Brady Allen Toops (born July 31, 1981) is an

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musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and a former

baseball player Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. His debut album, '' Brady Toops'', was released in 2013. His second album, Tried & True, was released in 2017. He appeared on the eleventh season of

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’s

The Bachelorette A bachelorette is an unmarried woman. Bachelorette may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Bachelorette'', a reality television dating show part of ''The Bachelor'' franchise with numerous versions: ** ''The Bachelorette'' (American TV ser ...

Early life

Toops was born in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, on 31 July 1981, to

educators A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

George Toops Jr. and Kim Toops. He grew up in New London. He attended the ''New London-Spicer High School'', and graduated in 2000. In 2000, Toops was among the twenty-five senior High School students who were awarded the ''Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year (SAMMY) award''. He received a $7,500 college scholarship and was featured in

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

. He studied

Marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

and graduated in 2007.

Career

Baseball

Toops was recruited by Harvard, Minnesota, and Arkansas. He chose to play for the

. He played four years as a

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

with the

Razorbacks The feral pig is a domestic pig which has gone feral, meaning it lives in the wild. They are found mostly in the Americas and Australia. Razorback and wild hog are Americanisms applied to feral pigs or boar-pig hybrids. Definition A feral pi ...

, and had been named a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the team in 2003, until he was selected in the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

draft of 2004 in the 10th round by the St. Louis Cardinals. His stint in the minor leagues would only last three years, when he stopped playing after the 2006 season.

Music

Toops' music career began in 2008. His first studio album, '' Brady Toops'', was released on August 27, 2013. His sophomore album, Tried & True, was released on March 11, 2017.''

Podcast

He hosts ''Soul Games''

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

. He also curates ''Soul Games'' a 12-week

personal development Personal development or self improvement consists of activities that develop a person's capabilities and potential, build human capital, facilitate employability, and enhance quality of life and the realization of dreams and aspirations. Persona ...

program.

Personal life

In 2015, he competed in Season 11 of

, with Britt Nilsson and Kaitlyn Bristowe Toops lives in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

Discography

;Studio albums * ''Tried & True (2017)'' * '' Brady Toops'' (2013)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toops, Brady 1981 births Living people American performers of Christian music Musicians from Minneapolis Musicians from Arkansas Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee Songwriters from Minnesota Songwriters from Arkansas Songwriters from Tennessee