Steve Azar

Stephen Thomas Azar (born April 11, 1964) is an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and philanthropist.

Stephen Thomas Azar was born April 11, 1964, as one of five children born to Lebanese couple Joe and Virgie Azar in Greenville, Mississippi.

He began writing songs as a child, primarily for use in Catholic Mass and other liturgies at his church.

When Azar was 10 years old, he began receiving guitar lessons from Delta blues singer Sonny Boy Nelson.

He was a regular customer at a liquor store that Azar's father owned.

Azar had his first recording session in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 15 when his father took him there to cut demos.

After high school, Azar attended Delta State University, from which he graduated with a degree in business management.

Azar began touring locally at various clubs around Mississippi with a band that included his brother, Joe Azar Jr. When one of his band members committed suicide and another was incarcerated for murder, he switched to performing as a solo act.

In addition, he and Joe owed money towards equipment they had bought.

After the payments had been completed, Azar and his wife moved to Nashville in 1993 so he could pursue a recording contract.

Songwriter Roger Murrah discovered Azar performing at a Nashville nightclub and helped him sign a songwriter publishing contract.

Active since 1996, he has released a total of seven studio albums: one on the former River North Records, one on Mercury Nashville, and five independently.

Dissatisfied with the fast pace of the contract and the inability to put "emotion" in his material, he ended his contract to sign with the independent River North Records in 1996.

That same year, he released his debut album Heartbreak Town.

The album's first two singles "Someday" and "I Never Stopped Loving You" both charted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs in 1996.

"Nights Like This" was also issued as a single, but it did not chart.

"Someday" also received a music video which aired on the former TNN (The Nashville Network).

River North's founder, Joe Thomas, produced the album except for the final track, which Azar co-produced with songwriter A. J. Masters.

These three (along with Murrah and Bob Regan) were among the contributing musicians, and Azar co-wrote every track except for a cover of Paul Davis' "I Go Crazy".

An un-credited review in Billboard was favorable toward the album, comparing Azar's voice to those of Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp.

Reviewers also commended Azar's songwriting and musical image.

A less positive review came from Larry Stephens of Country Standard Time, who also compared Azar to Mellencamp vocally but felt most of the songs sounded too similar to each other.

After River North Records filed for bankruptcy and closed in 1997, Azar continued to tour the Southern United States and write songs.

Despite the label closing, Azar had to wait two years to buy out his contract for $15,000.

Former River North executive Michael Powers had begun working at Mercury Records' Nashville division and recommended Azar to label executives.

The company initially turned him down.

Azar has charted nine times on Billboard Hot Country Songs, most successfully with his late 2001-early 2002 hit "I Don't Have to Be Me ('til Monday)", which reached the number two position there.

However, a songwriting session with Rafe Van Hoy led to songs that both Azar and Mercury executives felt represented his artistic style, leading to his signing in 2001.

His first Mercury single was "I Don't Have to Be Me ('til Monday)", which peaked at number two on the Hot Country Songs chart.

It also accounted for his only entry on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number 35.

The song was the lead single to Azar's 2002 album Waitin' on Joe.

Van Hoy produced the album, and Azar wrote or co-wrote every song.

Azar would later go on to deride Heartbreak Town, stating in 2003 that the album "didn't even sound like [him]".

His wife shared a similar opinion, and according to Azar, she cried after hearing the album because she felt that it did not represent him as an artist.

After leaving Mercury in 2005, Azar began recording independently; Slide On Over Here, his second independently-released album, charted the top-40 country singles "Moo La Moo" and "Sunshine (Everybody Needs a Little)" in 2009.

In addition to these albums, Azar released a number of standalone songs including a song to promote the National FFA Organization and a jingle for McDonald's restaurants.

His 2017 album Down at the Liquor Store featured a number of guest musicians who had previously played for B. B. King and Elvis Presley, and was credited to Steve Azar and the King's Men.

Azar has written most of his own songs, and his style draws from country, rock, and Delta blues, with his singing voice gaining frequent comparisons to John Mellencamp.

In addition to his albums, Azar has also hosted a number of charities and music festivals.

In 2017, he was named Music and Cultural Ambassador of Mississippi by that state's then-governor Phil Bryant.