Blake Shelton

After over two decades in the business, Blake Shelton has a sense of humor about where he stands. “You finally start looking at a chart, and you’re like, ‘Who the hell is Morgan Wallen? Who’s Luke Combs?’ It was like there was this whole new generation of artists who had taken over country music, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m one of the old guys now,’” he told Apple Music. His career, though, provides ample validation for his status. Known among 21st-century country megastars for his singularly amiable persona, Shelton makes music shaped by his rich Southern baritone, wry humor, and salt-of-the-earth relatability. And that’s only part of his success: The playful charisma he brings to his long-running appointment as a coach on The Voice has made him Nashville’s most high-profile ambassador to the cultural mainstream. Born in Oklahoma in 1976, Shelton started working the local bar circuit when he was in high school. After relocating to Nashville, he scored a hit with 2001’s “Austin,” a torchy ballad about lovers playing phone tag. In 2004’s Blake Shelton’s Barn and Grill, he found a sweet spot between the heartland hat country and amped-up Nashville, becoming a versatile fixture on the country charts by playing both the party-loving playboy and the star-eyed gentleman with ease. When his marriage to singer-songwriter Miranda Lambert dissolved in 2015, Shelton’s music took a more introspective turn. His 2016 album, If I’m Honest, was filled with songs about finding meaning and love, and demonstrated his comfort being vulnerable in the spotlight (which only turned more blinding when he started dating fellow The Voice coach and pop star Gwen Stefani). In the late 2010s, Shelton scored a nod as People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” and racked up an epic run of chart-topping singles. Yet even though the hardworking Okie is now a household name, his music has never lost its down-home charm. Despite the years, Shelton still wonders if his work resonates. 2025’s For Recreational Use Only leans into the anxiety with an emotional and honest grasp of his feelings. He is, obviously, grateful. “It was all I ever wanted to be: one of the guys that I was hearing on the radio. I didn’t even know how to do it, and the fact that it was happening, it was like, ‘I want to hang on to this forever.’”