Chris LeDoux

He married his wife, Peggy Rhoads, in 1972. They had five children. He was known to be a dedicated husband and father.

He had been suffering from liver ailments and underwent a liver transplant in 2000. He was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2004 and died in March 2005 at the age of 56.

Chris LeDoux was born in Mississippi to Bonnie and Alfred LeDoux. His father was in the U.S Air Force, and the family moved often because of his career.

He learned to ride horses when he was quite young, and participated in his first rodeo riding when he was 13. He won a lot of junior rodeo competitions as a teenager.

He attended Cheyenne Central High School and won the Wyoming State Rodeo Championship in bareback riding twice. It enabled him to earn a rodeo scholarship to Casper College.

His interest in music developed during his college days when he started listening to country soul and began playing the guitar. He wrote his classic tune “Bareback Jack” as a college student.

He also studied at Sheridan and Eastern New Mexico University on another rodeo scholarship. He won the Intercollegiate National bareback riding Championship.

He became a professional rodeo in 1970 and competed on the national rodeo circuit. During this time, he also began to compose songs describing his lifestyle.

He established a recording company, American Cowboy Songs, with his father and released his first album in 1971.

He became the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s (PRCA) world champion in bareback riding in 1976 when he won the National Rodeo Finals in Oklahoma City. This boosted his music career as well because his listeners now knew that the songs he wrote were authentic.

He retired from his career as a professional rodeo in 1980 to concentrate on his music. Within three years he released four albums and sold more than 2,50,000 copies of his album with little marketing.

He also gave concert performances in the 1980’s which were very lively and popular—he rode a mechanical bull between the songs and there were fireworks to add to the excitement.

LeDoux’s 1992 album ‘Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy’ was his most successful album, certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The single ‘Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy’ which he sang with fellow country singer Garth Brooks went on to become one of his most loved songs.

His album ‘Best of Chris LeDoux’, released in 1994 was a collection of some of his most memorable songs. It was accredited Gold in the U.S.

In 1999, the album ’20 Greatest Hits’ was released. It included his biggest hits like ‘Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy’, ‘Gravitational Pull’, ‘and Stampede’, etc. It was his only album to be certified Platinum in the U.S.