Chad Brownlee (born July 12, 1984) is a Canadian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist, songwriter, actor, and former

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

. He has one #1

Canada Country The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

hit with " Forever's Gotta Start Somewhere".

Sports career

Brownlee was a draft pick for the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...

in 2003, going in the sixth round No. 190th overall. After four years of playing for the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Minnesota State Mavericks The Minnesota State Mavericks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Minnesota State University, Mankato. The school's athletic program includes 21 varsity sports teams. More than 600 students participate each year in athletics ...

(located in Mankato, Minn.), Brownlee made his professional debut with the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

Idaho Steelheads The Idaho Steelheads are an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Boise, Idaho, and a member of the ECHL. The Steelheads play in the Mountain Division of the ECHL's Western Conference since the 2016–17 season. In 1996, th ...

playing a lone season with the club in the 2007–08 season before ending his playing career.

Music career

Following a series of injuries, he turned his attention to music the following year. His first single, "The Best That I Can (Superhero)", was released in November 2009. Brownlee's

self-titled An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

debut album, produced by

Mitch Merrett Mitch Merrett is a record producer, music manager, and country musician from Langley, British Columbia, Canada. He plays a Gibson Robot Guitar. He studied music at Selkirk College in Nelson, graduating from the Contemporary Music and Technology p ...

, was released in August 2010 via

MDM Recordings MDM Recordings Inc. is a Canadian independent record label, distributor and artist management company founded by 2014 Canadian Country Music Association Record Company Person of the Year Mike Denney and distributed through Universal Music Canada. ...

. He followed it up with '' Love Me or Leave Me'' in 2012. Brownlee was nominated for a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

for Country Album of the Year on February 19, 2013. The awards took place on April 21 in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...

. Brownlee's third album, '' The Fighters'', was released on June 3, 2014. Brownlee landed his first #1 hit with " Forever's Gotta Start Somewhere" in April 2019. It was included on the EP '' Back in the Game'', which was released on June 21, 2019 via

Universal Music Canada Universal Music Group owns, or has a joint share in, many of the record labels listed here. According to UMG official site, the main labels are Abbey Road Studios, Bravado, Capitol Music Group, Decca Records, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammopho ...

. Brownlee extended that to become his fourth album on January 10, 2020. On June 3rd, after he shared a controversial social media post from another artist in light of the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...

and

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

movement that some viewed as "racist and Anti-semitic", Brownlee was dropped from his record label. He later apologized for the incident and vowed to make donations to relevant charities and associations. A July 2020

Nielsen Music Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

study found Brownlee to be the eighth-highest played Canadian artist on domestic radio in the first half of 2020, ahead of

Brett Kissel Brett Kissel (born May 27, 1990) is a Canadian country singer. He has had four number-one hits on the Canadian country chart with " Airwaves", " Drink About Me", "A Few Good Stories", and " Make a Life, Not a Living". Early life Kissel was born ...

and

JP Saxe Jonathan Percy Starker Saxe (born March 23, 1993), known professionally as JP Saxe, is a Canadian musician and singer. He is best known for his collaboration with American singer and his now ex-girlfriend Julia Michaels titled " If the World Was ...

, and behind

Dallas Smith Dallas Hendry Smith (born December 4, 1977) is a Canadian singer and songwriter, who performs both as a solo country music artist and as lead singer for the hard rock band Default. He is currently signed to Big Loud Records. Smith is the curre ...

and

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

Acting career

Brownlee's first role as an actor came in 2010 film ''

Tooth Fairy The Tooth Fairy is a fantasy figure of early childhood in Western and Western-influenced cultures. The folklore states that when children lose one of their baby teeth, they should place it underneath their pillow or on their bedside table and ...

'' as a unnamed hockey player with no lines. He appeared in the 2021 film '' Range Roads'' as Bruce, the ex-boyfriend of the main character Frankie.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Other charted songs

Music videos

Awards and nominations

Ice hockey career statistics

References

External links

*
Chad Brownlee
at CMT * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brownlee, Chad 1984 births Canadian country singer-songwriters Canadian ice hockey defencemen Canadian male film actors Canadian male singer-songwriters Ice hockey people from British Columbia Idaho Steelheads (ECHL) players Living people Musicians from Kelowna Sportspeople from Kelowna Vancouver Canucks draft picks Vernon Vipers players Minnesota State Mavericks men's ice hockey players Minnesota State University, Mankato alumni Canadian Country Music Association Rising Star Award winners 21st-century Canadian male singers Universal Music Group artists