Marion Cletus Cannon Jr., known professionally as Chuck Cannon, is an American

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, ...

songwriter. His compositions include hit singles for

Toby Keith Toby Keith Covel (born July 8, 1961), known professionally as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. He released his first four studio albums—1993's ''Toby Keith'', 1994's ''Boomtown'', 1996' ...

and

John Michael Montgomery John Michael Montgomery (born January 20, 1965) is an American country music singer. Montgomery began singing with his brother Eddie, who would later become known as one half of the duo Montgomery Gentry, before beginning his major-label solo ca ...

. Cannon has also received awards for

Broadcast Music Incorporated Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performance rights organization in the United States. It collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, entitling those businesses to play or sync any songs from BMI's repertoire of over 20.6 mill ...

, as well as an

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris Christensen. They wanted to promote country music ...

award for Song of the Year. He is the widower of country music singer-songwriter

Lari White Lari Michele White Cannon (, ; May 13, 1965 – January 23, 2018) was an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her debut in 1988 after winning ''You Can Be a Star'', a televised talent competition ...

Early life

Marion Cletus Cannon Jr. was born and raised in

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. His father was a

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

preacher. He was inspired at an early age by local folk songs as well as black spiritual songs. He later performed at local venues, then moved to

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 ...

, in 1984 to attend

Belmont University Belmont University is a private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee. Descended from Belmont Women's College, founded in 1890 by schoolteachers Ida Hood and Susan Heron, the institution was incorporated in 1951 as Belmont College. It be ...

. By 1988, he was signed to a songwriting contract.

Writing career

One of Cannon's first notable compositions was "

I Love the Way You Love Me "I Love the Way You Love Me" is a song recorded by American country music singer John Michael Montgomery from his debut album, ''Life's a Dance'' (1992). It was written by Victoria Shaw and Chuck Cannon, and released in March 1993 as the album' ...

", a Number One hit for

in 1993, which Cannon co-wrote with Victoria Shaw. This song also won the Song of the Year award at the

awards, which is awarded to songwriters. Cannon then began working primarily for

, including " Me Too", " Dream Walkin'", "

We Were in Love "We Were in Love" is a song written by Chuck Cannon and Allen Shamblin, and performed by American country music artist Toby Keith. It was released in June 1997 as the first single from his album '' Dream Walkin. It peaked at number 2 in both t ...

", " Getcha Some", "If a Man Answers" and "When Love Fades" in the late 1990s, " How Do You Like Me Now?!" in 2000, and " American Soldier" in 2003-2004. "How Do You Like Me Now?!" was also the Number One country song of the year according to the

Billboard Year-End ''Billboard'' Year-End charts are cumulative rankings of entries in ''Billboard'' magazine charts in the United States in any given chart year. Several hundred Year-End charts are now published by ''Billboard'', the most important of which are t ...

charts. Both it and "I Love the Way You Love Me" earned Eight-Million-Air awards from

for receiving eight million spins at radio. Cannon also self-released two albums: ''God Shaped Hole'' and ''Love and Money'' in 2006 and 2008, respectively. Cannon's 2007 song "If I Was Jesus" was nominated for in the category Americana Song of the Year at the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards.

Personal life

Cannon was married to

until her death on January 23, 2018, for whom he has also written singles. They have two daughters, M'Kenzy and Kyra, and a son, Jaxon.

Singles written by Cannon

Sarah Buxton Sarah Jane Buxton (born July 3, 1980) is an American country music singer, formerly signed to the independent Lyric Street Records. Between 2006 and 2008, she issued three singles from an extended play titled '' Almost My Record'', in addition t ...

– "Space" *

Billy Dean William Harold Dean Jr. (born April 2, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He first gained national attention after appearing on the television talent competition ''Star Search''. Active as a recording artist since 1990, h ...

– "This Is the Life" *

Wynonna Judd Wynonna Ellen Judd or simply Wynonna ( ; born Christina Claire Ciminella; May 30, 1964) is an American country music singer. She is one of the most widely recognized and awarded female country singers. In all, she has had 19 No. 1 singles, incl ...

– "Heaven Help Me", "Flies on the Butter (You Can't Go Home Again)" *Toby Keith – "Me Too", "Dream Walkin'", "We Were in Love", "Getcha Some", "If a Man Answers", "When Love Fades", "How Do You Like Me Now?!", "American Soldier" * Lonestar – "Saturday Night" *

Shane Minor Shane Allen Minor (born May 3, 1968) is an American country music artist. Signed to Mercury Nashville Records in 1999, Minor released his self-titled album that year, and it produced three hit singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & ...

– "

Slave to the Habit "Slave to the Habit" is a song recorded by American country music artist Shane Minor. It was his debut single and was released in March 1999 as the first single from the album ''Shane Minor (album), Shane Minor''. The song reached number 20 on the ...

" *

– "

" *

– "What a Woman Wants", " That's My Baby", " That's How You Know (When You're in Love)" *

John & Audrey Wiggins John & Audrey Wiggins was an American country music duo formerly signed to Mercury Records. The duo consisted of John Wiggins and his sister Audrey, both of whom alternated as lead vocalists. They recorded two studio albums for PolyGram/Mercury R ...

– "She's in the Bedroom Crying" *

Danny Gokey Daniel Jay Gokey (born April 24, 1980) is an American singer and former church music director from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the third-place finalist on the eighth season of ''American Idol''.

– " I Will Not Say Goodbye" *

Night Ranger Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco formed in 1979 that gained popularity during the 1980s with a series of albums and singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and drummer Kelly Keagy have been the band's only constant members, ...

– "Forever All Over Again"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cannon, Chuck American country singer-songwriters Musicians from Greenville, South Carolina Belmont University alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Country musicians from South Carolina American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from South Carolina