Arista Nashville

Arista Nashville is an American record label that is a wholly owned division of Sony Music Entertainment, operated under the Sony Music Nashville division. Formed in 1989, the label specializes in country music artists, including Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. The label used to operate three sister labels: Career Records, Arista Austin and Arista Latin. It was a subsidiary of Arista Records, but after the dissolution, it was not affected and remains a Sony Music label.

History

Arista Nashville was formed in 1989 by Tim DuBois and Clive Davis. Alan Jackson was the first artist signed to the label. Artists signed to the label within its first five years included Asleep at the Wheel, Exile, Rob Crosby, Steve Wariner, Michelle Wright, Pam Tillis, Brooks & Dunn, Diamond Rio, Lee Roy Parnell, Radney Foster, Blackhawk and The Tractors. Brooks & Dunn remained with the label for the entirety of their career.

The label founded Arista Texas in 1993, a sub-label specializing in Texas music artists. In 1997, it was split into Arista Austin, which featured Jeff Black, Robert Earl Keen and Abra Moore, and a Spanish-language label called Arista Latin. Foster also moved to Arista Austin from Arista Nashville in 1997.

Alan Jackson

Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter and musician, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 15 studio albums, three Greatest Hits albums, two Christmas albums, two Gospel albums and several compilations.

Jackson has sold over 80 million records worldwide, with more than 50 of his singles having 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. He is a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

In August 2014 the Country Music Hall of Fame opened an exhibit celebrating Jackson’s 25 years in the music industry. It was also announced that he was an artist in residency as well, performing shows on October 8 and 22. The exhibit highlights the different milestones in his career with memorabilia collected over the years. His 25th Anniversary "Keeping It Country" Tour began January 8, 2015, in Estero, FL.

Carrie Underwood

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Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. She has since become one of the most successful artists in any musical genre. Her achievements led her to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2008 and into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2009. She has won numerous music awards, including seven Grammy Awards, 17 Billboard Music Awards, 11 Academy of Country Music Awards and nine American Music Awards.

Her debut album, Some Hearts, was released in 2005. Carrie grew up with religion being very important to her and that carried over to some of her music.  An example is in her 2^nd single titled “Jesus Take the Wheel.”Bolstered by the huge crossover success of the singles "Jesus, Take the Wheel" and "Before He Cheats", it became the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history, the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history and the best-selling country album of the last ten years. Underwood won three Grammy Awards for the album, including Best New Artist. Released in 2007, her second album, Carnival Ride, had one of the biggest ever opening weeks by a female artist and earned Underwood two Grammy Awards. Her next album, 2009's Play On, was a commercial success led by the single "Cowboy Casanova". Underwood's fourth album, Blown Away (2012), earned her a Grammy Award and was that year's second best-selling release by a female artist. Her first compilation album (2014) was a chart and sales success and earned her a Grammy Award. Her fifth album, Storyteller (2015), made her the only country artist to have all first five studio albums reach either numbers one or two on the Billboard 200. She has sold more than 65 million records worldwide.

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. Nashville is the second largest city in Tennessee, after Memphis, and is the fourth largest city in the Southeastern United States. It is located on the Cumberland River in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the music, healthcare, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home to numerous colleges and universities. Reflecting the city's position in state government, Nashville is home to the Tennessee Supreme Court's courthouse for Middle Tennessee. It is known as a center of the music industry, earning it the nickname "Music City".

Since 1963, Nashville has had a consolidated city-county government which includes six smaller municipalities in a two-tier system. Thirty-five of 40 members are elected from single-member districts; five are elected at-large. According to 2013 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, the total consolidated city-county population stood at 659,042. The "balance" consolidated population, which excludes the semi-independent municipalities and is the figure listed in most demographic sources and national rankings, was 634,464. The 2013 population of the entire 13-county Nashville metropolitan area was 1,757,912, making it the largest metropolitan statistical area in the state. The 2013 population of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Columbia combined statistical area, a larger trade area, was 1,876,933.

Sony Music Entertainment

Sony Music Entertainment Inc. (sometimes known as Sony Music or by the initials, SME) is an American music corporation managed and operated by Sony Corporation of America (SCA), a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony Corporation. In 1929, the enterprise was first founded as American Record Corporation (ARC) and, in 1938, was renamed Columbia Recording Corporation, following ARC's acquisition by CBS. In 1966, the company was reorganized to become CBS Records. In 1987, Sony Corporation of Japan bought the company, and in 1991, renamed it SME. It is the world's second largest recorded music company, after Universal Music Group.

In 2004, SME and Bertelsmann Music Group merged as Sony BMG Music Entertainment. When Sony acquired BMG's half of the conglomerate in 2008, Sony BMG reverted to the SME name. The buyout led to the dissolution of BMG, which then relaunched as BMG Rights Management. Out of the "Big Three" record companies, with Universal Music Group being the largest and Warner Music Group, SME is middle-sized.