Chris Stapleton

With his sweet, gravelly croon, singer Chris Stapleton became a mainstay of the country music scene with the release of his 2015 solo debut Traveller. His ascent to stardom however, was far from quick. Born in Lexington, Kentucky, Stapleton's brother, father, and both of his grandfathers were coal miners. He left home for a year in 1996 to study engineering at Vanderbilt University, but found that college life wasn't great fit, and returned home afterwards. He began playing music in the local scene, eventually forming a relationship with Nashville songwriter Steve Leslie.

In 2001, Stapleton packed up and moved to Nashville himself in the hopes of fostering a successful music career. Several years of toiling away behind the scenes in the music industry would follow, with Stapleton eventually joining the band The SteelDrivers in 2008. The group would be nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the songs "Blue Side of the Mountain" and "Where Rainbows Never Die," but Stapleton's tenure with them ended in 2010, when he formed the band The Jompson Brothers. Then in 2013, Stapleton was signed to Mercury Nashville as a solo artist. In 2015, he released his debut, and began making notable appearances on TV shows like "Late Show with David Letterman" (CBS, 1993-2015) and "Late Night with Seth Meyers" (NBC, 2014-).