Horse Power

He was born in Biloxi, Mississippi on October 2, 1948. He was an air force brat... and spent most of his childhood in Austin, Tx.

He entered his first rodeo at 13.

He went to high school in Wyoming, and at 17 won the Bareback State Championship... which earned him a rodeo scholarship to go to college on.

He studied here and there, until he eventually won the Intercollegant National Championship, and after that... the only thing left was professional rodeo.

He took up singin' and song writin' about the same time he took up rodeo... and to supplement his winnings, he started recording tapes in his daddy's basement, and sellin' them outta the back of his pickup truck at rodeos.

In 1976, he became the PRCA World Champion.

By 1988, he'd recorded 22 albums on his own, and sold over 200,000 copies.

In 1989, Garth Brooks dropped his name in a song... and the attention was finally to much for the quiet cowboy to walk away from. He finally signed a record deal with Capital and ended up record several top40 country albums.

Toby Keith sings that he shoulda been a cowboy.

Well... He was a Cowboy. Bareback World Champion. Workin' Ranch owner... in Kaycee Wyoming for any of you who're interested...

His authenticity was such... that simply by droppin' his name, Garth Brooks went from being a Pop Country Icon, to a real cowboy singer.

He leaves behind a legacy that likely will never be matched. He was more Outlaw than Waylon, more Cowboy then King George, and was likely the best songwriter since Hank Williams.

I wish I could come up with something more polished to say about the man. But... I guess he'd prefer simple anyways.

Chris Ledoux died Wednesday, March 10th, 2005. He's survived by 5 kids.

God bless ya Cowboy. Thanks for everything ya done.