Californian country artist Gary Allan (born Gary Allan Herzberg on December 5, 1967) has released six albums throughout his career and is best known for his hits “
Her Man”, “
It Would Be You”, “
Right Where I Need to Be”, “
The One”, and “
Man to Man”. Raised on a ranch in La Miranda, Gary was most interested in surfing and listening to Bakersfield country music, particularly
Buck Owens and
Merle Haggard. As a teenager, Allan often performed at local honky tonks with his father’s band until forming his own at the age of twenty. Praised for his traditional country style
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, his talent was eventually noticed by Decca Records and was signed to their label in 1996.
His debut album Used Heart for Sale was released in September 1996. Featuring the single “Her Man”, the album peaked in the Top 20 on the Country Albums chart. It Would Be You followed in 1998 with its chart topping title track. Despite the downfall of the Decca label in 1999, Allan persisted landing a contract with MCA. Smoke Rings in the Dark was issued shortly afterwards spawning the hit single “Right Where I Need to Be” while the album itself peaked at number nine on the Top Country Albums chart. His country star status continued to rise with the release of his fourth album Alright Guy in 2001 which generated his first number one hit single “Man to Man”. The 2003 album, See If I care spawned the two number one singles “
Tough Little Boys” and “
Nothing on But the Radio” and peaked in the second position on the Top Country chart. His most recent release, Tough All Over which includes the popular singles “Life Ain’t Always Beautiful” and his cover version of Vertical Horizon’s “Best I Ever Had”, placed third on the Billboard 200 and first on the Top Country Albums chart.