Luke Combs

Luke Albert Combs is an American country singer known for his success on the music charts and high-profile industry accolades. Born in Huntersville, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte, he grew up in Asheville as the only child of Rhonda and Lee Combs. As a child, he participated in school musicals, chorus class, and his church choir, which performed at Carnegie Hall. He later attended Appalachian State University to study business and criminal justice. While in college, he worked as a bouncer at a bar where he later performed on stage. After learning guitar on his mother's advice, he dropped out of college with 21 hours remaining to pursue a career in country music and subsequently moved to Nashville.

Combs began his career releasing independent EPs, starting with The Way She Rides and Can I Get an Outlaw in 2014, followed by This One's for You in 2015. After signing with Sony Music Nashville, his debut single "Hurricane" reached number one on the country radio airplay chart in May 2017. His major-label debut album, This One's for You, was released in June 2017 and reached number one on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart. The album produced several number-one singles, including "When It Rains It Pours", "One Number Away", and later "She Got the Best of Me" and "Beautiful Crazy" from the deluxe edition This One's for You Too. The album eventually spent 44 weeks atop the Top Country Albums chart, setting a record for the longest reign at number one by a male artist.

In June 2019, Combs was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. His second studio album, What You See Is What You Get, was released in November 2019 and topped the charts in multiple territories. It featured successful singles such as "Beer Never Broke My Heart", "Even Though I'm Leaving", "Does to Me" featuring Eric Church, and "Lovin' on You". During the COVID-19 pandemic, he released the standalone single "Six Feet Apart" in May 2020. Later that year, he issued a deluxe version of his second album featuring the streaming hit "Forever After All".

Combs continued releasing albums with Growin' Up in 2022 and Gettin' Old in 2023. Growin' Up included the singles "Doin' This" and "The Kind of Love We Make". Gettin' Old featured his cover of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car", which reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped several country airplay and adult top 40 charts, later winning Single of the Year at the 57th Country Music Association Awards. He also collaborated with Ed Sheeran on the single "Life Goes On" in 2023.

His recent musical projects include the 2024 single "Ain't No Love in Oklahoma" for the Twisters soundtrack, his fifth studio album Fathers & Sons in June 2024, and his sixth studio album The Way I Am in March 2026, which entered the Billboard 200 at number two and became his fifth number-one on the Top Country Albums chart. Outside of record releases, he made a guest voice appearance as Rusty Twang on the animated series Big City Greens, co-organized the "Concert for Carolina" benefit event in October 2024, and co-owns the company Blue Otter Polarized.

Combs's career achievements include three Grammy Award nominations, two iHeartRadio Music Awards, four Academy of Country Music Awards, and six Country Music Association Awards, including back-to-back Entertainer of the Year wins in 2021 and 2022. On a personal level, he married Nicole Hocking in August 2020, and they have three sons.