was announced that Jackson and his record label, Sony, parted ways.^[18]

On March 23, 2011, Jackson announced his new deal with Capitol's EMI Records Nashville. It is a joint venture between ACR (Alan's Country Records) and Capitol. All records will be released and marketed through Capitol's EMI Records Nashville label.^[19]

Jackson has since released two singles, "Long Way to Go" and "So You Don't Have to Love Me Anymore." Both videos were directed by Steven Goldmann. Both songs are to be included on his upcoming studio album for his own label, Thirty Miles West, which will be released on June 5, 2012.

Awards, nominations and induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame[link]

In 1989 he was nominated for a total of six Country Music Association awards (CMAs).^[4]

He was nominated for four 1994 CMAs, including Entertainer of the Year.^[2]

Jackson became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1991; he was inducted by Roy Acuff and Randy Travis.^[20]

Jackson was the most nominated artist at the 29th annual TNN/Music City News Country Awards that was broadcast June 5 from the Grand Ole Opry House. His six nominations included best entertainer, male artist, vocal collaboration, album, single, and video (two nominations in this category).^[21]

At the 2002 CMAs, Jackson set a record for having the most nominations in a single year – ten – many rising from the song "Where Were You". It also brought his career total up to the second number of most nominations ever, after George Strait.^[22] "Where Were You" also was nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year. The song was also subsequently parodied in the South Park episode "A Ladder To Heaven".

At the 2003 Academy of Country Music Awards, Jackson won Album of the Year for Drive and Video of the Year for the video to "Drive (For Daddy Gene)."^[23]

Jackson was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame on October 22, 2001 in Atlanta.^[24]

Alan Jackson was selected to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010

Alan Jackson Collection at Cracker Barrel[link]

In 2009, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. started to carry the "Alan Jackson Collection" which included a special release CD available exclusively at Cracker Barrel, cowboy style shirts and t-shirts, baseball caps, home goods (candles, kitchen goods) including an old-fashion wooden rocking chair that has a metal plate of Alan's autograph on the headrest; toys, spices and BBQ sauces/rubs and a replica of his own personal cowboy hat.^[25]

Ford trucks endorsement[link]

Ford's agency J. Walter Thompson USA in Detroit, in 1997, worked out with Jackson a multimillion-dollar, multi-year contract for his sole endorsement of Ford trucks. In his video for "Who's Cheatin' Who" he was behind the wheel of a "Big Foot" Ford F-150 pickup truck, and Ford's five NASCAR vehicles (at the time) were prominently featured. Additionally, he changed the lyrics "Crazy 'bout a Mercury" of the song "Mercury Blues" to "Crazy 'bout a Ford truck" in a TV ad for the Ford F-series.^[26]

Touring[link]

Jackson headlined the 1995 Fruit Of The Loom Comfort Tour, a deal worth $40 million. It began January 20 in New Orleans and ran for a hundred dates.^[27]

Alan Jackson's 2004 concert tour launched January 23 in Fort Myers, Florida and was sponsored by NAPA Auto Parts in a deal that included Jackson's endorsement in TV spots. The tour included more than 50 U.S. dates. Martina McBride was the opening for some of the shows.^[28]

In March 2011 he visited Australia to perform for the CMC Rocks The Hunter music festival where he was the headline act for Saturday night.^[29]

Band[link]

Alan Jackson's backup band (since 1989) is "The Strayhorns". The current line-up of musicians is:

• Monty Allen – acoustic guitar, harmony vocals
• Scott Coney – acoustic guitar, tic tac bass, banjo
• Robbie Flint – steel guitar
• Danny Groah – lead guitar
• Mark McClurg - fiddle, harmony vocals
• Bruce Rutherford – drums
• Joey Schmidt – keyboards
• Roger Wills – bass guitar

Personal life[link]

Jackson with his family at a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in April 2010

Jackson married his high school sweetheart, Denise Jackson, on December 15, 1979. They are the parents of three daughters: Mattie Denise (born June 19, 1990), Alexandra Jane "Ali" (born August 23, 1993), and Dani Grace (born August 28, 1997). Although the couple separated for several months in 1998 due to the strains of Jackson's career as well as his infidelity;^[30] they have since reconciled. Their story is referenced in several of Jackson's songs, including "She Likes It Too" and "Remember When". Denise and their daughters appear in the latter song's video.

Denise Jackson wrote a book that topped The New York Times Best Seller list that covered her life with Jackson, their relationship, separation over his infidelity, and recommitment to each other, and her commitment to Christianity, the book was titled It's All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life, which was published in 2007. In May 2008 she released a Gift Book titled "The Road Home."

Jackson's nephew, Adam Wright, is also a country music singer-songwriter. Adam and his wife, Shannon, perform together as a duo called The Wrights.^[31] The Wrights co-wrote two songs and sang harmony vocals on Jackson's What I Do album.

Jackson is a cousin of Major League Baseball player Brandon Moss.^[32]

In June 2009, Jackson listed his 135-acre (0.55 km²) estate just outside of Franklin, TN for sale. The asking price was $38 million. The property sold in late May 2010 for $28 million, one of the highest prices ever for a home sale in the Nashville area.^[33] In 2010, after Alan Jackson said goodbye to Sweetbriar, his estate just outside of Franklin, the singer then moved into a slightly smaller but equally luxurious home in the same Nashville suburb. The singer and his wife paid $3.675 million for the estate in June 2010, but less than a year later, they’ve listed the home for $3.995 million. ^[34]

Jackson maintains a close friendship with fellow country singer, George Jones. Jones has been mentioned in songs such as "Don't Rock the Jukebox" (Jones also appeared in the video which accompanied it) and "Murder on Music Row". The song "Just Playin' Possum" is dedicated to Jones and talks of how Alan only wants to lie low and play possum, possum referring to George Jones. Jones can also be seen in the video for "Good Time". In 2008, Jones was a surprise guest at Jackson's "CMT Giants" ceremony, where he thanked Jackson for his friendship. He's also close friends with George Strait, who sang "Murder On Music Row" with him. Besides his associations with big stars, Alan also maintains his connections to his roots and old friends.^[35] From his early days of playing the guitar with his old high school friend and fellow musician David "Bird" Burgess, on the Burgess' family front porch, it was evident Alan was going to be Newnan's rising star.^[35] While Bird Burgess has left the country music scene to pursue other avenues, the two have remained friends.^[35] As further evidence to his strong connection to his roots, Alan has given back to the community of Newnan, and in response the city of Newnan dedicated a major thoroughfare the Alan Jackson Highway.

As of February 2012, Jackson's introduction paragraph along with the Early Life paragraph from this Wikipedia article are repeatedly printed in the showroom books in the IKEA store in the municipality of Tianjin in The People's Republic of China.

Discography[link]

Awards[link]

American Music Awards

• American Music Award for Favorite Country Single 1993; "Chattahoochee"
• 1993 Favorite Country Album – "A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'bout Love)"

Academy of Country Music

• 1990 Top New Male Vocalist
• 1991 Album of the Year – "Don't Rock the Jukebox"
• 1991 Single of the Year – "Don't Rock the Jukebox"
• 1993 Album of the Year – "A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'bout Love)"
• 1993 Single of the Year – "Chattahoochee"
• 1994 Top Male Vocalist
• 1995 Top Male Vocalist
• 2001 Single of the Year – "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"
• 2001 Song of the Year – "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"
• 2001 Top Male Vocalist
• 2002 Album of the Year – "Drive"
• 2002 Video of the Year – "Drive (For Daddy Gene)"
• 2003 Single of the Year – "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere"
• 2003 Vocal Event of the Year with Jimmy Buffett – "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere"

Country Music Association

• 1992 Music Video of the Year – "Midnight in Montgomery"
• 1993 Music Video of the Year – "Chattahoochee"
• 1993 Single of the Year – "Chattahoochee"
• 1993 Vocal Event of the Year - "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair"
• 1994 Song of the Year with Jim McBride – "Chattahoochee"
• 1995 Entertainer of the Year
• 2000 Vocal Event of the Year - "Murder on Music Row"
• 2002 Album of the Year – "Drive"
• 2002 Male Vocalist of the Year
• 2002 Entertainer of the Year
• 2002 Single of the Year – "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"
• 2002 Song of the Year – "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"
• 2003 Entertainer of the Year
• 2003 Male Vocalist of the Year
• 2003 Vocal Event of the Year with Jimmy Buffett – "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere"

Grammy Awards

• 2002 Best Country Song – "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"
• 2011 Best Country Collaboration with Vocals- "As She's Walking Away", with Zac Brown Band

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Alan Jackson website
• Official Music Videos
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0603581/