Country Pop Bites: Neal McCoy – December 30

Did you know that on this day in Country Music History in 2001 Neal McCoy joined Wayne Newton and comedian Drew Carey to entertain American troops at the Kandahar Airport in Afghanistan?

It's true! It was part of the USO's Deliver America Tour.

Check out this Neal McCoy video!

Here are 5 interesting facts about Neal McCoy.

• Hubert Neal McGaughey, Jr. was born on July 30, 1958, in Jacksonville, Texas, to a Filipina American mother and Irish-American father.
• After attending junior college near his hometown, he found work selling shoes at a shopping mall. In the early 1980s, he met his wife, Melinda, at the store.
• After winning a 1981 talent contest hosted by Janie Fricke, he secured a spot as an opening act for Charley Pride. It was also at this point that he assumed the stage name Neal McGoy, a phonetic spelling of his last name. He signed with Atlantic Records in 1990, changing his surname to McCoy per the label’s request, as fans had already begun to refer to him as McCoy.
• He, Tracy Byrd and T. Graham Brown, also sang guest vocals on “Now That’s Awesome,” a musical track set to a Bill Engvall comedy sketch. This single peaked at No. 59.
• In 2005, Neal McCoy founded a vanity label known as 903 Music along with his manager, Karen Kane.  Just 2 years later, McCoy announced that the label had filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors.