90's country superstar Clint Black is set to play the Paramount Center For The Arts on Friday, May 17th.  The intimate theatre atmosphere means limited tickets are available.  Reserved seating is $100 for the first five center rows and $52 for the rest of the theatre.  Tickets can be purchased by calling 423-274-8920 or online through etix.  Show starts at 8pm.

Clint Black was born in New Jersey in 1962 and moved to his father's home state of Texas before his first birthday.  He taught himself to play harmonica at 13 and wrote his first song at 14.  As a teenager, Black played in a small band with his three older brothers before becoming a solo act.  For six years during the 1980's, Black supported himself as a construction worker, bait cutter, and fishing guide, while singing at various lounges as a solo singer and guitarist.  Delivery of a demo tape containing the song "Nobody's Home" to record promoter Sammy Alfano resulted in a meeting  ZZ Top manager Bill Ham.

Black signed with RCA records in 1989 and released his first album "Killin' Time."  The album reached #1 and produced four #1 hits on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.  The first single, "A Better Man," marked the first time in 14 years that a debut single by a male artist had peaked at the top of the chart.  "A Better Man" and "Killin' Time" placed number one and number two on the year-end country singles charts - the first time in 36 years an artist had claimed both top spots in a single year.

Black followed the success of his first album with the release of seven more studio albums in the 1990's; Put Yourself In My Shoes (1990), The Hard Way (1992), No Time To Kill (1993), One Emotion (1994), Nothin' But The Taillights (1997) and D'lectrified (1999).  Since leaving RCA Records and creating his own record label "Equity Music Group," Black has released Spend My Time (2004) and Drinkin' Songs And Other Logic (2005).

Black received many awards early in his career including ACM Awards for 1989 Album Of The Year, 1989 Top Male Vocalist, 1989 Top New Male Vocalist and 1989 Single Of The Year.  He was also awarded American Music Awards' 1990 Favorite Country Artist and CMAs for the 1989 Horizon Award and 1990 Male Vocalist Of The Year.  He has also been featured in various movies and television shows including the 1994 remake movie of the 1950's TV series "Maverick" starring Mel Gibson.

Few country singers fill their albums primarily with their own material.  Although RCA Records often pushed Black to record the material of other artists, he refused.  What speaks the loudest about the legacy of Clint Black may likely be that he recorded only his own songs until 2007, when he released the single "The Strong One".