Ben Hayslip (born March 11, 1970, in

Evans, Georgia Evans is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Columbia County, Georgia, United States. It is a suburb of Augusta and is part of the Augusta metropolitan area. The population was 29,011 at the 2010 census, up from 1 ...

) is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

songwriter.

Early life

Born in

, Hayslip was a freshman quarterback for the 1984 state champ Valdosta Wildcats of

Valdosta High School Valdosta High School is a public high school located in Valdosta, Georgia, United States. It is a part of the Valdosta City School District. The boundary of the school district (for which this is the sole comprehensive high school) is that of t ...

Valdosta Valdosta is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County in the U.S. state of Georgia. As the principal city of the Valdosta metropolitan statistical area, which in 2023 had a metropolitan population of 151,118, according to the US Census B ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. Hayslip’s family moved to Evans, Georgia, in January 1985, where he would become a four-year starter on the Evans Knights baseball team in Evans, Georgia and capture a 1987 State runner-up, a 1988 State Championship. Hayslip participated in the 1988 Georgia North/South All-State game. Hayslip attended Georgia Southern University to play baseball and was a member of the 1990 team that participated in the College World Series in Omaha Nebraska. Hayslip interned with WRDW TV 12 in Augusta, Georgia in 1993-1994 while in college. After graduating from Georgia Southern University in 1994, Hayslip moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, to pursue a career in country music.

Career

Hayslip has co-written many hit songs including " Gimmie That Girl" and " The Shape I'm In" by

Joe Nichols Joseph Edward Nichols (born November 26, 1976) is an American country music artist. Between 1996 and 2001, he held recording contracts with the Intersound and Giant Records (Warner), Giant labels. In 2002, he signed with Universal South Records, ...

and "Chicken and Biscuits" by

Colt Ford Jason Farris Brown (born August 27, 1969) known professionally as Colt Ford, is an American country rap musician, songwriter, entrepreneur, and former professional golfer. He is also the co-founder of record label Average Joes Entertainment. ...

. Hayslip also co-wrote

Martina McBride Martina Mariea McBride (née Schiff, July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is known for her soprano singing range and her country pop material. McBride was born in Sharon, Kansas, and relocated to Nashville, T ...

's single " I'm Gonna Love You Through It", Luke Bryan's "

I Don't Want This Night to End "I Don't Want This Night to End" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Luke Bryan. It was released in September 2011 as the second single from his album ''Tailgates & Tanlines''. The song, written by Bryan, Rhett Akins, ...

", and

Thomas Rhett Thomas Rhett Akins Jr. (born March 30, 1990) is an American country music, country singer-songwriter. He is the oldest son of singer Rhett Akins. Rhett has released seven studio albums for Big Machine Records' Valory Music imprint: ''It Goes ...

's Star of the Show. Hayslip often collaborates with fellow Georgia natives

Rhett Akins Thomas Rhett Akins Sr. (born October 13, 1969) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Decca Records between 1994 and 1997, he released two albums for that label (1995's ''A Thousand Memories'' and 1996's ''Somebody New (a ...

and

Dallas Davidson Dallas Davidson is an American country music singer and songwriter from Albany, Georgia, who has written for artists such as Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Cole Swindell, Jake Owen, Luke Bryan, Randy Houser, Lady Antebellum, and Billy Currin ...

. The trio of songwriters are known as

The Peach Pickers The Peach Pickers are an American songwriting team, composed of Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, and Ben Hayslip. Akins and Hayslip met while attending high school together in Valdosta, Georgia, before Akins signed a contract with Decca Records in ...

. In April 2010, "Gimme That Girl" went to number one on the country music singles charts, the first Hayslip written song to do so."Evans High baseball champ followed his dreams"
/ref> "All About Tonight", "All Over Me", "Honey Bee", "I Don't Want This Night to End" and "The Only Way I Know" all reached number one on the country music charts also. Hayslip won ASCAP Songwriter of the Year in 2011 and 2012. Hayslip has won twenty

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

awards and two song of the year Awards for "Honey Bee" and "It Goes Like This." In 2011, 2013 and 2014 and 2018, Hayslip received the CMA Triple Play Award for having three #1 songs in a twelve-month period. Hayslip was also named ASCAP'S 2011 and 2012 Songwriter of the Year. In 2009, Hayslip had twenty-nine cuts by various artists."Joe Nichols, Peach Pickers Celebrate Another Hit, 'Gimmie That Girl'"
/ref>

Discography

Personal life

He married his wife, Melissa, in 1997. They have three children and live in Lebanon, TN.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayslip, Ben American country songwriters American male songwriters Living people People from Evans, Georgia Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee 1970 births