Early Life
William Ray Cyrus was born in Flatwoods, Kentucky to Ron Cyrus, a politician and former steelworker, and his wife, the former Ruth Ann Casto. Cyrus started singing at the age of four and his parents divorced the following year. His grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher. Growing up, he was surrounded by bluegrass and gospel music from his family. His right-handed father played guitar. Left-handed Cyrus tried to play his father's guitar, but could not. He attended Georgetown College on a baseball scholarship before changing it to music. He dropped out of Georgetown during his junior year, realized he wanted to become a musician after attending a Neil Diamond concert and set a 10-month goal to start a career. In the 1980s, he played at a bar known as Changes Bar owned by Jimmy Gettys as a band called Sly Dog, before signing a record contract with Mercury Nashville Records. Sly Dog was named after a one-eyed dog that Cyrus owned.
Read more about this topic: Billy Ray Cyrus
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“No doubt they rose up early to observe
The rite of May.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“There was a heavy power in her eyes which laid hold of his whole being, as if he had drunk some powerful drug. He had been feeling weak and done before. Now the life came back into him, he felt delivered from his own fretted, daily self.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)