Kane Brown Biography

Kane Allen Brown (born October 21, 1993) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He first came to the attention of the public through social media. He released his first EP, titled Closer, in June 2015. A new single "Used to Love You Sober" was released in October 2015. After Brown signed with RCA Nashville in early 2016, the actual song was included on his EP Chapter 1, which was released in March 2016. He released his first full-length album, the self-titled Kane Brown on December 2, 2016. The single "What Ifs" was released the debut album, and in October 2017 Brown became the first artist to have simultaneous number ones on all five main country charts.

Early life

Kane Allen Brown was born and raised in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area. He is of mixed descent, his father is black and part Cherokee, and his mother is white. He was however raised by his single mother and the family, sometimes homeless, moved around when he was younger, from Rossville to Fort Oglethorpe and LaFayette in Georgia, finally settling in Red Bank, Tennessee. As a result, he attended many schools, among them Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia where he sang in the choir with Lauren Alaina, the runner-up on season 10 of American Idol. He also attended Red Bank, Ridgeland, and Soddy Daisy High School. Kane grew up listening to country music, but became interested in R&B music in middle school. However, after singing Chris Young's "Gettin' You Home" in his 11th grade during a school talent show and after winning the contest, he began to perform country music.

Brown auditioned on both American Idol and X-Factor after the success of his school friend Lauren Alaina on Idol. He was chosen for X-Factor after an audition in 2013, but left the show when its producers wanted to include him in a boy band, after which he decided to post his cover versions of popular songs online.

Music career

In 2014, Kane Brown began posting videos of his covers of songs by Brantley Gilbert, Billy Currington, Alan Jackson and other singers on social media. He started to acquire a following through these homemade videos on Facebook; an early video to gain wider attention was his cover of Lee Brice's "I Don't Dance". His cover of George Strait's "Check Yes or No", released on September 30, 2015, went viral and received over seven million views. The number of his followers on Facebook quickly reached over a million, and a clip of a teaser for his own single "Used to Love You Sober" released on October 8, 2015 received one million views in under three hours, and reached over 11 million views two weeks later.

Brown was initially signed to Zone 4, and Jay Frank was his first manager. Later in 2016 he became managed by Martha Earls.

2014-15: Closer EP

In 2014, Brown raised funds via crowdfunding site Kickstarter to produce a six-song EP, which he recorded in Nashville at the home studio of Noah Henson, guitarist for Brantley Gilbert. The EP, titled Closer, was released on June 2, 2015, and debuted on the Top Country Albums chart at number 22, selling 3,200 copies in its debut week. A single from the EP, "Don't Go City on Me", was first released on October 22, 2014, and it reached number 43 on the Country Digital Songs chart.

2015:Chapter 1 EP

Brown released a new single "Used to Love You Sober" on October 21, 2015 on his birthday, and the song was spotlighted on Zane Lowe's Beats 1. It reached number two on the Country Digital Songs chart based on just two days of sales, with 38,000 copies sold. The release of the single also pushed his EP Closer up the chart to number 22 on the Top Album Sales chart. A second song, "Last Minute Late Night", was released on November 4, 2015, and debuted on the Country Digital Songs chart at number nine, selling 26,000 copies. Another, "I Love That I Hate You", followed three weeks later on November 30, 2015, selling 17,000 copies. Kane also collaborated with Chandler Stephens on a song they wrote together, "Can't Stop Love", which was released on February 12, 2016.

Brown opened for Florida Georgia Line in their summer 2016 Dig Your Roots Tour.

Kane signed with Sony Music Nashville on January 27, 2016 and records under the RCA Nashville label. He released his first EP under the label, titled Chapter 1, on March 18, 2016. The EP includes the singles "Used to Love You Sober" and "Last Minute Late Night". It debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200, and number three on the Top Country Albums chart, selling 30,000 units (23,000 in traditional albums) in its first week.

On June 17, 2016, "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" was released for sales as a single from his debut full-length album. "Thunder in the Rain" was released as the second single from the album on August 3, 2016. He headlined his own Ain't No Stopping Us Now Tour produced by Monster Energy and Outbreak Presents starting on November 3, 2016.

2017-present: Kane Brown Self-Titled album

The self-titled debut album was released on December 2, 2016, and debuted at number 10 on the US Billboard 200. On the release of the deluxe edition of the album, it went to number 5 on the Billboard 200, and returned to number one on the Top Country Albums chart. Together with his single "What Ifs" which also reached number one on multiple charts and a new song "Heaven" released with the deluxe edition, Brown became the first artist to have simultaneous number ones on all five main country charts – Top Country Albums, Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay, Country Digital Song Sales and Country Streaming Songs.

"What Ifs", which was recorded with his friend Lauren Alaina, was released as the third single from the album and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.

Personal life

Kane announced his engagement to Katelyn Jae in April 2017 during a concert in Philadelphia. They are living in the Nashville area.

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions				Certifications	Sales
		US	US Country	AUS	CAN
Kane Brown	Release date: December 2, 2016 Label: RCA Nashville Formats: CD, digital download	5	1	60	25	US: Gold	US: 275,600
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Extended plays

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions			Sales
		US	US Country	CAN
Closer	Release date: June 2, 2015 Label: Kane Brown Formats: CD, digital download	40	7	"?	US: 38,300
Chapter 1	Release date: March 18, 2016 Label: RCA Nashville Formats: Digital download	9	3	28	US: 89,800
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles

Year	Title	Peak chart positions					Certification	Sales	Album
		US	US Country	US Country Airplay	CAN	CAN Country
2014	"Don't Go City on Me"	"?	"?	"?	"?	"?			Closer
2015	"Used to Love You Sober"	82	15	35	"?	"?	RIAA: Gold	US: 314,000	Chapter 1
	"Last Minute Late Night"	"?	31	"?	"?	"?		US: 50,000
	"I Love That I Hate You"	"?	35	"?	"?	"?		US: 26,000
2016	"Ain't No Stopping Us Now"	88	19	"?	"?	"?		US: 49,000	Kane Brown
	"Thunder in the Rain"	"?</ref>}}	30	43	"?	"?		US: 66,000
2017	"What Ifs" (featuring Lauren Alaina)	26	1	1	45	3	RIAA: Platinum	US: 569,000
	"Heaven"	72	10	35	"?	"?		US: 78,000
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Featured singles

Year	Title	Album
2016	"Can't Stop Love" (Chandler Stephens featuring Kane Brown)	Non-album single

Other charted songs

Year	Title	Peak positions		Sales	Album
		US	US Country
2016	"There Goes My Everything"	"?	27	US: 22,000	Chapter 1
	"Wide Open"	"?	34	US: 12,000
	"Excuses"	"?	36	US: 11,000
2017	"Found You"	80	13	US: 67,000	Kane Brown
	"What's Mine Is Yours"	"?	34	US: 18,000
	"Setting the Night on Fire" (with Chris Young)	"?	45	US: 8,000
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Music videos

Year	Video	Director
2015	"Used to Love You Sober"	Clark Jackson
2016		David Poag
2016	"Can't Stop Love" (with Chandler Stephens)
2016	"Thunder in the Rain"	TK McKamy
2017	"What Ifs" (featuring Lauren Alaina)	P.R. Brown
2017	"Heaven"	Alex Alvga

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient/Work	Result	Ref
2017	ACM Awards	New Male Vocalist of the Year	Himself
	CMT Music Awards	Breakthrough Video of the Year	"Used to Love You Sober"