Ricky Scaggs Biography

Ricky Skaggs was born in 1954 in Cordell, Kentucky. A gift of a mandolin from his father when he was only five launched a life-long devotion to bluegrass and country music. Within only a few years, young Ricky began performing whenever possible, and by the time he was a teenager, he’d started his own band with a close friend of his who played the guitar. His debut album, That’s It, was released in 1975, followed by Sweet Temptation in 1979, and it wasn’t long before Skaggs was cranking out country hit after hit on dozens of albums that followed.

By the 1980’s, Ricky Skaggs gave audiences a new studio album nearly each year, releasing: Waitin’ for the Sun to Shine (1981), Family & Friends (1982), Highways & Heartaches (1982), Don’t Cheat in Our Hometown (1983), Country Boy (1984), Love’s Gonna Get Ya! (1986), Comin’ Home to Stay (1988), and Kentucky Thunder (1989.) The albums spawned the number one country hits: “Crying My Heart Out Over You,” “I Don’t Care,” “ Heartbroke,” “I Wouldn’t Change You If I Could,” “Highway 40 Blues,” “Don’t Cheat in Our Hometown,” “Honey (Open That Door),” “Uncle Pen,” “Country Boy,” “Cajun Moon,” and “Lovin’ Only Me.” Ricky Skaggs continued to record and release well into the 1990’s and beyond, scoring additional top forty country hits with “Hummingbird,” “He Was On to Somethin’ (So He Made You),” and “Same Ol’ Love.”

For his achievements in music, Ricky Skaggs has been awarded a staggering number of Grammys, including awards for Best Country Instrumental Performance (1983, 1984, and 1985), Best Country Vocal Collaboration (1991), Best Bluegrass Album (1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, and 2009), Best Country Collaboration with Vocals (1998), and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (2003.) He has also earned seven Country Music Association Awards, and more than ten International Bluegrass Music Association Awards. Billboard magazine has recognized Skaggs as Artist of the Year and Musician Magazine ranks him among the top 100 Guitarists of the Century.

Recently, Ricky Skaggs has joined forces with a number of musicians in the new millennium, performing alongside Phish, Bruce Hornsby, The Whites, Ashley Monroe, and the Brock McGuire Band. His most recent album releases, Mosaic (2010) and Country Hits Bluegrass Style (2011), have been critically acclaimed. Skaggs continues to write, perform, record, and tour.