Christopher Norris Cagle (born November 10, 1968) is an American country music artist. He was first known for writing songs for David Kersh before signing to Virgin Records Nashville in 2000. Cagle made his debut on Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts with "My Love Goes On and On", the first single from his debut album Play It Loud. The album, which was certified gold in the US, also produced the Top 10 "Laredo" and "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out", his only No. 1 hit.

Play It Loud was followed in 2002 by Chris Cagle, released on Capitol Records Nashville. A gold album in the United States, it produced the Top 5 hits "What a Beautiful Day" and "Chicks Dig It". Anywhere but Here, his third album, followed in 2005 and produced the No. 12 hit "Miss Me Baby". A fourth studio album, titled My Life's Been a Country Song, was released in 2008, and its lead-off single, "What Kinda Gone", peaked at No. 3 on the country music chart in early 2008. After exiting Capitol in 2008, he signed with Bigger Picture Music Group in 2011, before retiring from music in 2015.

Biography

Christopher Norris Cagle was born in DeRidder, Louisiana, on November 10, 1968; Cagle later dropped out of college and moved to Nashville in 1994 at the behest of entertainment attorney Rod Phelps. Chris told Phelps that he "...had no place to live, no job, and no money." Phelps hired Cagle as a nanny for his and wife Sheila Wagnon's three daughters, Shayna, Ashley, and Tiffany. Chris remained for several months. While in Nashville, Cagle was waiting tables and tending bar while working to improve himself as a songwriter. One big break came when he met the legendary Harlan Howard, who was so impressed with Chris's songwriting progress that he was the first to publish one of his songs. He was ordered sixty days of vocal rest and did not sing for nearly three months after the diagnosis.

2005–2006: Anywhere but Here

After his vocal recovery, Cagle began work on his third studio album, Anywhere but Here, which was released in 2005. "Miss Me Baby" served as the album's first single, reaching No. 12 on the country chart. The other two singles — "Wal-Mart Parking Lot" and the title track, which had also been a single for Brice Long in 2005 – both failed to enter the Top 40.

In August 2006, a Nashville judge ordered Cagle to pay approximately $737,000 to former manager Mark Hybner, whom Chris had sued in 2004 in an effort to void management and publishing deals he had signed in 1999.

2007–2010: My Life's Been a Country Song and The Best of Chris Cagle

His eleventh single, "What Kinda Gone", was released to country radio in late 2007. Peaking at No. 3, it was the lead-off single to his fourth studio album My Life's Been a Country Song, which was released on February 19, 2008. The second single from the album, "No Love Songs", was released in May; it debuted and peaked at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of May 24, 2008. "Never Ever Gone" did not chart, and Cagle parted ways with Capitol Nashville by year's end. The label released a greatest hits album in 2010 titled The Best of Chris Cagle.

2010–2013: Back in the Saddle

In 2010, Cagle signed with the Bigger Picture Music Group. He released a new single, "Got My Country On", on June 28, 2011. The song became Cagle's first top 20 country hit since "What Kinda Gone". His first album for the label, Back in the Saddle, was released on June 26, 2012. The album produced two more singles, "Let There Be Cowgirls" and "Dance Baby Dance", before Bigger Picture Music Group folded in 2013. In October 2015, Cagle announced his retirement from the music industry. He currently lives in Houston, Texas, as of 2020.

Personal life

Cagle graduated from Ross S. Sterling High School in Baytown, Texas, in 1987.

He married school teacher Elizabeth Filer on September 10, 2001, in Houston, Texas, but the marriage ended in divorce in 2003. On October 3, 2005, he announced on his website that he was not the biological father of his then-girlfriend's baby. Cagle is a brother of the Texas Kappa chapter of Phi Delta Theta.

In 2008, Cagle and his girlfriend, Jennifer Tant, were jailed following a domestic assault issue for which Cagle was arrested in November 2007.

In December 2010, Cagle married his second wife, Kay, and became a stepfather to Khloe, her daughter from a previous marriage. Cagle has two biological daughters with Kay; Stella (b. 2010) and Piper (b. 2011).

On December 15, 2013, he was arrested in Greenville, Texas, on "suspicion of driving while intoxicated."

Discography

;Studio albums

  • Play It Loud (2000)
  • Chris Cagle (2003)
  • Anywhere but Here (2005)
  • My Life's Been a Country Song (2008)
  • Back in the Saddle (2012)

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable"

!Year

!Organization

!Award

!Nominee/Work

!Result

|-

|rowspan=3| 2002

|Academy of Country Music Awards

|Top New Male Vocalist

|Chris Cagle

|

|-

|CMT Flameworthy Awards

|Breakthrough Video of the Year

|"I Breathe In, I Breathe Out"

|

|-

|CMT Flameworthy Awards

|Hottest Video of the Year

|"I Breathe In, I Breathe Out"

|

|}

References

  • Chris Cagle official site