Billy Ray Cyrus
Birth name
William Ray Cyrus
Date of birth
25 August 1961 in Flatwoods, Kentucky
Height
6' (1.83 m)
Spouse
Leticia Finley (28 December 1993 - present) 2 children
Cindy Cyrus (1987 - 1991) (divorced) 1 child
His father, Ron, is a politician in Kentucky. Ron divorced
Billy Ray's mother, Ruth Ann, when Billy Ray was 5.
Billy Ray's grandfather was a pentecostal preacher.
Children - Christopher, Destiny (nickname Miley), Braison,
Noah, Brandi and Trace
Enamored of baseball, Cyrus intended to become another
Johnny Bench as he grew up in Flatlands, KY. While attending
Georgetown College on a baseball scholarship, he bought a
guitar and decided immediately that athletics wasn't the proper
direction for his life. Instead, he formed a band called Sly Dog
with his brother and gave himself a ten-month deadline for
finding a place to play. One week prior to that cutoff date, the
group went to work as the house band for a club in Ironton, OH,
where they remained for two years. When a 1984 fire destroyed
the bar -- and Cyrus' equipment -- he moved to Los Angeles to
pursue his career. Eventually, he decided to return to Kentucky
and commuted regularly from there to Nashville in search of a
record deal. Grand Ole Opry star Del Reeves got Mercury Records
to take a look, and division head Harold Shedd signed him in the
summer of 1990. When his first album came out in mid-1992,
Cyrus -- with his good looks, sculpted body, and the infectious
"Achy, Breaky Heart" -- became an instant groundbreaking sensation. Spending five weeks at the top of the country charts, "Achy, Breaky
Heart" made his debut album, Some Gave All, a blockbuster success.
By the time it fell off the charts, it had sold over nine million copies
and spent 17 weeks on the top of the pop charts.
He was discovered by Mercury talent scouts in 1990 while opening
for a Reba McEntire concert in Louisville, Kentucky.
The original title of Achey Breaky Heart was "Don't tell my heart".
It changed after he started performing it and everyone kept asking
for that achey breaky song.
Plays the left-handed guitar