Ernest Clayton Walker Jr. (born August 19, 1969) is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1993 with the single "What's It to You", which reached Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart, as did its follow-up, 1994's "Live Until I Die". Both singles were included on his self-titled debut album, released in 1993 via Giant Records. He stayed with the label until its 2001 closure, later recording for Warner Bros. Records, RCA Records Nashville, and Curb Records.
Clay Walker has released a total of eleven studio albums, including a greatest hits package and an album of Christmas music. His first four studio albums all achieved platinum certification in the United States and his greatest hits collection and fifth studio album were each certified gold. He has charted more than thirty singles on Hot Country Songs, of which six have reached number one: "What's It to You", "Live Until I Die", "Dreaming with My Eyes Open", "If I Could Make a Living", "This Woman and This Man", and "Rumor Has It".
Ernest Clayton Walker Jr. was born on August 19, 1969, in Beaumont, Texas, to Ernest and Danna Walker. The oldest of five children, Walker lived in Vidor with his mother and stepfather. His father, Clay Sr., gave him a guitar when he was nine years old. Walker began entering talent competitions at age 15. After leaving his shift as nighttime desk clerk at a Super 8 Motel, he stopped at a local radio station to deliver a tape of a song that he had written. Although the morning disc jockey told him that the station's policies prohibited playing self-submitted tapes, he played Walker's song and said that it was "too good to pass up."
After graduating from Vidor High School in 1986, Walker began working at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company plant. At 19, he also began touring as a musician, playing various local clubs and eventually finding work as the house singer at a bar in Beaumont called the Neon Armadillo. In November 1992, he was discovered by James Stroud, a record producer who was also the president of Warner Music Group subsidiary Giant Records.
Walker released his self-titled debut album in 1993 under Stroud's production. Its first single was "What's It to You"; written by Robert Ellis Orrall and Curtis Wright, this song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts and number 73 on the Billboard Hot 100. Its followup "Live Until I Die" (which Walker wrote), was released late in the year and became his second consecutive No. 1 in early 1994. After those two singles came the number 11 "Where Do I Fit in the Picture", which was originally the B-side of "What's It to You." The album accounted for a third No. 1 hit in "Dreaming with My Eyes Open", a song that was also featured on the soundtrack to the 1993 film The Thing Called Love. An additional cut from the album, "White Palace," charted at number 67 on the country charts without being released as a single.
Clay Walker was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of one million copies. It peaked at number 8 on Top Country Albums, number 2 on Top Heatseekers and number 52 on the Billboard 200. Larry Powell of Allmusic gave the album a four-and-a-half star rating, saying that Walker had a "high-energy" voice reminiscent of Conway Twitty. Walker also received two award nominations in 1994: Favorite Country New Artist from the American Music Awards and Top New Male Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music, as well as a nomination in 1995 at the TNN/Music City News Country Awards for Male Star of Tomorrow.
1994–96: If I Could Make a Living and Hypnotize the Moon
If I Could Make a Living was the title of Walker's second album, released in 1994. It produced two more No. 1 singles in the title track (co-written by Alan Jackson, Keith Stegall, and Roger Murrah) and 1995's "This Woman and This Man". The latter song spent two weeks at No. 1, becoming his first multi-week No. 1 hit. Then came the number 16 "My Heart Will Never Know". If I Could Make a Living went platinum in May 1995, reaching number 2 on the country albums chart. Gordon Ely of the Richmond Times-Dispatch gave a favorable review, saying that "Walker has broken loose from Nashville's most recent crop of carefully crafted cowboys." Walker also began touring in 1995 as a headlining act, in support of the album.
Late in 1995, Walker released his third studio album, titled Hypnotize the Moon. Although none of its singles reached No. 1, Hypnotize the Moon produced two consecutive number 2 hits in "Who Needs You Baby" (which Walker co-wrote) and the title track, followed by the number 5 "Only on Days That End in 'Y'" and the number 18 "Bury the Shovel". Hypnotize the Moon was certified platinum in 1996, making for Walker's third consecutive platinum album. This album received a four-star rating from Stephen Thomas Erlewine, who said that it was his "most assured, cohesive album to date" and that he gave a "consistently excellent performance." Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly thought that Walker did not show a distinct musical personality, but considered the song selection strong and gave it a B+. Richard McVey II of Country Standard Time considered it a "throwback" in sound to Walker's debut, while USA Today said that it lacked the "verve" of that album.
Having just completed the tracks for his fourth album in 1996, Walker was playing basketball with a friend, when he began to experience numbness, facial spasms, and double vision. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed that he had multiple sclerosis (MS). Walker subsequently began changing his diet and treating the disease with a daily injection of Copaxone, sending his MS into an arrested state.
Also in early 1996, Nu Millennia Media released Self Portrait, which included five of Walker's songs in an interactive CD-ROM format and 30 minutes of video footage. He then released his fourth album, 1997's Rumor Has It, which he co-produced with Stroud. Its title track, the first single, became his sixth and final No. 1 single that year. Other singles from the album included the number 18 "One, Two, I Love You" and the Top 5 hits "Watch This" and "Then What?" at number 4 and number 2, respectively. The latter also reached number 65 on the Hot 100, making for his first entry on that chart since "What's It to You." As with his three previous studio albums, Rumor Has It was certified platinum. Larry Stephens of Country Standard Time gave this album a mostly-negative review, calling the songs "cookie-cutter" outside "I Need a Margarita". Thom Owens of Allmusic also thought that it was formulaic, but said that Walker was "able to make even mediocre material sound good", rating it three stars out of five.
1998–2000: Greatest Hits and Live, Laugh, Love
In April 1998, Walker charted with a live rendition of Earl Thomas Conley's 1983 single "Holding Her and Loving You". This rendition spent nine weeks on the charts and peaked at number 68. One month later, he debuted his sixteenth single, "Ordinary People". Peaking at number 35, it was one of two new songs included on his Greatest Hits album; the other new track, "You're Beginning to Get to Me", made its debut in August 1998 and peaked at number 2 on the country chart and number 39 on the Hot 100 in January 1999, the same month in which Greatest Hits was certified gold. Also in 1998, Walker performed a sold-out show at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
Doug Johnson, who succeeded Stroud as Giant Records' president, produced Walker's 1999 album Live, Laugh, Love. Regarding its production and promotion, the label's senior director of marketing Connie Baer said that she wanted to raise Walker's profile as an artist, as both she and Johnson thought that he did not have the same level of recognition as other artists with similar album sales and chart success. This album was led off by the number 16 country and number 74 pop hit "She's Always Right", which was co-written by Lonestar's lead singer Richie McDonald. After this song came the title track at number 11 country and number 65 pop. "The Chain of Love", written by Rory Lee Feek and Jonnie Barnett, was the album's third and most successful single, reaching number 3 country and number 40 on the Hot 100. Both it and "Once in a Lifetime Love", the fourth single, first charted from unsolicited airplay received while "Live, Laugh, Love" was climbing the charts. "Once in a Lifetime Love", upon its release, became his lowest-peaking single release, reaching number 50. The album also included a studio version of the Earl Thomas Conley cover.