Craig Wayne Boyd (born December 31, 1978) is an American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

singer and songwriter. A native of

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas, Boyd is based in and resides in

Nashville 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 ...

, Tennessee. He is best known for winning Season 7 of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's reality TV singing competition '' The Voice'' as a part of

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin (Blake Shelton song), Austin" from his Blake Shelton (album), self ...

's team.

Early life

Boyd was born on December 31, 1978, and raised in the Dallas suburb of

Mesquite Mesquite is a common name for some plants in the genera ''Neltuma'' and '' Strombocarpa'', which contain over 50 species of spiny, deep-rooted leguminous shrubs and small trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. Until 2022, these ge ...

. He grew up influenced by gospel and country music. He played many instruments in his youth. He was also his church's choir director.

Career

Early years

Boyd moved to

at the age of 25 in 2004 to pursue a career in

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 ...

. Boyd was signed to a publishing deal with EMI. He spent many years songwriting. Boyd began touring, opening for acts such as

Jamey Johnson Jamey Johnson (born July 14, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to BNA Records in 2005, Johnson made his debut with his single "The Dollar (song), The Dollar", the title track to his 2006 album ''The Dollar (album ...

Randy Houser Shawn Randolph Houser (born December 18, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Houser has racked up over half a dozen hits and over 1 billion streams. His How Country Feels album topped the country radio charts with the title ...

, and

Brantley Gilbert Brantley Keith Gilbert (born January 20, 1985) is an American country rock singer, songwriter and record producer from Jefferson, Georgia. He was originally signed to Colt Ford's label, Average Joes Entertainment, where he released '' Modern D ...

''The Voice'' (2014)

On Sept. 30, 2014, Boyd debuted on 7th season of '' The Voice''. During his Blind Audition, Boyd sang " The Whiskey Ain't Workin'" by

Travis Tritt James Travis Tritt (born February 9, 1963) is an American country music, country singer-songwriter. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In t ...

and

Marty Stuart John Marty Stuart (born September 30, 1958) is an American country music, country and bluegrass music singer, songwriter, and musician. Active since 1968, Stuart initially toured with Lester Flatt, and then in Johnny Cash's road band before be ...

. Two coaches (

and

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

) turned around. Boyd chose

as his coach. During the Battle Rounds, Boyd was paired with James David Carter to sing "

Wave on Wave ''Wave on Wave'' is the second studio album by American country music artist Pat Green. Released in 2003 on Universal/Republic Records in association with Mercury Records, it produced two singles for Green on the ''Billboard'' country charts. Th ...

" by

Pat Green Patrick Craven Green (born April 5, 1972) is an American country artist. Active since 1995, he has recorded a total of seven studio albums, including three for Republic Records and two for BNA Records, BNA. Fifteen of his singles have charted on ...

. Coach Shelton chose Carter over Boyd, but Boyd was stolen by Coach

Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani Shelton ( ; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani rose to fame as a member and lead vocalist of the band No Doubt, whose hit singles include " Just a Girl", " Spiderwebs", an ...

. In the Knockout Rounds, Boyd was paired with

Anita Antoinette Anita Antoinette Fearon (born August 4, 1989) is a Jamaican-American reggae singer-songwriter. Antoinette is best known for her appearance on NBC's reality TV singing competition '' The Voice'' Season 3 in which she was eliminated at the Blind ...

. Boyd sang " Can't You See" by

The Marshall Tucker Band The Marshall Tucker Band is an American rock band from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Noted for incorporating blues, country and jazz into an eclectic sound, the Marshall Tucker Band helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s. Wh ...

. Boyd lost the round, but was stolen back by Coach Shelton and advanced to the Live Playoffs. During the Live Playoffs, Boyd sang " Some Kind of Wonderful" and was saved by the Public's votes to advance to the Top 12. For the week of the Top 12, Boyd performed "

You Look So Good in Love "You Look So Good in Love" is a song written by Glen Ballard, Rory Bourke and Kerry Chater, and recorded by American country music artist George Strait. It was released in September 1983 as the lead single from his album '' Right or Wrong''. It wa ...

" by

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait has sold over 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He holds ...

. Boyd was saved by the public's votes. For the week of the Top 10, Boyd performed "

I Walk the Line "I Walk the Line" is a song written and recorded in 1956 by Johnny Cash. After moderate chart success, it soon became Cash's first #1 hit on the ''Billboard'' country chart, and eventually crossed over to the pop charts, reaching #19 on the Bil ...

" by

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

. Boyd was saved by the public vote with his performance in the Top 10 of the iTunes Chart. For the week of the Top Eight, Boyd performed "

Take It Easy "Take It Easy" is the debut single by the American rock band Eagles, written by Jackson Browne and Eagles band member Glenn Frey, who also provides lead vocals. It was released on May 1, 1972, and peaked at No. 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 ...

" by the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

. Boyd was saved by the public vote and advanced to the Top Five. For the week of the Semi-finals, Coach Shelton picked " Workin' Man Blues" by

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield ...

for Boyd to sing and Boyd also sang "

The Old Rugged Cross "The Old Rugged Cross" is a popular hymn written in 1912 by American evangelist and song-leader George Bennard (1873–1958). History George Bennard was a native of Youngstown, Ohio, but was reared in Iowa. After his conversion in a Salvat ...

" which was in the iTunes Top 10. Boyd advanced to the finals. For the week of the Finals, Boyd performed three songs. He performed " In Pictures" by

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

as his solo song. He performed "

Boots On "Boots On" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Randy Houser. It was released in February 2009 as the second single from his debut album ''Anything Goes''. The song peaked at number 2 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot C ...

" by

as a duet with his coach

. He also performed an original song called " My Baby's Got a Smile on Her Face". The song was written for Shelton, but he decided to give it to Boyd. The song is Boyd's debut single. Boyd was declared the winner on December 16, 2014, giving

's team its fourth win out of the seven Seasons. He beat out

Matt McAndrew Matthew Brendan McAndrew (born September 6, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his appearance in Season 7 of NBC's reality TV singing competition '' The Voice'', where he finished as the runner-up as part of Team Adam. In J ...

Chris Jamison Christopher Franklin Jamison (born June 6, 1994), better known as Chris Jamison is an American singer best known for his appearance in season 7 of NBC's reality TV singing competition '' The Voice'' on Adam Levine's team. Early life Jamison wa ...

, and Damien, all three of whom were from Team

Adam Levine Adam Noah Levine ( ; born March 18, 1979) is an American musician who is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and sole continuous member of the pop rock band Maroon 5. Levine began his musical career in 1994 with the band Kara's Flowers, for ...

. Shortly after winning the show and signing with

Universal Republic Republic Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Based in New York City, it was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially ...

and

Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In its early years, Dot sp ...

, Boyd played at the Grand Ole Opry and went on a 65 city tour. In early May 2015, following 6 weeks of rumors, it was reported that Boyd parted ways with Dot. Boyd released one single under Dot records "My Baby’s Got A Smile On Her Face", which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs. His second single "I'm Still Here" was released to iTunes under his own imprint – Long Haul Records. The song peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard Digital charts. : – Studio version of performance reached the top 10 on iTunes

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Singles

Releases from ''The Voice''

Albums

Singles

Music videos

Notes

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Craig Wayne Living people American male singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters People from Mesquite, Texas The Voice (franchise) winners Singer-songwriters from Texas Country musicians from Texas 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters 1978 births