Biography
Rodney Atkins was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His biological mother, who was 19 at the time, became pregnant with him after a "traumatic first date". She hid the pregnancy from her parents and put him up for adoption at the Holston United Methodist Home for Children in Greeneville, Tennessee. His first adoptive parents, Charles Hutchins and Linda Weems, returned him to the home after he developed a major respiratory infection. Allan and Margaret Atkins, who had lost a newborn about a year prior, inquired after the child, but decided not to proceed due to surgery that Margaret had just undergone. Meanwhile, another couple adopted him, but also returned him soon after when he developed colic. After Margaret Atkins recovered, she proceeded to adopt him. Atkins did not meet his biological mother until 2008, and has never revealed her identity.
The Atkins family moved frequently in his youth, eventually settling in Claiborne County, Tennessee. He attended high school at Powell Valley High in Speedwell, Tennessee. During high school, Atkins played guitar in his spare time at events and festivals. He went to college at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tennessee, where he made friends with songwriters and soon began writing himself. In the mid-1990s, Atkins moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a recording career. He signed with Curb Records in 1996, the same week that LeAnn Rimes did.
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