Biography

Thorn was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin but raised in Tupelo, Mississippi after a family move when he was an infant.

Before his professional music career began he was a professional boxer. Boxing career highlights include winning the Mid-South Middleweight Championship in Memphis, Tennessee and a nationally-televised bout with former world champion Roberto Durán, After a few years of working in a Tupelo furniture factory and playing in local clubs he was discovered by music professional Miles Copeland (brother of The Police drummer Stewart Copeland). Paul was subsequently signed to a recording contract with A&M Records and recorded his first album, Hammer & Nail, in 1997. He left A&M soon after and followed Hammer & Nail with thirteen more albums, all self-released and self-produced with his writing and production partner, Billy Maddox.

Paul Thorn's 2010 album Pimps and Preachers debuted at No. 83 on the Billboard 200 chart, his highest chart position to date. His 2012 album What the Hell Is Going On was the 12th Most Played Album of 2012 on the Americana Music Association Year-End Chart. What the Hell Is Going On was Thorn's second record to debut on the Billboard Top 100 during its first week of release.

Thorn has toured as an opening act for Huey Lewis & the News, Sting, John Prine, Marianne Faithfull, Mark Knopfler, Robert Cray, Bonnie Raitt, Toby Keith and Jeff Beck, Jerry Jeff Walker.

In 2014, Thorn released Too Blessed to Be Stressed, which he described as a collection of "positive anthem songs."

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		US	US Rock	US Heat	US Indie
Hammer and Nail	Release date: June 17, 1997 Label: A&M Records	—	—	—	—
Ain’t Love Strange	Release date: July 27, 1999 Label: Ark Records	—	—	—	—
Mission Temple Fireworks Stand	Release date: August 13, 2002 Label: Narada/Perpetual Obscurity	—	—	—	—
A Long Way from Tupelo	Release date: February 19, 2008 Label: Perpetual Obscurity	191	—	7	27
Pimps and Preachers	Release date: June 21, 2010 Label: Perpetual Obscurity	83	24	—	12
What the Hell Is Goin' On?	Release date: May 8, 2012 Label: Perpetual Obscurity	88	31	—	12
Too Blessed to be Stressed	Release date: August 19, 2014 Label: Perpetual Obscurity
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

[ Source: Wikipedia ]