Life and career

Overstreet was born in Vancleave, Mississippi, the son of Mary Hatten and William E. Overstreet, a minister, and was raised in Newton. Prior to his solo success, he was one third of the trio S-K-O, in which he recorded one studio album before departing and being replaced with Craig Bickhardt. Overstreet's sons, Nash and Chord, are also musicians. Nash is the lead guitarist for the pop band Hot Chelle Rae, while Chord played Sam Evans on Glee. At one time, Overstreet was married to Dolly Parton's younger sister, Freida Parton.

Songwriter

During his songwriting career, primarily in the Country genre, Overstreet has written or co-written 27 Top Ten songs. During this time, he has won two Grammy Awards and also won ACM and CMA Song of the Year Awards (1987 and 1988). Overstreet was named the BMI Songwriter of the Year five straight years, from 1987-91, an achievement on music row that has not been achieved before or since. He co-wrote "A Long Line of Love", "Love Can Build a Bridge", and "Forever and Ever, Amen". Other well-known hits of recent years he is known for are "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" by Kenny Chesney and "Some Beach" by Blake Shelton, which was a Number One hit in 2004.

Paul Overstreet is best known for writing country songs such as "Forever and Ever, Amen" and "On the Other Hand", both of which were Number Ones for Randy Travis. He also co-wrote "When You Say Nothing at All" which was a Number One hit at the end of 1988 for Keith Whitley, and later a Top Five hit in 1995 for Alison Krauss, and revived later in 1999 by Ronan Keating of Boyzone.

Singer

Overstreet was first signed as a singer in 1982. His debut single, "Beautiful Baby", peaked at No. 76 on the country charts that year, and was the first single from his self-titled debut album. After co-writing Tanya Tucker's 1987 single "I Won't Take Less Than Your Love" with Don Schlitz, Overstreet and fellow singer-songwriter Paul Davis became guest vocalists on the song, which became a Number One hit that year.

Also in 1987, Overstreet founded the trio S-K-O (also known as Schuyler, Knobloch & Overstreet) with Thom Schuyler and Fred Knobloch, both former solo singers. S-K-O charted three singles with Overstreet as a member, including the Number One "Baby's Got a New Baby". After one album the trio was renamed S-K-B when Overstreet left and was replaced by Craig Bickhardt.

In 1988, Overstreet signed to RCA Nashville as a solo artist. His second solo album, Sowin' Love, accounted for five straight Top 10 hits on the country charts: "Love Helps Those", the title track, "All the Fun", "Seein' My Father in Me" and "Richest Man on Earth." His second album, 1990's Heroes, produced his only solo Number One in its lead-off single "Daddy's Come Around", which was followed by the Top Tens "Heroes" and "Ball and Chain". However, his chart success soon waned, with "If I Could Bottle This Up" peaking at No. 30 and "Billy Can't Read" falling short of Top 40. A third RCA album, Love Is Strong, produced the No. 22 "Me and My Baby" and two more singles which missed the Top 40. Also, the song "There But for the Grace of God Go I" won a Dove Award for Country Recorded Song of the Year at the 24th GMA Dove Awards in 1993. Three years later, Overstreet released his first album for Scarlet Moon Records, Time. It produced his last single to enter the country charts, "We've Got to Keep on Meeting Like This," which peaked at No. 73.

In 2013, Overstreet starred in a TV pilot titled Nashville Unplugged Live taped in Las Vegas and produced and directed by Michael A. Bloom. Also starring with Overstreet was songwriter Danny Myrick.

Solo discography

Albums

Year	Album	Chart Positions			Label
1982	Paul Overstreet				RCA
1989	Sowin' Love	13	31
1991	Heroes	17	21	163
1992	Love Is Strong	60	28
1994	The Best of Paul Overstreet		16
1996	Time		37		Scarlet Moon
1999	A Songwriter's Project Vol. 1
2001	Living by the Book
	Christmas: My Favorite Time of the Year
2005	Forever and Ever Amen
2008	Something For the Road
2010	My Favorite Demos I
	My Favorite Demos II

Singles

Year	Single	Chart Positions		Album
1982	"Beautiful Baby"	76	—	Paul Overstreet
1988	"Love Helps Those"	3	—	Sowin' Love
1989	"Sowin' Love"	9	41
	"All the Fun"	5	10
1990	"Seein' My Father in Me"	2	2
	"Richest Man on Earth"	3	4
	"Daddy's Come Around"	1	2	Heroes
1991	"Heroes"	4	6
	"Ball and Chain"	5	5
	"If I Could Bottle This Up"	30	33
1992	"Billy Can't Read"	57	51
	"Me and My Baby"	22	27	Love Is Strong
	"Still Out There Swinging"	57	84
1993	"Take Another Run"	60	—
1996	"We've Got to Keep On Meeting Like This"	73	—	Time
	"Even When It Don't Feel Like It"	—	—
2000	"When Mamma Ain't Happy"	—	—	A Songwriter's Project Vol. 1
2008	"I Think She Only Loves Me For My Willie"	—	—	Something For the Road

Guest singles

Year	Single	Artist	Chart Positions		Album
1987	"I Won't Take Less Than Your Love"	Tanya Tucker	1	10	Love Me Like You Used To
1993	"I Don't Love You Like I Used To"	Susie Luchsinger	—	—	Real Love

Music videos

Year	Video	Director
1989	"All the Fun"	Jim May
1990	"Seein' My Father in Me"	Jack Cole
1991	"Heroes"	Deaton Flanigen
1992	"Billy Can't Read"	Steven Goldmann
1993	"Take Another Run"	Jeff Smith
1994	"I Don't Love You Like I Used To"
1996	"We've Got to Keep On Meeting Like This"
	"Even When It Don't Feel Like It"
2000	"When Mamma Ain't Happy"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]