Inside country singer Morgan Wallen's life: family pressures, The Voice, stardom and fatherhood

The Tennessee singer is playing in Dublin this weekend and since his rise to fame he has been breaking records and churning out hits, but it hasn’t been without challenges

Morgan Wallen is the current king of American country music. Credited with bringing the genre into the streaming era, his rough, baritone voice and songs about heartbreak, good times and small towns have catapulted him to a level of stardom that rivals the likes of Garth Brooks.

Known as a bit of a daredevil, Morgan isn’t afraid of taking a risk. He decided to adopt his signature mullet hairstyle after seeing an old photo of his dad sporting the same look, with zero consultation with his record label. His fellow country star and long-time collaborator HARDY once pierced Morgan’s ear with a guitar string while they were on tour together.

His concerts routinely sell out and his songs are constantly at the top of the charts, but his impulsive nature has led to him hitting headlines. Here, we take a look back on Morgan’s childhood, career and controversies.

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Childhood

Morgan was born in the small town of Sneedville in Tennessee, to Tommy and Lesli Wallen, who worked as a preacher and teacher respectively. He has three younger sisters, Ashlyne, Mikaela and Lacey.

As the son of a preacher, Morgan felt pressure to be perfect from a young age. “[I] was supposed to just be the leading example of Christianity. From a child, I was going to do the opposite. I can’t help it. It’s just who I am. Like I’ve got something to prove on my own,” he told Billboard.

When he was five, Morgan asked for a fiddle for Christmas, but it wasn’t until he was a teenager that he turned to writing songs and playing the guitar.

His father was a big influence on his music taste and he often played classic rock around the house, with the likes of Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles firm favourites. Morgan also was a fan of hip-hop as a teenager and Lil Wayne was a standout influence.

Around this time, the teenage Morgan discovered Eric Church, which changed the trajectory of his life. “His realness, raw emotion and authenticity drew me in. Then I started digging a little bit deeper and started listening to Keith Whitley. I finally got into country music more and when I picked up a guitar, that’s what I wrote.”

As a teenager, he was a gifted baseball player and played for his high school team, with ambitions of going pro. Sadly, a serious arm injury prevented him from achieving this dream.

By his own admission, he was adrift after he graduated from school, working as a gardener and landscaper. After a few aimless years, he switched gears and decided to pursue music professionally.

Rising star

Morgan first gained fame after appearing on the US talent show, The Voice, in 2014. The baby-faced, clean-cut 20 year old was eliminated from the show, which Morgan felt he deserved as he wasn’t ready. “That kid was really unsure of who he was just in general... I didn’t feel like I was the best I could have been. So I practised harder and really tried to make my voice second nature,” Morgan said.

The Voice wasn’t a total loss. The exposure led to Morgan being introduced to an indie record label, who released his first EP, Stand Alone. This put him on the map and he soon signed with a major label, Big Loud.

In 2018, he adopted his current ‘country’ look, complete with plaid shirts and his signature mullet. His debut studio album was the breakthrough he had been waiting for — If I Know Me shot straight to number one on the Billboard Hot Country charts.

The follow up, Dangerous: The Double Album, was released in 2021 and went straight to number one on the Billboard 200 chart — the only country album in Billboard’s 64-year history to spend its first seven weeks at number one. It spent a total of ten weeks at that spot, a first since Whitney Houston’s album Whitney in 1987.

Last year, his third album, One Thing at a Time, achieved the same level of critical and commercial success, so it seemed like the only way was up for the singer - before a string of controversies caught up with him.

Controversy

Morgan’s first brush with controversy was during the Covid-19 pandemic. In May 2020, he was arrested outside Kid Rock’s Nashville bar for drunk and disorderly conduct, but the charges were ultimately dropped.

A few months later, videos of him partying after an Alabama football game went viral, mainly because he was not following Coivd-19 guidelines, he wasn’t wearing a mask and was spotted kissing multiple women. This resulted in him being uninvited from hosting Saturday Night Live.

After issuing an apology where he confessed that he’d “lost himself”, he vowed to “take a step back from the spotlight for a little while to go work on me.” The star was seen spending time in nature, riding horses and fishing. Two months later, he was invited back onto SNL.

The following year, a video of Morgan using the n-word with friends on a night out hit headlines, which had consequences for his career.

Radio stations and streaming services alike removed his music from their playlists and his labels suspended him. At the time, Morgan apologised and promised to do better, but denied he was racist, adding that he used the slur on “hour 72 of a 72-hour bender”. He met with black leaders in the entertainment industry to make amends and to educate himself on racism, and he donated $300,000 to the Black Music Action Coalition.

“That person is definitely not the same person I am now,” he later said. “There’s no excuse. I’ve never made an excuse. I never will make an excuse.. in my heart I was never that guy that people were portraying me to be.”

After the incident, Morgan said he did a 30-day stay in rehab in San Diego, adding that he was working on changing his drinking habits.

In April of this year, Morgan was arrested after allegedly throwing a chair off the roof of Chief’s, a six-storey honky-tonk bar in Nashville, owned by Morgan’s idol and friend Eric Church. Nashville police claimed the chair landed close to two police officers.

“I didn’t feel right publicly checking in until I made amends with some folks,” he said in a statement after the alleged incident. “I’ve touched base with Nashville law enforcement, my family, and the good people at Chief’s. I’m not proud of my behaviour, and I accept responsibility.”

While the music industry and general public may have turned away from Morgan, his fans have rallied around him, with his concerts routinely selling out and his music continuing to break streaming records.

Perhaps this is because Morgan is loyal to these fans, routinely signing autographs and chatting with fans after shows.

Love life

Morgan dated ex-fiancée KT Smith on and off since 2016, before splitting up for good in 2020.

In July of that year, they welcomed a son named Indigo Wilder. The couple split before Indie was born, with both saying they have developed a strong co-parenting relationship. KT works as a social media influencer and she got married in April of this year.

Morgan says that fatherhood has changed his perspective for the better. “It’s nice to really think about someone other than yourself and about what you’re passing down. He’s my favourite thing about life,” he told Billboard.

Despite his legal troubles and controversies, it seems like Morgan is going nowhere.

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