Born in Ada, Oklahoma, Blake Shelton got his first guitar lessons from his uncle and wrote his first song when he was 15-years-old. After high school, he moved to Nashville and got his first contract with Sony Music. His first number 1 single was “I Wanna Talk About Me.” His best known songs are “Some Beach,” Kiss My Country Ass,” “Drink On It,” and “Hillbilly Bone.” Currently, he is a coach for the reality TV competition show The Voice, and is dating singer Gwen Stefani. Because we all love Blake Shelton so much, here are 10 things you didn’t know about the country legend.
10. Already Married
When Blake Shelton met country singer Miranda Lambert, he was already married to Kansas school teacher Kanyette Williams. He divorced her after meeting Lambert at the CMT 100 Greatest Duets where they sang, “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma.” When asked what he remembered about meeting her, he said, “I was falling in love with her, right there on stage.”
Photo by Sam Jordan/Everett Collection
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9. Getting Dad in the Divorce
Ex-wife Miranda Lambert comes from a very tight knit family and is daddy’s little girl. When they first got married, Blake Shelton said, “God forbid, if we ever break up, she knows I’m going to get her family in the divorce!”
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8. On Stage Breakdown
The song, “The House that Built Me,” was supposed to be sung by Blake Shelton, but it was given to Miranda Lambert and became a Grammy-winning hit. After filing for divorce, she sung at the Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming, and started crying during the song. Her gracious audience sang with her to get her through it.
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7. Red Solo Cup
While doing an interview for Entertainment Tonight, two days after his split from Miranda Lambert was announced, Blake Shelton drank vodka and water out of a solo cup. His justified the booze by saying, “I thought I’d get it started early…It’s been one of those weeks.”
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6. F-Bombs
Blake Shelton has quite the potty mouth and is known for swearing constantly on twitter, in interviews, and on the set of The Voice. While filming the reality TV show, Blake said, “Sometimes I’ll look around and see [producer] Mark Burnett off to the side, shaking his head and thinking, “How many F-bombs am I going to have to edit out of this?”
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5. LA’s Hot Girls
While filming The Voice, Blake Shelton uproots himself from his ranch in Oklahoma and lives in California. When asked about his favorite part of living in LA, he said, “It’s nice when you drive down the street and every girl you see is hot. I mean every girl — whether she’s crossing the street, sleeping on the street. Even the homeless girls are smoking hot!”
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4. Blake’s Style Guide
What is Blake Shelton’s favourite thing to see girls’ wearing? Surprise, surprise – it’s cow boots with cut-off jeans or a miniskirt. What does he hates seeing? Baseball caps on the Grand Ole Opry stage and performers with bare feet or flip-flops. He also thinks “Chuck Taylors look ridiculous.”
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3. The Pets
Blake Shelton has had some pretty interesting pets including three domesticated raccoons. In 2003, his pet turkey named Turkey passed away. Turkey moved around with Blake and lived in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Once a fan gave him an iguana as a gift in 2008, which scared the singer when he opened the sack containing the animal on the tour bus.
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2. The Hunter
While he likes to keep animals as pets, he also likes to hunt deer and he and former wife Miranda Lambert got matching guns as an engagement gift. His tattoo on his left forearm is deer tracks that he designed himself. However, it isn’t always obvious that they are deer tracks and have even been mistaken for lady bugs. When asked about his tat he said, “I probably have the crappiest tattoo — not only in country music — but maybe the world.” He later added barbwire to make it look more masculine.
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1. The Homemaker
Last year, Blake Shelton told People Magazine how much he likes to cook and said, “I’m good at anything that’s country – biscuits, gravy, chicken-fried steak. Look at me, for God’s sake. I cook what I like to eat.” However, he has also had a few mishaps and set the trash and the yard on fire. “I’ve burnt up some acreage and had to call the fire department a couple of times,” he said.