On this day (November 1) in 1957, Lyle Lovett was born in Houston, Texas. Since releasing his debut album in 1986, he has won four Grammy Awards. He embarked on an acting career in the early 1990s and found himself in the national spotlight after marrying Julia Roberts. Over the years, Lovett has collaborated with a long list of artists across multiple genres, including Al Green, Asleep at the Wheel, and Nanci Griffith.
Lovett started playing guitar when he was seven. He took the stage for the first time during a school talent show when he was in second grade. However, he didn’t start pursuing music until he was in college. He began writing songs while studying journalism and German at Texas A&M.
According to his online biography, Lovett traveled to Rothenburg, Germany, in 1979 as a graduate student. While there, he was invited to play the Schueberfouer funfair in Luxembourg. There, he met J. David Sloan and the Rogues, a band from Phoenix, Arizona. They invited him to sit in with them and they played a few of his songs. This was the first time Lovett had performed with a full band.
Lyle Lovett’s Recording Career
After returning to the United States, the Rogues offered Lovett studio time to record his first demo. They backed him on 18 songs. The first four became the demo tape that landed him his deal with MCA. Then, ten of the songs became his 1986 self-titled debut album. The record produced his biggest country hit, “Cowboy Man,” which peaked at No. 10.
While Lovett didn’t see much chart success, he built a large following. Additionally, he has won several awards, including four Grammys. Lovett’s first Grammy came in 1949 when Lyle Lovett and His Large Band won Best Country Male Vocal Performance. He collaborated with Asleep at the Wheel on the song “Blues for Dixie.” It won Best Country Group with Vocal in 1994. He won Best Pop Vocal Collaboration that year for his and Al Green’s “Funny How Time Slips Away.” Two years later, Road to Ensenada won Best Country Album.
Before he recorded his first album, Nanci Griffith recorded Lyle Lovett’s “If I Were the Woman You Wanted” for her album Once in a Very Blue Moon. Lovett sang harmony on the album. He also added his voice to Griffith’s Last of the True Believers. He also recorded “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” with Randy Newman for the animated film Toy Story.
Lovett has released 12 studio albums. His most recent, 12th of June, dropped in May 2022.
Lovett’s Acting Career Led to His First Marriage
According to IMDb, Lyle Lovett’s took his first role in 1983. He played a singer on the beach in the made-for-TV movie Bill: On His Own. Nearly a decade later, in 1992, he appeared in the Robert Altman-helmed The Player as Detective DeLongpre. While on the set, he met Julia Roberts. After a three-week courtship, they eloped in June 1993. They divorced in March 1995 but remained friends.
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He and his current wife, April Kimble, have been together since 2003 and married since 2017. They had twins–a boy and a girl–on June 12, 2017. Lovett used the twins’ birthdate as the title of his latest LP.
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