Steve Earle

He has tied the knot seven times, out of which twice was to the same woman. His wives include, Sandra "Sandy" Henderson, Cynthia Dunn, Carol-Ann Hunter, Lou-Anne Gill, Teresa Ensenat, Lou-Anne Gill and finally to Allison Moorer.

Out of his marriage to Carol-Ann Hunter, Lou-Anne Gill and Allison Moorer, he has fathered three children.

In 1993 and 1994, he was arrested for possession of heroin, cocaine and weapon and sentenced to jail for a year. He then went into a rehab centre where he completed his treatment program.

Steve Earle was born to Jack and Barbara Thomas Earle in Fort Monroe, Virginia. His father was an air traffic controller by profession. He had four siblings.

He spent much of his growing up years in San Antonio, Texas. Musically inclined since young, he first got hands on his guitar at the age of 11. Within two years, he had mastered the stringed device, emerging third at a school contest.

Inspired by legendary folk-rock musicians Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Woody Guthrie, he dropped out of school at the age of 16 and moved to Houston with his uncle who was also a musician.It was at Houston that he finally met his idol, Van Zandt who became his role model.

In 1974, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee. He took up various odd jobs during the day to survive a living, while at night dedicated his time to playing music. He even wrote songs and played bass guitar in Guy Clark’s album, “Old No 1’.

In 1975, he made a cameo appearance in the film, ‘Heartworn Highways’. He even found employment as a staff songwriter for a publishing company called Sunbury Dunbar.

He momentarily returned to Texas and immediately set up a band, ‘The Dukes’. However, his time in Texas was a short-lived one as he moved back to Nashville and started working as a songwriter for the publishers Roy Dea and Pat Clark

His song ‘Mustang Wine’, originally written for Elvis Presley was finally sung by Carl Perkins. Later on, he co-wrote a song with John Scott Sherrill, ‘When You Fall in Love’, which was recorded by Johnny Lee. It made it to the number 14 position on the country charts.

In 1982, he released an EP, ‘Pink & Black’. The following year, the EP was sent to Epic Records, who signed a contract with Earle. In 1983, he signed a record deal with CBS as well, and recorded a ‘neo-rockabilly album’.

Till date, he has received fourteen Grammy nominations in various categories out of which he has won three in the category of Best Contemporary Folk Album for, ‘The Revolution Starts Now’, ‘Washington Square Serenade’ and ‘Townes’

In 1986, he was named Country Artist of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine.

The UK’s BBC Radio 2 awarded him with the Lifetime Achievement Award for song-writing in 2004.

In 2010, he was awarded the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty's Shining Star of Abolition award. The same year, he even won a nomination for an Emmy Award in the Music and Lyrics category, for the song ‘This City’, which was written for the television series Trem�.

In 2011, he was granted honorary degree from the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law.