Chase Rice Biography

Chase Rice is a country music singer and songwriter. He was a contestant on Survivor: Nicaragua, where he placed second. Rice has released two albums, Country as Me and Dirt Road Communion, and co-wrote the number one single performed by Florida Georgia Line, "Cruise".

Early life and education, and early career

Born in Florida, Chase Rice was raised on a farm in Asheville, North Carolina. Rice attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a linebacker on the football team.

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Rice was selected to join the Hendrick Motorsports pit crew as the rear tire carrier for Ryan Newman's Nationwide series car.

Survivor: Nicaragua

Chase Rice was selected as a castmember of Survivor: Nicaragua. Rice said that he was able to get his application into CBS through a college friend who had a connection with the network. After the season, Rice played his single "Buzz Back" on the nationally televised reunion show. Although Rice received national media attention on the show, he says that his reality show stardom did not help him propel his country music career; instead, he cited that as an important life event that is more valuable than money and put his life in perspective.

Country music career

Chase Rice began playing guitar in college. Rice cites his father as the inspiration for his country career, recalling his father telling him "boy anyone can play guitar, but no one is gonna really listen to you until you start singing." Rice says that he models his albums after his live shows, and is building his career through the performance aspect. In March 2011, Rice released Country as Me, an 6 track EP featuring his single "Buzz Back". In April 2012, Rice's Dirt Road Communion debuted as number 48 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and was the number 6 download on iTunes for the week.

Rice signed with Creative Artists Agency in July 2012. Rice was a co-writer of Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise", which topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US Country	US Heat
Country as Me	Release date: March 8, 2011 Label: Artist Revolution	"?	"?
Dirt Road Communion	Release date: March 20, 2012 Label: Dack Janiel's	48	15
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
		US Country Airplay
2011	"Buzz Back"	"?	Country as Me
2013	"How She Rolls"	55	Dirt Road Communion
""?" denotes releases that did not chart