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Vince Gill (born Vincent Grant Gill, April 12, 1957) is an American neotraditional country musician, songwriter, and singer.
Gill was born in Norman, Oklahoma. His father, J. Stanley Gill, was a lawyer and administrative law judge who played in a country music band part time and encouraged Gill to pursue a musical career. His homemaker mother, Jerene, played the harmonica. Gill learned to play several instruments, including banjo and guitar, before he started high school at Oklahoma City's Northwest Classen High School. After he graduated, he played in a number of bluegrass bands; later, he became a member of Rodney Crowell's road band, The Cherry Bombs.
Gill debuted on the national scene with the country rock band Pure Prairie League in 1979, appearing on that band's album Can't Hold Back. Gill is the lead singer on their hit song "Let Me Love You Tonight" (1980), which he was still performing in concert years later - thus, he said, confusing many fans who knew him only from his subsequent solo work. Gill appeared on two subsequent albums along with then-wife Janis Gill before signing as a solo with RCA Records in 1983. He first charted while on that label. In 1989 he switched to MCA Records where he recorded his breakthrough hit "When I Call Your Name." His 1998 album The Key received great critical acclaim.
Gill hosted the CMA Awards every year from 1992 to 2003. In 2004 he received a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. In 1997, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler, a fan of Gill's music, had asked Gill to join the band full time. Gill turned down the invitation, but did sing backup on one song ("The Bug") from Dire Straits' album On Every Street. Gill has also sung duets with numerous artists, including Dolly Parton ("I Will Always Love You"), Reba McEntire ("Oklahoma Swing," "The Heart Won't Lie," "It Just Has to Be That Way,""These Broken Hearts"), Amy Grant ("House of Love"), and Barbra Streisand ("If You Ever Leave Me"). More recently, Vince and Sheryl Crow sang harmony vocals on the Brooks & Dunn 2006 hit "Building Bridges".
On August 7, 2007 it was announced that Gill along with Mel Tillis and Ralph Emery will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
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