Eric Lafon Heatherly (born February 21, 1970) is an American singer. In 2000, he debuted with a cover of

The Statler Brothers The Statler Brothers (sometimes simply referred to as The Statlers) were an American country music, gospel, and vocal group from Staunton, Virginia. The quartet was formed in 1955 performing locally, and from 1964 to 1972, they sang as opening a ...

' "

Flowers on the Wall "Flowers on the Wall" is a song originally recorded by American country music group The Statler Brothers. Written and composed by Lew DeWitt, the group's original tenor vocalist, the song peaked in popularity in January 1966, spending four weeks ...

", the first of three singles from his debut album ''

Swimming in Champagne Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

'', which was issued in 2000 on

Mercury Nashville Records Music Corporation of America, formerly known as Universal Music Group Nashville, is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. It was officially opened in 1945 as MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville which opened on New Year's Day 1950 a ...

. A second album for Mercury was planned in 2001 but not released, due to the label's restructuring. By 2002, he had signed to

DreamWorks Nashville DreamWorks Records (often referred in copyright notices as SKG Music, LLC) was an American record label founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Mo Ostin, his son Michael Ostin and Lenny Waronker as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. The label operated ...

, where he recorded a third studio album which was also unreleased. His fourth overall album, and second to be released, was 2005's ''The Lower East Side of Life'', issued on his own NashVegas Records label.

Biography

Eric Heatherly was born February 21, 1970, in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

. Influenced at an early age by

country rock Country rock is a music genre that fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal sty ...

acts such as

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American Rock music, rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, h ...

, Eric wrote his first song at 8. Throughout his teenage years, Heatherly played guitar in several bands in the Chattanooga area. He later 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 ...

, where he gained a following as a musician, as well as endorsements for guitar manufacturers

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC, or simply Fender) is an American manufacturer and marketer of musical instruments and amplifiers. Fender produces acoustic guitars, bass amplifiers and public address equipment; however, it is b ...

and

Takamine Guitars is a Japanese guitar manufacturer based in Nakatsugawa, Gifu, Japan. It's considered to be one of the world's major brands of steel-string acoustic guitars. In 1978, it was one of the first guitar companies to introduce acoustic-electric model ...

. At the 1997

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) is an American trade association with the stated aim of promoting and developing country music throughout the world. Founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee, it originally consisted of 233 members and was the f ...

awards show, Heatherly also played lead guitar in

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( ; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time and the best-sel ...

's band.

Musical career

In 2000, Heatherly was signed to

as a recording artist. His debut single was a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

' 1965 debut single "

". Heatherly's rendition was a Top Ten hit on the ''Billboard''

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart, peaking at #6 in mid-2000. The song served as the first single from his debut album. Entitled ''

'', the album was co-produced by

Keith Stegall Robert Keith Stegall (born November 1, 1955) is an American country music recording artist and record producer. Active since 1980, Stegall has recorded two major-label studio albums: 1985's ''Keith Stegall'' and 1996's ''Passages'', although he ...

. Due to a restructuring of Mercury Nashville's parent company, ''Swimming in Champagne'' received minimal promotion; its second and third singles peaked at #46 and at #32 on the chart. Heatherly had also recorded a second album for Mercury, but it was not released, and Heatherly was dropped from the label by 2002. A month after parting ways with Mercury, Heatherly signed to

DreamWorks Records DreamWorks Records (often referred in copyright notices as SKG Music, LLC) was an American record label founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Mo Ostin, his son Michael Ostin and Lenny Waronker as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. The label opera ...

' Nashville division. His third album, to be titled ''Sometimes It's Just Your Time'', was to have been released in late 2002. Its lead-off single ("The Last Man Committed") entered the country music chart; although promotional advance copies of the album, ''Sometimes It's Just Your Time'', had been issued, it was ultimately unreleased as well. Three years after his departure from DreamWorks's roster, he founded a personal label named NashVegas Records, with

Koch Records MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch"), formerly known as Koch Records and Entertainment One (eOne) Music/Records, is an American independent record label and music management company based in New York City. It was formed in 1987 as a music div ...

serving as distributor. His fourth album overall (but only the second to be released), '' The Lower East Side of Life'', was issued in 2005, though no singles were released from it. After ''The Lower East Side of Life'', Heatherly continued to tour, in addition to manufacturing custom-made guitar straps. Through the help of songwriter and producer Carson Chamberlain, Heatherly recorded a song called "Unforgettable", which appeared in an episode of ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...

''. He has also recorded another album, ''2 High 2 Cry'', released in 2009. A second self-released album, ''Painkillers'', followed in 2010.

Discography

Albums

;Notes *A ^ ''Swimming in Champagne'' also peaked at number 6 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' Country Albums chart in Canada.

Singles

;Notes *A ^ "Flowers on the Wall" also peaked at number 3 on the ''

'' Country Tracks chart in Canada.

Music videos

External links

AGR Television Records
International Record Label of Eric Heatherly (multi-lingual)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heatherly, Eric 1970 births American country guitarists American country rock singers American male guitarists American country singer-songwriters Living people Musicians from Chattanooga, Tennessee Mercury Records artists DreamWorks Records artists Singer-songwriters from Tennessee Guitarists from Tennessee Country musicians from Tennessee 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American guitarists American male singer-songwriters American rockabilly guitarists