Billy Ray Cyrus (born August 25, 1961) is an American actor & singer-songwriter.
Career[]
Having released twelve studio albums and forty-four singles since 1992, he is best known for his number one single "Achy Breaky Heart", which became the first single ever to achieve triple Platinum status in Australia. It was also the best-selling single in the same country in 1992 and was translated into more than 100 languages.Thanks to the video of this hit, the line dance catapulted into the mainstream, becoming a worldwide craze. Cyrus, a multi-platinum selling recording artist, has scored a total of eight top-ten singles on the Billboard Country Songs chart. His most successful album to date is his debut Some Gave All, which has been certified 9× Multi-Platinum in the United States and is the longest time spent by a debut artist at number one on the Billboard 200 (17 consecutive weeks) and most consecutive chart-topping weeks in the SoundScan era. It is the only album (from any genre) in the SoundScan era to log 17 consecutive weeks at number one and is also the top-ranking debut album by a male country artist. It ranked 43 weeks in the top 10, a total topped by only one country album in history, Ropin' the Wind by Garth Brooks. Some Gave All was also the first debut album to enter at number one on the Billboard Country Albums chart. The album has also sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling debut album of all time for a solo male artist. Some Gave All was also the best-selling album of 1992 in the US with 4,832,000 copies. In his career, he has released 35 charted singles, of which 15 charted in the Top 40. He is currently married to Felicia Cyrus.
From 2001 to 2004, Cyrus starred in the television show Doc. The show was about a country doctor who moved from Montana to New York City. In late 2005, he began to co-star in the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana with his daughter, Miley until 2011.
Personal Life[]
From 1986 to 1991, Cyrus was married to Cindy Smith, with whom he co-wrote the songs "Wher'm I Gonna Live?" and "Some Gave All", both of which were featured on his 1992 debut album Some Gave All.
On December 28, 1993, Cyrus married Leticia "Tish" Finley. Together they have three children: Destiny Hope (born 1992), Braison Chance (born 1994) & Noah Lindsey (born 2000). He also has two adopted stepchildren from Finley's previous relationship: Brandi (born 1987); and Trace (born 1989), former singer/guitarist for Metro Station. Cyrus adopted Brandi and Trace when they were young children.
Cyrus also has a son, Christopher Cody (born April 1992), from a previous relationship with Kristin Luckey, who raised him in South Carolina. In a 2004 interview on ABC News: Primetime, Cyrus stated that Miley (conceived with Finley) and Christopher (conceived with Luckey) were both born in 1992, when he was unmarried, and his marriage to Finley the following year (while she was pregnant with their son) was secret and against his record company's advice.
The family lived on a 500-acre (2.0 km2) farm in Thompson's Station, outside of Nashville, Tennessee before moving to Los Angeles for the filming of Hannah Montana. Cyrus' other daughter Brandi had a role in a Hannah Montana episode "Yet Another Side of Me" as Customer No. 1 and in the season 4 episode "Been Here All Along" as the Guitarist during the military tribute.
On October 26, 2010, Cyrus filed for divorce from his wife in Tennessee, citing irreconcilable differences. In a statement made to People the next day announcing the split, the couple said, "As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for our family... We are trying to work through some personal matters. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers." However, on March 18, 2011, Cyrus announced on The View that he had dropped the divorce. On June 13, 2013, Tish filed for divorce from Billy Ray after 19 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences. However, it was reported in July 2013 that they had gone to couples therapy and rekindled their relationship.
Cyrus described himself as a "lifelong" Democrat in 2000, when his song "We the People" was being used as a campaign song by George W. Bush.