Chuck Cannon – Hard Rhymes

Award-winning singer/songwriter Chuck Cannon takes time before the Real Life Real Music Live from Dosey Doe Show to share his advice to aspiring songwriters. Chuck has had songs cut by Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Toby Keith, John Michael Montgomery, among others. Chuck Cannon was born and raised in South Carolina. His father was a Pentecostal preacher.

He was inspired at an early age by local folk songs as well as black spiritual songs. He later performed at local venues, then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he attended Belmont University.

By 1988, he was signed to a songwriting contract. Cannon’s “If I Was Jesus” was nominated for the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards for Americana Song of the year. One of Cannon’s first notable compositions was “I Love the Way You Love Me”, a Number One hit for John Michael Montgomery in 1993, which Cannon co-wrote with Victoria Shaw. This song also won the Song of the Year award at the Academy of Country Music awards, which is awarded to songwriters.

From there, Cannon began working primarily for Toby Keith, including “Me Too”, “Dream Walkin'”, “We Were in Love”, “Getcha Some”, “If a Man Answers” and “When Love Fades” in the late 1990s, “How Do You Like Me Now?!” in 2000, and “American Soldier” in 2003-2004. “How Do You Like Me Now?!” was also the Number One country song of the year according to the Billboard Year-End charts. Both it and “I Love the Way You Love Me” earned Eight-Million-Air awards from Broadcast Music