Rodney Atkins

Rodney Atkins was born March 28, 1969, in Knoxville, Tenn., and was an adopted child. As an infant at the Holston Methodist Home for Children in Greeneville, Tenn., he was so sick that two couples who had taken him home returned him just a few days later. A third couple from Cumberland Gap, Tenn., adopted him as well and, even though his ailments worsened, refused to give him up. His adoptive mother had been raised in a coal mining family near a tannery camp, and his dad survived an upbringing marked by poverty and episodes of abuse.

When not doing chores or playing baseball with friends, Atkins spent time in high school with his guitar. He played, solo or with a band, at county fairs, festivals and shopping malls, most of the time losing money on expenses. Eventually, as a psychology major at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, he started visiting Nashville, playing more gigs and writing songs. Part of his degree program required that he get field experience, which led him to work as a clinical counselor at the Woodland Residential Center. He also did odd jobs to pay his way through school. While driving a delivery truck, he met the woman who would become his wife.

Curb Records signed Atkins and released two Top 40 singles in 2002. In 2003, the single "Honesty (Write Me a List)" climbed into the Top 5, and Curb finally released his debut album, Honesty. However, his real breakthrough came in 2006 when his catchy single, "If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)," gradually climbed to all the way to No. 1 on Billboard's country airplay chart.