Gary LeVox (born Gary Wayne Vernon Jr., July 10, 1970) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for being the lead vocalist of the contemporary

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, ...

band

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cousi ...

, and his stage name was taken from the studio-console label for his lead-vocal track.

Biography

Early life

LeVox was born in

Powell, Ohio Powell is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, located 14 miles (21.5 km) north of the state capital of Columbus. The city is located in Delaware County; a frequent placeholder on the List of highest-income counties in the United States, and 35t ...

. LeVox's first musical performance was at the age of eight, in a play at his church. He graduated from

Olentangy High School Olentangy High School is a public comprehensive secondary school located in Lewis Center, Ohio, operated by the Olentangy Local School District. In 2007, the school was ranked as the 97th best high school in the U.S. by ''Newsweek''. Then, in ...

and is an alumnus of

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. Prompted by his cousin, LeVox 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 1997. Gary LeVox

LeVox and his second cousin,

Jay DeMarcus Jay DeMarcus (born Stanley Wayne DeMarcus Jr.; on April 26, 1971) is an American bassist, vocalist, pianist, record producer and songwriter. From 1999 to 2021, he was a member of the country pop group Rascal Flatts. Early life DeMarcus was born ...

, started out together in singer

Chely Wright Chely Wright (born Richell Rene Wright; October 25, 1970) is an American activist, author and country music artist. She initially rose to fame as a commercial country recording artist with several charting singles, including the number one hit ...

's band. One day, when the regular guitarist was not available,

Joe Don Rooney Joe Don Rooney (born September 13, 1975 in Baxter Springs, KS) is an American musician. From 1999 to 2021, he was the lead guitarist and high octave harmony singer in the American country pop trio Rascal Flatts. In addition to the Electric guitar ...

stepped in. The three men say they felt the chemistry immediately and afterwards formed Rascal Flatts.Price, Deborah Evans (December/January 2008), "The Triumph of Rascal Flatts". ''CMA Close Up'' volume unknown:20-21

Post-Rascal Flatts

The band disbanded in 2020, after which LeVox began releasing solo music. In May 2021, he released his first solo EP, ''One on One''. This was followed in 2022 by a single titled "Get Down Like That" on

Big Machine Records Big Machine Records is an American independent record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Specializing in country and pop artists, Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by fo ...

, the label to which Rascal Flatts was previously signed.https://musicmayhemmagazine.com/gary-levox-releases-new-party-anthem-get-down-like-that-co-written-by-thomas-rhett-hardy/

Personal life

LeVox has been friends with

Jamie Foxx Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He became widely known for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 biographical film '' Ray'', for which he won the ...

since the mid-1990s, and Foxx made a guest appearance on the album '' Still Feels Good''. LeVox was employed in his local burger bar from age 14 after which he started an

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

cover band with his close childhood friends. LeVox has been married to Tara Vernon since May 1999. He says it was love at first sight when they met backstage at a gospel festival concert. "I knew at that moment that I was looking at my future wife," he said in a 2011 interview. "It was the weirdest thing ever." They now have two daughters together, Brittany, born in 2000, and Brooklyn, born in 2004.

Discography

*''

'' (2000) *'' Melt'' (2002) *''

Feels Like Today ''Feels Like Today'' is the third studio album by American country music group Rascal Flatts. It was released on September 28, 2004, via Lyric Street Records. The album has sold 5.274 million copies in the United States as of July 2014, and it ha ...

'' (2004) *''

Me and My Gang ''Me and My Gang'' is the fourth studio album by the American country music group Rascal Flatts, released on April 4, 2006 by Lyric Street Records. The album became the highest US debut of 2006, with 721,747 units and went double platinum in the ...

'' (2006) *'' Still Feels Good'' (2007) *''

Unstoppable Unstoppable may refer to: Film and television * Unstoppable (2004 film), ''Unstoppable'' (2004 film), an American film directed by David Carson * ''Unstoppable: Conversation with Melvin Van Peebles, Gordon Parks, and Ossie Davis'', a 2005 America ...

'' (2009) *'' Nothing Like This'' (2010) *'' Changed'' (2012) *'' Rewind'' (2014) *''

The Greatest Gift of All ''The Greatest Gift of All'' is the only Christmas album recorded by American country pop trio Rascal Flatts. It was released October 21, 2016, through Big Machine Records. The album was produced by group member Jay DeMarcus. Critical reception ...

'' (2016) *''

Back to Us ''Back to Us'' is the tenth and final studio album by American country music trio Rascal Flatts. It was released on May 19, 2017 through Big Machine Records. The group produced the album themselves, save one track on the deluxe edition, which wa ...

'' (2017)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Levox, Gary 1970 births American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters Living people Singer-songwriters from Ohio Ohio State University alumni Musicians from Columbus, Ohio Rascal Flatts members American people of French-Canadian descent 21st-century American singers Country musicians from Ohio 21st-century American male singers Big Machine Records artists