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Joe Diffie Biography

Joe Diffie Biography

 Joe Diffie is an American country music singer-songwriter known for his ballads and novelty songs, in a manner similar to George Jones. Starting with Diffie's debut single "Home", he has charted seventeen Top 10 hits (five of which, counting "Home", reached Number One) on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. He has also recorded nine studio albums (two of which have been certified Platinum by the RIAA), in addition to a Greatest Hits package, a Christmas album, and a live album. Diffie maintained a steady career in country music until the late 1990s, when he found himself alienated by radio due to an over-reliance on novelty tunes; however, he experienced some brief resurgences in the 2000s upon returning to his earlier, ballad-oriented style.

Diffie's first cut as a songwriter came when Hank Thompson recorded the song "Love on the Rocks". In 1986, Diffie moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he took a job at the Gibson Guitar Corporation, also working as a songwriter and demo singer. In 1989, Holly Dunn recorded "There Goes My Heart Again", a song which Diffie co-wrote and sang backup vocals on; the single peaked at #4 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts.

In addition to demo singing, Diffie recorded his own material in his spare time, using a friend's studio to do so. He later sent copies of his own material to Epic Records, who signed him to a record deal in 1990, with his debut album A Thousand Winding Roads being released at the end of that year. The album's lead-off single, "Home", reached Number One on the country charts, becoming the first ever debut single in history to top the country music charts of Billboard, Radio & Records and Gavin Report (the three major chart publications at the time). The album's third single, "If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets)", also reached Number One; in addition, the singles "If You Want Me To" and "New Way (To Light Up an Old Flame)" (released second and fourth, respectively) both peaked at #2.

Diffie's second album, titled Regular Joe, was released in 1992. Certified Gold by the RIAA, it produced consecutive Top 5 hits in "Is It Cold In Here" and "Ships That Don't Come In". However, the album's third and fourth singles were much less successful, with the fourth single failing to reach Top 40. Also in 1992, Diffie charted a duet with Mary Chapin Carpenter, titled "Not Too Much to Ask". Released on Carpenter's album Come On Come On, the duet was nominated for a Grammy for Best Vocal Collaboration.

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