{"id":375318,"date":"2025-12-29T04:46:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T04:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/375318\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T04:46:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T04:46:08","slug":"born-on-this-day-in-1960-the-frontman-and-guitarist-for-the-first-country-music-band-to-have-its-debut-single-reach-no-1-despite-being-told-theyd-never-succeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/375318\/","title":{"rendered":"Born on This Day in 1960, the Frontman and Guitarist for the First Country Music Band To Have Its Debut Single Reach No. 1\u2014Despite Being Told They\u2019d Never Succeed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Known for chart-topping hits like <a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/these-are-4-of-the-absolute-best-country-songs-from-1997\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cHow Your Love Makes Me Feel\u201d<\/a> and \u201cMeet in the Middle,\u201d the country music band Diamond Rio formed in Nashville in 1982. Marty Roe, the band\u2019s current lead vocalist, was born on this day in 1960 in Lebanon, Ohio.<\/p>\n<p>How Marty Roe, Diamond Rio Proved Critics Wrong<\/p>\n<p>Like many in Nashville, Roe\u2019s upbringing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.angelfire.com\/country\/diamondriofan\/bios\/marty.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">was a musical one<\/a>, performing in his high school jazz band and playing the trumpet, guitar, and the mandolin in a stage band. Prior to joining Diamond Rio, he toured with the Christian band Windsong and impersonated country singer Larry Gatlin at Opryland.<\/p>\n<p>Roe and his bandmates struggled to find their footing in Nashville, told by executives that they were \u201cjust too big to succeed\u201d in the genre, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/tasteofcountry.com\/diamond-rio-interview-new-members-music\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a July 2023 interview<\/a> with Taste of Country.<\/p>\n<p>Their break came in 1991 when Diamond Rio finally inked a contract with Arista Nashville. They debuted on country radio with \u201cMeet in the Middle,\u201d off their self-titled freshman album. The song made Diamond Rio the first country music band to top the charts with their first single.<\/p>\n<p>And just like that, the floodgates opened for other large country music groups, proving Alabama had indeed not been a fluke, as one executive told Roe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce we broke with \u2018Meet In the Middle\u2019 it was amazing,\u201d he recalled. \u201cEvery label \u2014 you saw Little Texas,\u00a0Lonestar\u00a0\u2014 I mean, here they come. Those folks \u2014 good friends of ours \u2014 got a chance, maybe, because we proved this actually can work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/americansongwriter.com\/without-a-doubt-these-are-the-3-best-country-bands-of-all-time\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">[RELATED: Without a Doubt, These Are the 3 Best Country Bands of All Time]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Diamond Rio Has Won Four CMA AWards<\/p>\n<p>Over the next decade, Diamond Rio would send four more songs to the top of the chart: \u201cHow Your Love Makes Me Feel\u201d (1997), \u201cOne More Day\u201d (2001), \u201cBeautiful Mess\u201d (2002), and \u201cI Believe\u201d (2003). The four-time Country Music Association Group of the Year winners have released nine studio albums\u2014three of which attained Platinum certification\u2014and earned two trophies from the Academy of Country Music Awards, along with a Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album. Diamond Rio earned the latter for 2009\u2019s The Reason.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to an immensely successful music career, Marty Roe is active in various charities alongside wife Robin, <a href=\"https:\/\/bothhands.org\/staff\/marty-roe\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">including<\/a> Mid-Western Children\u2019s Home, American Lung Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Family Dynamics.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Featured image by Amy E. Price\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Known for chart-topping hits like \u201cHow Your Love Makes Me Feel\u201d and \u201cMeet in the Middle,\u201d the country&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[24911,236,183617,88,183618],"class_list":["post-375318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-1960s","tag-celebrities","tag-diamond-rio","tag-entertainment","tag-marty-roe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}