Morgan Cole Wallen Biography
Morgan Cole Wallen (born May 13, 1993) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He appeared on the sixth season of The Voice, first joining Usher’s team and then moving on to Adam Levine’s. He signed with Panacea Records after his elimination from the playoffs that season, and in 2015 his debut EP, Stand Alone, was made available.
Wallen signed with Big Loud in 2016, and his debut album, If I Know Me, was released in 2018. Tracks “Up Down” (with Florida Georgia Line), “Whiskey Glasses” and “Chasin’ You” are all included. on the album. On Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, If I Know Me peaked at No. 1. Dangerous: The Double Album by Wallen, which was released in January 2021, became the only country album to spend the first seven weeks at the No. 1 in the 64-year history of the Billboard 200 as of February 2021. The first album to do so since Whitney Houston’s Whitney in 1987 spent a total of ten weeks there. The album’s singles “More Than My Hometown”, “7 Summers”, and “Wasted on You” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
After his eviction from Kid Rock’s steakhouse in Nashville in May 2020, Wallen was charged with disorderly behavior. He was also barred from appearing on Saturday Night Live the following October after video evidence revealed he had violated NBC’s COVID-19 guidelines. A video of Wallen using a racial epithet was released to the public in February 2021. His record label temporarily suspended him following the event, and some major US radio stations stopped playing his music. Despite the criticism, Wallen’s songs peaked in popularity after the event.
Early life
On May 13, 1993, in Sneedville, Tennessee, Tommy and Lesli Wallen had their first child, Morgan. Wallen studied violin and piano when he was younger. In college, he wanted to play baseball, but an elbow injury caused him to turn to music.
Career
2014: The Voice
Wallen took part in season 6 of The Voice in 2014, first on Usher’s team and then on Adam Levine’s team. He was fired during the playoffs.
2015: Standalone EP and Panacea Records
Wallen began working with Atom Smash’s Sergio Sanchez while in California for his appearance on The Voice. Wallen met Bill Ray and Paul Trust of Panacea Records through Sanchez. Dominic Frost played guitar alongside Wallen when he signed with Panacea Records in 2015. On August 24, 2015 the EP Stand Alone was released. The Recording Industry Association of America certified Wallen’s debut song for Panacea Records, “Spin You Around”, as gold on April 21, 2021. In 2015, Seth England of Big Loud Shirt asked Wallen to perform for his bandmates at Big Loud Records after receiving a tape from Wallen via Dirk Hemsath of Working Group Artist Management. Wallen was signed by the label and the publisher.
2016–2019: Big Loud Records and If I Know Myself
Wallen joined Big Loud Records in 2016 and released his first single, “The Way I Talk”. The song “Preachin’ to the Choir” from A Thousand Horses was co-written by him. Wallen released a music video for “The Way I Talk” in April 2017. On Florida Georgia Line’s Dig Your Roots Tour, he joined them. Along with Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard, Brian Kelley and Jordan Schmidt, Wallen co-wrote Jason Aldean’s song “You Make It Easy” in 2017.
If I Know Me, Wallen’s debut album, was released on April 27, 2018. The album’s second song, “Up Down”, which Florida Georgia Line contributed to, peaked on Billboard at number sixteen. Wallen, however, said in an interview that he preferred not to be called the “Up Down” guy. The album’s third single, “Whiskey Glasses”, was released on July 30 via Wallen.
The song was both Billboard’s Top Hot Country Hit and Top Country Airplay Song for 2019, peaking at No. 1 on Country Airplay in June. Wallen traveled with Florida Georgia Line in 2019 as part of their Can’t Say I Ain’t Country Tour. Wallen made an appearance on a WWE Raw broadcast on December 3, 2018. “Chasin’ You”, a Wallen single, debuted at Billboard Country Digital Song Sales at No. 5 in July 2019. The song “The Fall” by Dallas Smith included Wallen as a co-writer.
If I Know Myself spent a record 114 weeks at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart in August 2020.
2020–present: Dangerous
The lead track from Wallen’s second studio album, “More Than My Hometown”, was made available to country radio on May 27, 2020. Wallen’s song “7 Summers”, which was released on August 14, has set a new record for the number of first-day streams for a country song on Apple Music. It debuted and peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, giving it its first top 10 position. Additionally, Time selected the song as one of the best songs of 2020. Dangerous: The Double Album , slated for release on January 8, 2021, was the title of Wallen’s second album, which he said would be a double album on November 11. In the short “7 Summers” video, Wallen included an Easter egg that revealed the album’s release date.
The Double Album, which debuted at number one on the Canadian and US album charts, is dangerous. It was the first new album by a country singer to do so since Garth Brooks’ The Chase in 1992. It topped the Canadian and US charts for four and six weeks, respectively. Is Morgan Wallen Country’s Next Global Star? was the title of the Billboard cover featuring Wallen. In the week following the release of his album, Wallen quickly made history by simultaneously scoring six Hot Country Songs top 10 tracks: “Wasted on You”, “More Than My Hometown”, “Somebody’s Problem”, “7 Summers,” “Sand in My Boots,” and “Warning.” Additionally, Wallen charted 23 of the album’s songs on the Canadian Hot 100 and 19 of them on the American Hot 100, including “Cover Me Up” and “This Bar”.
Wallen was still incredibly popular following the episode of racial slurs in early February. The week after the uproar, sales of Dangerous albums surged. Sales of physical and digital albums increased by almost 100% in some cases in the week following the incident. Dangerous continued to top the Billboard 200 chart during the week of February 13, 2021, while Wallen’s debut album If I Know Me made its first top 10 appearance despite controversy. Dangerous continued atop the Billboard 200 in the weeks that followed, giving Wallen the most weeks at the top of the chart by a male artist since Drake’s Views in 2016.
At the first-ever Country Now Awards on Dec. 8, 2021, Wallen took home two accolades, including Favorite Male Artist and Favorite Album (for “Dangerous: The Double Album”). Wallen made an unexpected appearance at MLK Freedom Fest at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on January 15, 2022, to perform their joint song “Broadway Girls” with Lil Durk.
For his album Dangerous, he was awarded Album of the Year at the Academy of Country Music in 2022. Tyler Joe Miller’s February 2022 song “Wild as Her” featured Wallen as a co-writer.
Morgan Wallen
controversies
Wallen was arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct in downtown Nashville in May 2020 outside Kid Rock’s bar. On social networks, he regretted his accusations.
After the Alabama vs. Texas A&M football game, Wallen partied at a pub in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, according to TikTok records. This has caused anger on social media during the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. A week before his scheduled appearance on Saturday Night Live on October 10, 2020, the game was played on October 3, 2020. In the tapes, Wallen was shown acting inappropriately, singing at a house party without a mask and kissing women. On October 7, he said his performance on Saturday Night Live was postponed because he violated the program’s COVID-19 rules. Later, Wallen made a musical appearance on the December 5 show. He made an appearance in a parody skit on the issue.
A video showing Wallen using the word “nigger” with pals as they entered his Nashville home was released by TMZ on Feb. 2, 2021. He apologized in a statement for using the racial epithet. Due to the event, Wallen’s music was temporarily taken off the air on SiriusXM Satellite Radio, iHeartRadio, Entercom (now Audacy, Inc.), Cumulus, and Townsquare. Additionally, Wallen’s tracks and promotional images were removed from Apple Music, Pandora, and Spotify featured playlists; however, a week later, Spotify returned Wallen’s music to its playlists.
Wallen’s appearances on CMT and Country Music Association platforms have been terminated, and his record label Big Loud (and collaborator Republic Records) suspended their recording agreement with him indefinitely. The 56th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards will not recognize Wallen or his latest album, Dangerous: The Double Album, the Academy of Country Music said Feb. 3, 2021.
Wallen recorded an apology video on February 10, 2021, in which he pleaded with his followers not to defend him. That same day, Jason Isbell, the song’s original vocalist, said he would donate all proceeds from Wallen’s cover to the NAACP. Despite the ensuing scandal and criticism, Wallen’s music continued to be appreciated; in fact, his record sales increased following the incident, eventually becoming the best-selling album of 2021.
Following a surge in album sales, in April 2021 Wallen donated $300,000 to the Black Music Action Coalition on behalf of the 20 people who gave him advice after the incident. These individuals were offered the opportunity to make their respective donations of $15,000 to BMAC or a charity of their choice.
On July 23, 2021, Wallen discussed his Good Morning America remarks in public and admitted that “he was wrong” for saying those things because “he was with some of his buddies, and they say stuff stupid together”. When Wallen’s single “Sand in My Boots” was released in August 2021, his songs again received airplay on country radio.
Wallen was nominated for Favorite Male Country Artist and Favorite Country Album at the 2021 American Music Awards, but he was not invited to the event, which prevented him from winning any awards if he triumphed – which he didn’t – because he was unable to attend. In April 2021, author Holly G. launched the Black Opry, a website and traveling journal devoted to black country music musicians, in response to Wallen’s use of a racial epithet.
In January 2022, Wallen and Ernest performed the latter’s hit “Flower Shops” at the Grand Ole Opry. Since this concert took place just six months after the Grand Ole Opry’s Twitter account posted a statement condemning racism at the venue, it was immediately condemned by some fans and fellow musicians.
