by Steve Leggett The grandson of onetime Louisiana Hayride performer Richard Yates, country singer/songwriter Chris Young hails from Murfreesboro, TN, and first drew the public's attention when he appeared on the Nashville Star television show in 2006. Young's singing abilities first surfaced in children's theater productions in grade school, and with his family's full support, he threw himself into learning all he could about music, and country music in particular. By the time he was a senior in high school he was already playing clubs in the Nashville area, and his self-released debut album was out before he even graduated from high school. Young attended college at Belmont University in Nashville and then Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, all while still managing to do some 150 live shows a year. He was offered and accepted a gig fronting the house band at Cowboy's in Arlington, TX, and it was there that a fan kept insisting that he audition for the Nashville Star TV show. Young eventually made the trip to Houston and passed the audition, and the whole affair paid off handsomely with a contract from RCA Records. Young's debut single, "Drinkin' Me Lonely," a song he wrote with Larry Wayne Clark, was released in 2006, followed later in the year by a Buddy Cannon-produced album called simply Chris Young.