The following is a list of notable people who have lived in Nashville, Tennessee.

Native Nashvillians

People born in Tennessee:

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Name

! Birth year

! Notability

! Reference

|-

| John Adams

| 1825

| Brigadier general during the American Civil War

|

|-

|Shak Adams

|1998

|Soccer player

|

|-

| Duane Allman

| 1946

| Guitarist and founding member of the Allman Brothers Band

|

|-

| Gregg Allman

| 1947

| Singer, keyboardist and founding member of the Allman Brothers Band

|

|-

| Frank Maxwell Andrews

| 1884

| Important figure in U.S. military aviation

|

|-

| Casey Atwood

| 1980

| NASCAR driver

|

|-

| Alfred Bartles

| 1930

| Composer of jazz/classical crossover music

|

|- valign="top"

| Bill Belichick

| 1952

| Former head coach of six-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots

|

|-

| Madison Smartt Bell

| 1957

| Novelist

|

|-

| Julian Bond

| 1940

| Civil rights activist

|

|-

| Robert Earl Bonney

| 1882

| U.S. Navy Medal of Honor recipient, 1910

|

|-

| Linn Boyd

| 1800

| Member of Congress from Kentucky and speaker of the United States House of Representatives

|

|-

| Beverly Briley

| 1914

| Mayor of Nashville, 1963–1975

|

|-

| David Briley

| 1964

| Mayor of Nashville, 2018

|

|-

| Marvelyn Brown

| 1984

| HIV/AIDS activist

|

|-

| Thomas Bunday

| 1948

| Serial killer who murdered six women in Fairbanks, Alaska

|-

| Kitty Cheatham

| 1864

| Singer and actress

|

|-

| Sara Ward Conley

| 1859

| Artist

|

|-

| James Craig

| 1912

| Actor

|

|-

| Anne Dallas Dudley

| 1876

| Women's suffrage activist

|

|-

| Thomas Fletcher

| 1817

| Arkansas politician

|

|-

| Colin Ford

| 1996

| Actor

|

|-

| Morris Frank

| 1908

| Founder, the Seeing Eye, first guide dog training school

|-

| Bill Frist

| 1952

| Former U.S. Senate majority leader

|

|-

| John Gordy

| 1935

| Tennessee Volunteers and Detroit Lions football player

|-

| Dick Griffey

| 1938

| Record executive and promoter

|

|-

| Red Grooms

| 1937

| Artist

|

|-

| Noodles Hahn

| 1879

| Major League Baseball player

|

|-

| Bobby Hamilton

| 1957

| NASCAR driver

|

|-

|Demonte Harper

| 1989

|American basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League

|

|-

| Bobby Hebb

| 1938

| R&B/soul songwriter, singer, musician known for the hit "Sunny"

|

|-

| Les Hunter

| 1942

| Center of 1963 Loyola Ramblers basketball national championship team

|

|-

| Thomas Setzer Hutchison

| 1875

| Military officer, police commissioner, civil reformer, author, inventor

|

|-

| Lillian Jackson

| 1919

| All-American Girls Professional Baseball League founding member

|

|-

| Marion James

| 1934

| Blues singer

|

|- valign="top"

| Claude Jarman Jr.

| 1934

| Actor

|

|-

| Randall Jarrell

| 1914

| Poet and writer

|

|-

| Jeff Jarrett

|1967

| Professional wrestler

|

|-

| Claude Jonnard

| 1897

| Professional baseball player for the New York Giants

|

|-

| Caleb Joseph

| 1986

| Major League Baseball player

|-

| Lucille La Verne

| 1872

| Actress

|

|-

| Margaret Landis

| 1890

| Silent screen actress

|

|-

| Mary Louise Lester

| 1921

| All-American Girls Professional Baseball League founding member

|

|-

| Kathy Liebert

| 1967

| World Series of Poker bracelet winner

|

|-

| Beth Littleford

| 1968

| Comedian and actress

|

|-

| Ellen McLain

| 1952

| Voice actress

|

|-

| Ron Mercer

| 1976

| Professional basketball player

|

|-

| Tom Moran

| 1899

| Football player

|

|-

|William Morrison

| 1860

| Dentist, inventor of cotton candy

|

|-

| Alice Oates

| 1849

| Actress and pioneer of musical theatre

|

|-

| Chord Overstreet

| 1989

| Singer, songwriter, TV actor

|

|-

| Bettie Page

| 1923

| Pin-up model

|

|-

| Keith Paskett

| 1964

| Professional football player for Green Bay Packers

|

|-

| James B. Pearson

| 1920

| U.S. Senator

||

|-

| Antoinette Van Leer Polk

| 1847

| French baroness

|-

| Annie Potts

| 1952

| Actress

|

|-

| Shelton Quarles

| 1971

| Professional football player for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

|

|-

| Emily J. Reynolds

| 1956

| Former Secretary of the U.S. Senate

|

|-

| Robert Ryman

| 1930

| Visual artist

|

|-

|Hillary Scott

| 1986

|Singer-songwriter, member of country music trio Lady Antebellum

|

|-

| John Seigenthaler

| 1927

| Journalist, writer, and political figure

|

|-

| Jackie Shane

| 1940

| Soul and rhythm and blues singer; among first black transgender musicians to chart

|

|-

| Nate Simpson

| 1954

| Football player

|

|-

| Ahmaad Smith

| 1983

| Football player

|

|-

| Edwin Starr

| 1942

| Motown soul and R&B singer/songwriter

|-

| Turkey Stearnes

| 1901

| Baseball player

|

|-

| Samuel Stritch

| 1887

| First American member of the Roman Curia

|

|-

| Phillip Supernaw

| 1990

| NFL player

|

|-

| Andrea True

| 1943

| Pornstar and disco singer

|

|-

| Anthony Van Leer

| 1783

| Prominent iron works owner in Tennessee

|

|-

| Carlos Clark Van Leer

| 1865

| United States Army officer and chief of personnel at Department of the Treasury

|

|-

| Eric Volz

| 1979

| Magazine publisher wrongfully convicted of murder in Nicaragua

|

|-

| Lark Voorhies

| 1974

| Television actress

|

|-

| Charlie Wade

| 1950

| Football player

|

|-

| Chuck Wagner

| 1958

| Actor

|

|-

| William Walker

| 1824

| Journalist, adventurer, and briefly the President of Nicaragua

|

|-

| Gretchen Walsh

| 2003

| Swimmer

|

|-

| Kitty Wells

| 1919

| Musician and singer, commonly referred to as the Queen of Country Music

|

|-

| Hank Williams III

| 1972

| Singer and musician

|

|-

| Walter K. Wilson Sr.

| 1880

| US Army major general

|

|-

| Del Wood

| 1920

| Ragtime, gospel, and country music pianist

|

|-

| Young Buck

| 1981

| Rapper

|

|-

|}

Musicians and songwriters

With its status as a major hub of music production (especially country and gospel music), Nashville attracts a wide array of musicians, singers, and songwriters.

  • Roy Acuff – country singer-songwriter; co-founder (with Fred Rose) of the Acuff-Rose publishing house
  • Dean Alexander – country singer-songwriter
  • Chet Atkins – country guitarist and record producer
  • The Band Perry – country pop band
  • Dave Barnes – acoustic singer-songwriter
  • Greg Bates – country singer-songwriter
  • David Berman – singer-songwriter of Silver Jews
  • Beeb Birtles – former member of Little River Band
  • Pat Boone (Charles Eugene Boone) – pop singer and actor
  • Jordana Bryant – country/pop singer-songwriter, originally from Pennsylvania
  • Bully – rock band
  • J. J. Cale – songwriter and musician, known for writing "After Midnight" and "Cocaine"
  • Glen Campbell – pop and country musician, TV personality and actor, sang "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"
  • Johnny Cash – country singer-songwriter and actor, known to his fans as "The Man in Black"
  • June Carter Cash – country singer-songwriter, wife of Johnny Cash, and member of the A.P. Carter family
  • Desmond Child – hit rock/pop songwriter for Cher, Kiss, Aerosmith, Ricky Martin, Bonnie Tyler, Bon Jovi, and others
  • Cimorelli – YouTube girl group, originally from El Dorado Hills, California
  • The Civil Wars – folk/Americana duo
  • Kelly Clarkson – pop singer-songwriter, first winner of American Idol
  • Patsy Cline – country singer-songwriter, first woman in Country Music Hall of Fame
  • Kyle Cook – singer-songwriter of Matchbox Twenty
  • Rita Coolidge – pop recording artist and songwriter
  • Billy Cox – bassist, last surviving member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience
  • Sheryl Crow – singer-songwriter, actress
  • Billy Ray Cyrus – country singer-songwriter, and actor; father of Miley Cyrus and Noah Cyrus
  • Miley Cyrus – country/pop singer-songwriter, star of Hannah Montana; daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus and older sister of Noah Cyrus
  • Noah Cyrus – singer-songwriter, and actress; daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus and younger sister of Miley Cyrus
  • Steve Earle – country singer-songwriter
  • Tommy Emmanuel – guitarist, native to Australia but lives in Nashville
  • The Everly Brothers – pop music duo
  • Zac Farro – drummer
  • Fisk Jubilee Singers – gospel choir
  • Lester Flatt – bluegrass pioneer
  • Béla Fleck – banjoist, lived in Nashville most of his young adulthood, originally from New York City
  • Dan Fogelberg – singer-songwriter of diverse musical styles, top-selling musician of 1970s–80s
  • Ben Folds – singer-songwriter, former frontman of Ben Folds Five
  • Framing Hanley – alternative rock band
  • Peter Frampton – English rock musician, producer, songwriter, lives in Nashville
  • Russ Freeman – lead of award-winning jazz band, The Rippingtons
  • Kathy Lee Gifford – television host, singer-songwriter, actress, and author
  • Josh Gracin – country singer
  • Amy Grant – singer-songwriter known for Christian themes
  • Emmylou Harris – country singer-songwriter, and musician
  • Kerry Harvick – country singer-songwriter, cast member of the hit reality series Bad Girls Club
  • Brandon Heath – Christian singer-songwriter
  • Bobby Hebb – R&B/soul songwriter, musician, singer known for the song "Sunny"
  • John Hiatt – songwriter and musician
  • Faith Hill – country music singer
  • Robyn Hitchcock – English alternative-rock musician
  • Hot Chelle Rae – popular rock pop band
  • Harlan Howard – Music Row songwriter
  • David Hungate – bassist for Toto, also recorded with several country artists
  • Alan Jackson – country singer-songwriter
  • Jelly Roll – musician, songwriter, lyricist
  • Struggle Jennings – musician, songwriter, lyricist
  • Waylon Jennings – country singer-guitarist
  • Naomi Judd – mother-daughter (with Wynonna Judd) country music singer-songwriter
  • Wynonna Judd – mother-daughter (with Naomi Judd) country music singer-songwriter
  • Jet Jurgensmeyer – teen actor and musician
  • Donny Kees – musician and songwriter
  • Kesha – pop singer
  • Kings of Leon – rock musicians
  • Robert Knight – R&B singer best known for the hit "Everlasting Love"
  • Kris Kristofferson – country singer-songwriter and actor
  • Lady Antebellum – country music trio group
  • Brenda Lee – pop singer, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Little Big Town – country music group
  • Little Richard – rock musician
  • Kimberley Locke – pop and R&B singer
  • Liam Lynch – musician and co-creator of the television show Sifl and Olly
  • Loretta Lynn – country singer-songwriter
  • Mandisa – Christian music artist
  • Barbara Mandrell – country singer-songwriter
  • Chris Marion – member of classic rock's Little River Band
  • Martina McBride – singer-songwriter
  • Tim McGraw – country music singer-songwriter and actor
  • Reba McEntire – country music singer and actress
  • Roger Miller – country singer-songwriter, known for "King of the Road"
  • Neal Morse – singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader and progressive rock composer based in Nashville
  • Dave Mustaine – lead musician for heavy metal band Megadeth
  • Willie Nelson – guitarist and country singer, member of the outlaw country movement
  • Aaron Neville – soul singer and member of the Neville Brothers; displaced from his native New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina
  • The New Schematics – indie rock band
  • John Oates – hit rock and soul recording artist from duo Hall & Oates, has homes in Colorado and Nashville
  • St. Louis Jimmy Oden – blues pianist, born here in 1903
  • Roy Orbison – singer-songwriter, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, known for "Pretty Woman"
  • Brad Paisley – country singer-songwriter
  • Paramore – rock musicians
  • Dolly Parton – country singer-songwriter and actress
  • Johnny Paycheck – country singer
  • Wayne Perry – country singer-songwriter and producer
  • Kellie Pickler – country music singer-songwriter
  • Poppy – pop singer-songwriter
  • Millard Powers – member of Counting Crows, musician, songwriter, producer, engineer
  • Rascal Flatts – country music trio
  • Caroline Keating Reed – pianist and music teacher
  • Tex Ritter – singing cowboy
  • Earl Scruggs – bluegrass banjo player
  • Ed Sheeran – English singer, songwriter, producer, actor
  • Blake Shelton – country singer, judge on TV series The Voice
  • Michael W. Smith – Christian music artist
  • Soccer Mommy – indie rock back fronted by Sophie Allison
  • Chris Stapleton – country/bluegrass/rock musician
  • Starlito – rapper
  • Edwin Starr – 1970s funk singer
  • Marty Stuart – country/bluegrass musician; host of his own show on RFD-TV
  • Donna Summer – disco and R&B singer
  • Emma Swift – Australian country/Americana musician
  • Al Gore Jr. – former U.S. vice president and senator; recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
  • Tipper Gore – Second Lady of the United States 1993–2001
  • Bill Hagerty – U.S. senator; former U.S. ambassador to Japan
  • Sam Houston – U.S. congressman, governor of both Tennessee and Texas, and president of the Republic of Texas; namesake of the city of Houston
  • Andrew Jackson – former U.S. president
  • Andrew Johnson – former U.S. president and vice president
  • John Lewis – civil rights leader, U.S. congressman (GA 5th Dist.), and former SNCC chairman
  • Andy Ogles – U.S. representative for Tennessee
  • James K. Polk – former U.S. president
  • James T. Rapier – former U.S. congressman for the 2nd District of Alabama and 19th-century African-American activist
  • Fred Thompson – former U.S. senator and actor
  • Matt Van Epps – U.S. representative for Tennessee

Local

  • Megan Barry – first female mayor of Nashville; first female mayor of Nashville to resign office
  • Phil Bredesen – mayor of Nashville 1991–99, governor of Tennessee 2003–2011
  • John Ray Clemmons (born 1977) – member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing the 55th district, in West Nashville
  • Karl Dean – former mayor of Nashville
  • John Jay Hooker – attorney, perennial candidate, and political gadfly

Other Nashvillians

Artists and writers

  • Emelie C. S. Chilton – writer, editor
  • Greg Downs – Flannery O'Connor Award-winning short story writer
  • Tony Earley – novelist and short story writer
  • Karen Kingsbury – novelist
  • Harmony Korine – filmmaker and artist
  • Rachel Korine – actress and photographer, married to Harmony Korine
  • Alan LeQuire – sculptor
  • Jon Meacham – Pulitzer-prize winning writer, reviewer, historian and presidential biographer
  • Ann Patchett – novelist
  • T. M. Schleier – early photographer
  • Robert Penn Warren – Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and poet
  • Tennessee Williams – foremost playwright of 20th-century drama, lived briefly in Nashville

Business leaders

  • Mike Curb – founder of Curb Records, former Lieutenant Governor of California
  • George A. Dickel – liquor distributor
  • Dick Griffey – record producer, music promoter
  • Wallace Rasmussen – businessman, philanthropist, CEO of Beatrice Foods
  • Preston Taylor – minister, businessperson, philanthropist

Civic leaders

  • William N. Bilbo – attorney, lobbyist for passage of the 13th Amendment, ending slavery
  • William Driver – nicknamed the U.S. flag "Old Glory"
  • Francis Guess – Nashville businessman and member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (1983–1989)
  • James Lawson – civil rights leader and Methodist minister
  • John Lewis – civil rights leader and congressman from Georgia's 5th Congressional District
  • Z. Alexander Looby – lawyer active in the American Civil Rights Movement
  • Dan May – civic leader
  • Diane Nash – civil rights leader
  • Azariah Southworth – former host of a Christian television show; LGBT rights advocate

Entertainers

  • Nate Bargatze – comedian
  • Kristin Chenoweth – Tony Award-winning Broadway actress
  • Rachel DiPillo – actress, currently stars in NBC's Chicago Med
  • Doug the Pug – famous dog
  • Natalia Dyer – actress
  • Ralph Emery – country music disc jockey and television host
  • Eddie Frierson – voice actor, playwright
  • Kathie Lee Gifford – television personality and former star of NBC's Today show
  • Phil Harris – comedian, actor, singer, and jazz musician
  • Melissa Joan Hart – actress
  • Patricia Heaton – actress
  • Dwayne Johnson – actor, professional wrestler, alumni of both Glencliff High School and McGavock High School
  • Ashley Judd – actress and political activist
  • Demetria Kalodimos – Emmy Award-winning anchor for WSMV-TV
  • Nicole Kidman – actress
  • Sondra Locke (1944–2018) – Oscar-nominated actress from Shelbyville, Tennessee lived in Nashville most of her young adulthood
  • Minnie Pearl (Sarah Cannon) – country comedian who appeared frequently on the Grand Ole Opry
  • Jason Priestley – actor who starred on the television series Beverly Hills, 90210
  • Dinah Shore – singer, actress, and television personality
  • Richard Speight Jr. – actor
  • Mary Steenburgen – actress, songwriter wife of Ted Danson
  • Frank Sutton – actor, played Sergeant Carter on the hit TV series Gomer Pyle
  • Lee Summers – actor and theatre producer
  • Austin Swift – actor, brother of Taylor Swift
  • Niki Taylor – supermodel and TV presenter
  • Adair Tishler – actress
  • Jim Varney – actor, known for his character Ernest P. Worrell
  • Dawn Wells – actress, Gilligan's Island
  • William Wilkerson – founder of Flamingo Las Vegas hotel, Ciro's nightclub
  • Oprah Winfrey – talk show host, movie producer, and entrepreneur
  • Reese Witherspoon – Academy Award-winning actress
  • Evan Rachel Wood – actress, musician, and star of TV series Westworld

Journalists and talk show hosts

  • Tomi Lahren – political commentator for Fox News
  • Jon Meacham – Pulitzer Prize-winning author; former Newsweek editor
  • Dave Ramsey – talk radio host and author
  • Grantland Rice – sportswriter
  • Fred Russell – sportswriter
  • Pat Sajak – DJ, TV weather reporter, and former host of game show Wheel of Fortune
  • John Seigenthaler Jr. – MSNBC news anchor; son of John Seigenthaler Sr.

Religious leaders

  • Richard Henry Boyd – founder and head of the National Baptist Publishing Board
  • Virginia E. Walker Broughton – author and Baptist missionary
  • James T. Draper Jr. – president of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1982–1984; president of Nashville-based LifeWay Christian Resources, 1991–2006
  • W. T. Handy, Jr. – United Methodist bishop, died in Nashville

Sportspeople

  • Mookie Betts – baseball player
  • Tracy Caulkins – three-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer
  • Eddie George – Heisman Trophy winner, four-time Pro Bowl NFL running back, businessman and professional actor
  • Sonny Gray – Major League Baseball pitcher
  • Scott Hamilton – world champion and Olympic gold medalist ice skater
  • Demonte Harper (born 1989) – basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
  • Mike Hasenfratz – National Hockey League referee
  • Adam Hooker – 2008 Slamball League MVP and starting stopper for Champion Slashers
  • Andy Kirby – NASCAR driver
  • Jessica Kresa – professional wrestler, known as ODB
  • Herb Rich (1928–2008) – 2x All-Pro NFL football player
  • Wilma Rudolph – track star and Olympic gold medalist
  • Martin Strel – long-distance swimmer, Big River Man and actor from Slovenia

Criminals and victims

  • Jesse James – notorious outlaw and bank robber
  • Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, fka Carlos Leon Bledsoe – committed the 2009 jihadi Little Rock military recruiting office shooting
  • Paul Dennis Reid – serial killer nicknamed “The Fast Food Killer”
  • Oscar Franklin Smith – convicted murderer on Tennessee's death row
  • Marcia Trimble – victim of an infamous child murder case

Other

  • Mary R. Calvert (1884–1974) – astronomical computer and astrophotographer
  • Joseph Fuisz – attorney, inventor, and entrepreneur; founder of Fuisz Pharma LLC
  • Richard Fuisz – physician, inventor, and entrepreneur, with connections to the United States military and intelligence community
  • James N. Hardin Jr. – Germanist
  • Amelia Laskey – ornithologist
  • Nat Love – famous African-American cowboy and hero of the Old West
  • Ronal W. Serpas – chief of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, 2004–2010

See also

  • List of people from Tennessee

Notes