Gary Allan
Gary Allan Herzberg (born December 5, 1967) is an American country music ar… Read Full Bio ↴Gary Allan Herzberg (born December 5, 1967) is an American country music artist, known professionally as Gary Allan.
Allan was born and raised in La Mirada, California, to Harley and Mary Herzberg. To ensure that the family would focus on music, Allan's mother insisted that the family's guitars would always remain visible in the home. At age thirteen, Allan began playing in honky tonks with his father. Two years later, he was offered his first recording contract, from A&M Records, but rejected the deal. His parents wanted him to finish his education and his father felt that Allan had yet to develop his own distinctive style. Despite his commitment to finishing school, Allan reflects that he was rarely alert in class. "I played the bars at night, I was half asleep when I got to school. I thought sleep was what you did when you got to school." After finishing school, he continued to play in the bars with his band, the Honky Tonk Wranglers. Many of the venues they played were packed, and promoters often tried to move them to larger clubs. The moves would have required him to stop playing some of the older country music, such as covers of George Jones songs, so Allan refused.
Allan was introduced to songwriter/producer Byron Hill on August 28, 1993 by a mutual friend and talent-scout Jim Seal at a bar called the Lion D'or in Downey, California, where Allan was already regularly performing. Seal and Hill had asked Allan if they could showcase an unsigned act that they were developing there. Hill had arranged to bring the head of A&R from a major label to the show to see this other act perform. Allan kindly let them use his stage for the event, giving the new act the opening performance slot that night. Hill promised Gary that they would make sure the A&R person remained there to see his portion of the show. Everyone was knocked out with Allan's performance, and very impressed with his voice. From that point on, Hill began sending Allan songs. Without any serious funding at the time, Hill arranged for Allan to go into Seal's small studio in California to try his vocals on some of existing demo tracks that Hill had sent to Allan from Nashville, Tennessee. Meanwhile, Hill became head of A&R at BNA Entertainment on October 29 of that same year and immediately wanted to sign Allan to BNA, but the then current roster conditions and other circumstances related to the planned restructuring of RCA/BNA Nashville stood in the way.
In the meantime, Allan took a job selling cars. He left a demo tape in the glove box of a car purchased by a wealthy couple. When the couple discovered that he was the singer, they wrote him a check for $12,000. This independent funding allowed Allan to go to Nashville to record some of the songs that were on that early demo tape with Hill as producer. On September 11, 1995, they worked at Javelina Studios for a couple of days on the four songs that Hill immediately showed to labels. Allan's recordings brought serious responses from several labels including Mercury, RCA, and Decca. A meeting was then held at a Nashville hotel among Hill, Allan, and friend of Allan's, who was a program director for a radio station in California, to arrange two showcases in Los Angeles, California, to put Allan on stage at two of the radio station's regular nights at a local club. Byron arranged for staffers at the Nashville office of Decca Records to attend the first showcase held on November 1, 1995. Decca immediately wanted to sign Allan, and knowing that Byron was lining up other labels to see Gary, Decca asked them to cancel the second showcase. A rep from RCA was already booked to see the second showcase the following week, but the "bird-in-hand" deal offer was too tempting for both Hill and Allan, so they committed to the Decca offer.
His first deal, with Decca Records Nashville, produced the 1996 album Used Heart for Sale. The album was named "Best of the Month" by Stereo Review. It advanced to the top 20 of the charts, and produced a Top 10 country hit with the track Her Man (previously recorded by Waylon Jennings). Other tracks from the album, however, proved less successful.
His second album, It Would Be You, was released in 1998. Although Allan had been writing songs since he was a teenager, he does not hesitate to bump his work from his albums in favor of those written by other songwriters he respects. For his second album, Allan replaced one of his songs with No Judgement Day, written by Allen Shamblin. Although the song was a hidden acoustic track, radio stations began giving it heavy airplay. The song tells the story of a shopkeeper in Texas, whose children killed him in search of money. The title track of the album became Allan's second top 10 hit of the year, remaining in the top 10 after 21 weeks of radio play, "way beyond the tenure of most disposable radio hits." At the beginning of 1999, Decca Records folded, and when Allan moved to the parent label, MCA Nashville, It Would Be You was left in limbo.
In 1999, Allan released Smoke Rings in the Dark, an album he recorded while in the midst of a divorce from his second wife, Versace model Danette Day, after only seven months of marriage. Unlike his first two albums, Smoke Rings in the Dark made fuller use of background singers and stringed instruments, "resulting in a lusher, fuller sound." The new album avoided the "devil-may-care brashness" of the first two, instead presenting a tone balanced between youthful optimism and "the knowledge that some of life's experiences exact a high toll." Smoke Rings in the Dark was certified platinum, and it included two successful singles.
In 2001 the album Alright Guy was released. It contained the singles The One, Man of Me, and Man to Man, the latter of which became his first Billboard No. 1 hit. The same year, Allan married for the third time, to Angela, a flight attendant he met on an airplane.
Despite his previous success and eight years in the music business, Allan was nominated for the Country Music Association's Horizon Award, typically given to newcomers, in 2003. The same year he released his fifth album, See If I Care. Allan had to fight to keep the title, which he felt epitomized his attitude towards the music business, that he would continue to make the music that he wanted to make regardless of whether the record label chose to back him or people chose to buy the album. See If I Care included his second and third Number One singles, Tough Little Boys and Nothing On but the Radio. Songs About Rain was a top 15 hit.
In 2003, Allan and his wife, Angela Herzberg, moved to Tennessee from California. On October 25, 2004, Angela Herzberg committed suicide after suffering from depression and migraines. Allan initially put his career on hold, but soon turned to music to deal with the loss of his wife. This resulted in 2005's "heart-wrenchingly personal album," Tough All Over. He included several songs which he wrote or cowrote, including Puttin' Memories Away and I Just Got Back from Hell, which dealt directly with his grief. Several years later, Gary discussed his wife's suicide on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Tough All Over sold over 99,000 copies in its first week, debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the magazine's Top Country Albums chart. It was subsequently certified gold by the RIAA as of December 20, 2006, and contained the top 10 singles Best I Ever Had (written by Vertical Horizon's Matt Scannell) and Life Ain't Always Beautiful, co-written by country singer Cyndi Thomson (under the name Cyndi Goodman).
Allan's first Greatest Hits collection was released on March 6, 2007. A Number One album on the Billboard Top Country Albums charts, the album reprised the greatest hits from his first six albums, as well as two new songs. One of these, titled A Feelin' Like That, was co-written by David Lee Murphy and Ira Dean (the latter a former member of Trick Pony); the single peaked at #12 on the country singles charts.
Allan's album titled Living Hard, was released on October 23, 2007. Serving as its lead-off single was the song Watching Airplanes, which spent more than thirty weeks on the country charts, where it reached a peak of #2 and went #1 on the Mediabase Chart. The song's music video was filmed during live concerts, including one at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. Second single Learning How to Bend – co-written by Allan – quickly became another hit song, peaking at #13. The video was filmed during a live performance at the House of Blues in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Following this song is third single She's So California, which Allan co-wrote with Jaime Hanna (of Hanna-McEuen) and Jon Randall, and it peaked at #24, becoming his first single to miss the top 20 since Lovin' You Against My Will in 2000.
Today was released on June 12, 2009, serving as the lead-off single to Allan's studio album, Get Off on the Pain, which was released on March 9, 2010. Title track, Get Off on the Pain, was the album's second single. It debuted at #42 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, the highest-debuting single of his career. Kiss Me When I'm Down the album's third single released to radio in 2010. It debuted at #52 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
http://www.garyallan.com/pain/
Allan was born and raised in La Mirada, California, to Harley and Mary Herzberg. To ensure that the family would focus on music, Allan's mother insisted that the family's guitars would always remain visible in the home. At age thirteen, Allan began playing in honky tonks with his father. Two years later, he was offered his first recording contract, from A&M Records, but rejected the deal. His parents wanted him to finish his education and his father felt that Allan had yet to develop his own distinctive style. Despite his commitment to finishing school, Allan reflects that he was rarely alert in class. "I played the bars at night, I was half asleep when I got to school. I thought sleep was what you did when you got to school." After finishing school, he continued to play in the bars with his band, the Honky Tonk Wranglers. Many of the venues they played were packed, and promoters often tried to move them to larger clubs. The moves would have required him to stop playing some of the older country music, such as covers of George Jones songs, so Allan refused.
Allan was introduced to songwriter/producer Byron Hill on August 28, 1993 by a mutual friend and talent-scout Jim Seal at a bar called the Lion D'or in Downey, California, where Allan was already regularly performing. Seal and Hill had asked Allan if they could showcase an unsigned act that they were developing there. Hill had arranged to bring the head of A&R from a major label to the show to see this other act perform. Allan kindly let them use his stage for the event, giving the new act the opening performance slot that night. Hill promised Gary that they would make sure the A&R person remained there to see his portion of the show. Everyone was knocked out with Allan's performance, and very impressed with his voice. From that point on, Hill began sending Allan songs. Without any serious funding at the time, Hill arranged for Allan to go into Seal's small studio in California to try his vocals on some of existing demo tracks that Hill had sent to Allan from Nashville, Tennessee. Meanwhile, Hill became head of A&R at BNA Entertainment on October 29 of that same year and immediately wanted to sign Allan to BNA, but the then current roster conditions and other circumstances related to the planned restructuring of RCA/BNA Nashville stood in the way.
In the meantime, Allan took a job selling cars. He left a demo tape in the glove box of a car purchased by a wealthy couple. When the couple discovered that he was the singer, they wrote him a check for $12,000. This independent funding allowed Allan to go to Nashville to record some of the songs that were on that early demo tape with Hill as producer. On September 11, 1995, they worked at Javelina Studios for a couple of days on the four songs that Hill immediately showed to labels. Allan's recordings brought serious responses from several labels including Mercury, RCA, and Decca. A meeting was then held at a Nashville hotel among Hill, Allan, and friend of Allan's, who was a program director for a radio station in California, to arrange two showcases in Los Angeles, California, to put Allan on stage at two of the radio station's regular nights at a local club. Byron arranged for staffers at the Nashville office of Decca Records to attend the first showcase held on November 1, 1995. Decca immediately wanted to sign Allan, and knowing that Byron was lining up other labels to see Gary, Decca asked them to cancel the second showcase. A rep from RCA was already booked to see the second showcase the following week, but the "bird-in-hand" deal offer was too tempting for both Hill and Allan, so they committed to the Decca offer.
His first deal, with Decca Records Nashville, produced the 1996 album Used Heart for Sale. The album was named "Best of the Month" by Stereo Review. It advanced to the top 20 of the charts, and produced a Top 10 country hit with the track Her Man (previously recorded by Waylon Jennings). Other tracks from the album, however, proved less successful.
His second album, It Would Be You, was released in 1998. Although Allan had been writing songs since he was a teenager, he does not hesitate to bump his work from his albums in favor of those written by other songwriters he respects. For his second album, Allan replaced one of his songs with No Judgement Day, written by Allen Shamblin. Although the song was a hidden acoustic track, radio stations began giving it heavy airplay. The song tells the story of a shopkeeper in Texas, whose children killed him in search of money. The title track of the album became Allan's second top 10 hit of the year, remaining in the top 10 after 21 weeks of radio play, "way beyond the tenure of most disposable radio hits." At the beginning of 1999, Decca Records folded, and when Allan moved to the parent label, MCA Nashville, It Would Be You was left in limbo.
In 1999, Allan released Smoke Rings in the Dark, an album he recorded while in the midst of a divorce from his second wife, Versace model Danette Day, after only seven months of marriage. Unlike his first two albums, Smoke Rings in the Dark made fuller use of background singers and stringed instruments, "resulting in a lusher, fuller sound." The new album avoided the "devil-may-care brashness" of the first two, instead presenting a tone balanced between youthful optimism and "the knowledge that some of life's experiences exact a high toll." Smoke Rings in the Dark was certified platinum, and it included two successful singles.
In 2001 the album Alright Guy was released. It contained the singles The One, Man of Me, and Man to Man, the latter of which became his first Billboard No. 1 hit. The same year, Allan married for the third time, to Angela, a flight attendant he met on an airplane.
Despite his previous success and eight years in the music business, Allan was nominated for the Country Music Association's Horizon Award, typically given to newcomers, in 2003. The same year he released his fifth album, See If I Care. Allan had to fight to keep the title, which he felt epitomized his attitude towards the music business, that he would continue to make the music that he wanted to make regardless of whether the record label chose to back him or people chose to buy the album. See If I Care included his second and third Number One singles, Tough Little Boys and Nothing On but the Radio. Songs About Rain was a top 15 hit.
In 2003, Allan and his wife, Angela Herzberg, moved to Tennessee from California. On October 25, 2004, Angela Herzberg committed suicide after suffering from depression and migraines. Allan initially put his career on hold, but soon turned to music to deal with the loss of his wife. This resulted in 2005's "heart-wrenchingly personal album," Tough All Over. He included several songs which he wrote or cowrote, including Puttin' Memories Away and I Just Got Back from Hell, which dealt directly with his grief. Several years later, Gary discussed his wife's suicide on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Tough All Over sold over 99,000 copies in its first week, debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the magazine's Top Country Albums chart. It was subsequently certified gold by the RIAA as of December 20, 2006, and contained the top 10 singles Best I Ever Had (written by Vertical Horizon's Matt Scannell) and Life Ain't Always Beautiful, co-written by country singer Cyndi Thomson (under the name Cyndi Goodman).
Allan's first Greatest Hits collection was released on March 6, 2007. A Number One album on the Billboard Top Country Albums charts, the album reprised the greatest hits from his first six albums, as well as two new songs. One of these, titled A Feelin' Like That, was co-written by David Lee Murphy and Ira Dean (the latter a former member of Trick Pony); the single peaked at #12 on the country singles charts.
Allan's album titled Living Hard, was released on October 23, 2007. Serving as its lead-off single was the song Watching Airplanes, which spent more than thirty weeks on the country charts, where it reached a peak of #2 and went #1 on the Mediabase Chart. The song's music video was filmed during live concerts, including one at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. Second single Learning How to Bend – co-written by Allan – quickly became another hit song, peaking at #13. The video was filmed during a live performance at the House of Blues in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Following this song is third single She's So California, which Allan co-wrote with Jaime Hanna (of Hanna-McEuen) and Jon Randall, and it peaked at #24, becoming his first single to miss the top 20 since Lovin' You Against My Will in 2000.
Today was released on June 12, 2009, serving as the lead-off single to Allan's studio album, Get Off on the Pain, which was released on March 9, 2010. Title track, Get Off on the Pain, was the album's second single. It debuted at #42 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, the highest-debuting single of his career. Kiss Me When I'm Down the album's third single released to radio in 2010. It debuted at #52 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
http://www.garyallan.com/pain/
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Gary Allan Lyrics
A Feelin I stepped out into the blue, felt the wind hit…
A Showman A showman's life, Is a smokey bar, And the fevered chase, Of…
Adobe Walls Buenos noches senorita, I'm mighty pleased to meet ya Maybe…
All I Had Going Is Gone The day we met I'll never forget Was the luckiest of my…
Along The Way Scarecrows and devils are the only thing out this way What…
Alright Guy You know just the other morning I was hanging around in…
As Long As You're Looking Back Got your feet wet Got your heart broke Didn't pan out Like y…
As The Crow Flies Well, a gypsy lady once told me Son, you got the…
Baby I Will If he don't dream 'bout you night after night If you…
Best I Ever Had So you sailed away Into a grey sky morning Now I'm here…
Bones Well I've been out here diggin' a hole And the madder…
Bourbon Borderline I wake up in the morning full of dread Trying to…
Can I can't stop your heart from breaking, Can't make right mis…
Can't Do It Today Trying to keep a candle burning in a hurricane, That's what…
Cowboy Blues Well there's a lonesome feelin' that comes over me When I…
Cryin I am a full grown fool and I shoulda known…
Do You Wish It Was Me When your phone rings When there's a late night knock at…
Don I was headed north on Highway Five On a star-lit Sunday…
Don't Leave Her Lonely Too Long Well my friend you ask me what to do If I…
Don't Look Away Desperation's causing me, To question every single word you…
Don't Tell Mama I was headed north on Highway Five On a star-lit Sunday…
Don't Tell Momma I was headed north on Highway Five On a star-lit Sunday…
Drinkin' Dark Whiskey Drinkin' dark whiskey Tellin' white lies One leads to an…
Drop Drop, raindrop fallin' from the sky like magic Can you feel…
Every Storm I saw you standing in the middle of the thunder…
Forever And A Day Well, they say nothin' lasts forever Honey, I got news Whoev…
Forgotten Her birthday came and went without a card, or a…
Forgotten, But Not Gone Her birthday came and went without a card, Or a single…
From Where I He asked her to dance three songs ago Now she pulls…
From Where I'm Sitting He asked her to dance three songs ago Now she pulls…
Get Off On The Pain I don't know why I love women That love to do…
Good As New I had a broken watch on a broken chain I had…
Greenfields Greenfields backed by blue skies 'Bout as blue as your two…
Guys Like Me [Intro:] G see D G (G) Well there's no more smokey…
Half Of My Mistakes Half of my mistakes I made stone cold sober Half of…
Hangover Tonight Well it might be me, might be the whiskey We might…
He Can She was cool, she was hot She was smokin' a lot At…
He Can't Quit Her She was cool, she was hot She was smokin' a lot At…
Her Man I'm gonna change my way of doin' things around here Well…
Herman I'm gonna change my ways of 'doin things around here I'm…
Highway Junkie A hundred cups of coffee Five hundred cigarettes A thousand …
Hungover Heart I stayed as drunk as I could For longer than I…
I No rush though I need your touch I won't rush your…
I Ain I've come to see it's a pattern with me To make…
I Can Love You I can't stop your heart from breaking, Can't make right mist…
I Don I was born to travel down blue highways I never seem…
I Don't Look Back I was born to travel down blue highways I never seem…
I Just Got Back From Hell I just got back from Hell And I'm satnding here alive I…
I Think I All the days that ended well in to tomorrow All the…
I'll Take Today Yeah, she's the one The one I told you all about Yeah,…
I'm Doin' My Best Single six months yesterday Thought I oughta celebrate So I …
I'm The One If you need someone to take you by the hand And…
I've Got A Quarter In My Pocket I've got a quarter in my pocket won't you tell…
If it Was A Drink It's hard describing a heartache all 'cause it's a one of…
It Ain I stood there in the middle of the church of…
It Took Us All Night Long To Say Goodbye It only took a minute for us to finally end…
It Would Be You It's hard describing a heartache All because it's a one of…
Kiss Me When I It's been a year since last weekend when you swung…
Learning How To Bend I'm still learning how to pray Trying hard not to stray Try…
Learning To Live With Me I used to wish that I was Great as any man Better…
Let's Be Naughty Well, they say he knows whose been naughty or nice And…
Life Ain Life ain't always beautiful Sometimes it's just plain hard L…
Like It A friend set me up with a long-legged beauty Said, "Just…
Like It's A Bad Thing They say, I drive a little fast Say, I like to…
Living Hard Woke up this mornin' in yesterday's clothes Still got my buz…
Living In A House Full Of Love Now love is pouring through the windows Comin' through the …
Lovin I don't want to hurt nobody Don't want to make nobody…
Man Of Me Well high school got me educated Still when I graduated I di…
Man to Man I'm gonna change my way of doin' things around here Well…
Man To Man ) You're throwin' around a lot of serious accusations Ain't t…
Mess Me Up Twist that knife Come on make it hurt Make me go out…
Nickajack Cave Every man has to come to a crossroad somewhere along…
No Damn Good Well, I ain't too sure about this so-called trail separation…
No Judgement Day Willie Johnson was locking up his store Monday night And so…
No Man In His Wrong Heart On the inside flap of a matchbook cover She made me…
No Regrets She's been gone about three years It's been a long road…
No Worries No worries I don’t have a single care today Everything is go…
Nothing On But The Radio I sure do hope this is a long night 'Cause I…
Of All The Hearts Of all the hearts In this big ol' world Please tell me Why…
One More Time What will I say? Lookin' back upon this life Standin' there …
Pieces I’ve been broken, torn and scattered I’ve loved holy, I’ve l…
Please Come Home for Christmas Track 12 Bells will be ringing the sad, sad news Oh, what…
Promise Broken I'm out here everyday breakin' haerts along the way I cause…
Puttin I threw our rings into a box Filled with broken memories…
Putting My Misery On Display I live in my own world on 18 wheels Playing music…
Red Lips Blue Eyes Little White Lies Red lips, blue eyes and little white lies Oh darlin' I'm…
Right Where I Need To Be There's a plane flyin' outta here tonight: Destination, New …
Ring Well I won't make you tell me What I've come to…
Runaway As I walk along, I wonder what went wrong, With our love,…
Sand In My Soul Floatin’ away like a bottle in the water Sun down here…
See If I Care I saw you walking down the street last night, I saw…
Send Back My Heart By now I really should be over you But I might…
She She's a warm summer breeze with bleach blonde hair Like a…
She Gets Me This life I chose It's always been hard Lots of tattoos an…
She Loves Me Well, I can see you're dancing every dance with her And…
She's So California She's a warm summer breeze with bleach blonde hair Like a…
Smoke Rings In The Dark Well I won't make you tell me What I've come to…
Songs About Rain Well this town has closed down way too early And there's…
Sorry Ooh ooh ooh ooh sorry, ooh ooh ooh ooh sorry Well…
Temptation We don't talk, we don't touch I ain't yours, you ain't…
That Ain Well I'm gonna show her That I can forget her That little…
That Ain't Gonna Fly Well I'm gonna show her That I can forget her That little…
The Devil Smoky old bars, bright neon lights Good ole boys and girls…
The One All the days that ended well in to tomorrow All the…
Today Today, he told her that he loved her Put a ring…
Tough All Over [Chorus] Things are tough all over And I'm losin' badly I wi…
Tough Goodbye That was a tough goodbye And what tore me down was…
Tough Little Boys Well I never once Backed down from a punch Well I'd take…
Trying To Matter We walk, we fly, we stay sober, we get high We…
Up on the Housetop Up on the housetop reindeer pause Out jumps good old…
Used Heart For Sale Used heart for sale Scratched and dented but it runs real…
Wake Up Screaming Used to sleep through the night peacefully Not a care in…
Waste of a Whiskey Drink I know what you're thinkin', 'cause I overheard Bartender, w…
Watching Airplanes Sittin' out here on the hood of this truck lookin'…
We Fly By Night Wake up Monday morning lookin' at another 50 hour week Hit…
We Touched The Sun We touched the sun We held the stars We fell in love…
What I can't have this conversation Without lots of reservations…
What I Some people need a drink just to get through the…
What I'd Say Talkin' to the mirror, whispering your name It's just like y…
What Kind Of Fool I see you here night after night All by yourself in…
What Would Willie Do I was lost in trouble and strife, I heard a…
What's On My Mind I can't have this conversation Without lots of reservations …
When You Give Yourself Away When you give yourself away Love becomes somethin' that you …
Wine Me Up I'm the center of attention in this bar room 'Cause I've…
Wrecking Ball I shoulda known when I caught the glance That girl just…
Yesterday's Rain Sometimes I think about the touch of your skin The taste…
You Don't Know A Thing About To you I'm just the man who let you down, The…
You Don't Know A Thing About Me To you I'm just the man who let you down, The…
You Without Me Well, I’ve seen that look a thousand times And I know…