Sunny Sweeney Biography

Sunny Michaela Sweeney (born December 7, 1976) is an American country music artist. She is signed to the Thirty Tigers label. She was formerly with the Republic Nashville label and Big Machine Records. Her debut album, Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame, was independently issued in 2006 and then regionally released in 2007. It produced three regional (Texas, Oklahoma) singles in "If I Could", "Ten Years Pass" and "East Texas Pines", and these songs charted on the Texas Music Chart. In June 2010, the lead-off to her second studio album, "From a Table Away," became her first single to chart.

Biography

Sunny Sweeney was born in Houston, Texas. Initially, Sweeney lived in Austin, TX and went to Southwest Texas State University. She moved to New York City to take a break from school. Once ready to face school again, she returned to Texas and got a degree in Public Relations from SWT.

After college, she started a band and played local bars in Austin and began to branch out and play around Texas. She put out her first album with the production help of Tommy Detamore in March 2006. After gaining a following on the club circuit in her native Texas, Sweeney signed to the independent Big Machine Records label. She also toured throughout Europe in 2007. Her debut album, Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame, was initially self-released in March 2006, and was reissued in March 2007 on Big Machine. The album was pushed to the Texas Music Chart and produced three regional singles in the songs, "If I Could," "Ten Years Pass" and "East Texas Pines".

In 2009, Sweeney was signed as the first artist to Republic Nashville, a newly founded joint venture between Big Machine and Universal Republic Records. Her first single for the label is "From a Table Away," which was released on June 28, 2010. It became her first chart single when it debuted at No. 58 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of June 26, 2010. In March 2011, the song entered the Top 10 of the chart.

Republic Nashville released Sweeney's second studio album, Concrete on August 23, 2011. The album was produced by Brett Beavers consists of ten tracks, including one co-written with Radney Foster and Jay Clementi. "Staying's Worse Than Leaving" and "Drink Myself Single" were released as the album's second and third singles, respectively, and both were minor Top 40 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart. Sweeney and Big Machine parted ways in 2012.

In 2013, Sweeney signed a recording contract with the Thirty Tigers record label. Her debut label single entitled "Bad Girl Phase" was released in June 2014. Through the fan-sponsored PledgeMusic program, Sweeney issued her third studio record, Provoked, on August 5, 2014. "My Bed," a duet with Will Hoge, was released in early 2015 as the album's second single.

Dreamer: A Tribute to Kent Finlay, released in early 2016 on Austin-based Eight 30 Records, features Sweeney and Randy Rogers' duet "Between You and Me."

Personal life

Sunny wed her longtime boyfriend, Jeff Hellmer, on November 11, 2011, in a Las Vegas wedding ceremony that included family and close friends.

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions			Sales
		US Country	US	US Indie
Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame	Release date: March 3, 2006 Label: Self Released Format: CD Release date: March 6, 2007 (re-issue) Label: Big Machine Records Format: CD, music download	"?	"?	"?
Concrete	Release date: August 23, 2011 Label: Republic Nashville Format: CD, music download	7	21	"?	US: 26,418
Provoked	Release date: August 5, 2014 Label: Aunt Daddy Records Format: CD, music download	20	165	25	US: 2,900
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Extended plays

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		US Country	US Heat
Sunny Sweeney "? EP	Release date: January 18, 2011 Label: Republic Nashville Formats: music download	41	12

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions		Album
		US Country	US
2007	"If I Could"	"?	"?	Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame
2008	"Ten Years Pass"	"?	"?
	"East Texas Pines"	"?	"?
2010	"From a Table Away"	10	71	Concrete
2011	"Staying's Worse Than Leaving"	38	"?
	"Drink Myself Single"	36	"?
2014	"Bad Girl Phase"	"?	"?	Provoked
2015	"My Bed" (duet with Will Hoge)	"?	"?
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Music videos

Year	Video	Director
2007	"If I Could"	Todd Cassetty
2010	"From a Table Away"	David McClister
2011	"Staying's Worse Than Leaving"	Roman White
2015	"My Bed" (with Will Hoge)	Michael Ponce

Awards and Nominations

Year	Association	Category	Result
2013	ACM Awards	Top New Female Artist