Clint Patrick Black (born February 4, 1962)[1] is an American country music singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer.

Black has also ventured into acting, having made appearances in a 1993 episode of the TV series Wings and in the 1994 film Maverick, as well as a starring role in 1998's Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack.

Black has been nominated for four Grammy Awards for best Country Male Vocal Performance (1990 – "Killin' Time", 1997 – "Like the Rain", 1998 – "Something That We Do", 1999 – "Nothin' but the Taillights"), he was also nominated for six Grammy Awards with one win in the category of Best Country Collaboration with Vocals – "Hold On Partner" in 1991 (w/ Roy Rogers), "A Bad Goodbye" in 1993 (w/ Wynonna), "Still Holding On" in 1997 (w/ Martina McBride), "Same Old Train" in 1998 which got the Grammy Award (with Joe Diffie, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Randy Travis, Travis Tritt and Dwight Yoakam), "When I Said I Do" in 1999 (w/ wife Lisa Hartman Black), and "Hey Good Lookin'" in 2004 (Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, and George Strait).

Black was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, the youngest of four children of Ann (Scherma) and Gwin Augusta "G.A."

On Saturday afternoons, the family would host backyard barbecues and invite the neighborhood to listen to the boys sing.

[4] For six years, Black supported himself as a construction worker, bait cutter, and fishing guide,[8] while singing at various lounges as a solo singer and guitarist.

In a departure from most other country albums, Black used his road band instead of session musicians to record Killin' Time.

[10] He made his debut in 1989 with the single, "A Better Man", which reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs in early June.

'"[12] In late 1990, the Los Angeles Times surveyed country music industry insiders to determine which acts could be expected to sell the most records over the next seven years.

Under the terms of their initial contract, Ham controlled all publishing royalties for any song that Black wrote or co-wrote for his first eight albums.

[12] Ham promptly countersued, blaming the initial lawsuit on poor advice Black received from his new personal assistant, his mother-in-law Jonni Hartman.

Both Alan Jackson and Travis Tritt achieved greater success, and Billy Ray Cyrus became a teen idol.

Reviewers noticed that with this album Black presented a "new, sexier image", wearing tighter clothing and in many cases leaving behind his trademark hat.

The Houston Chronicle noted that Black's duet with Wynonna Judd, "A Bad Goodbye", was "precisely the kind of radio-ready, big-production ballad that record companies tend to force on their artists when they sense that their careers are in trouble....[I]t sticks out like a sore thumb in his body of work.

Thom Owens of AllMusic said that the album made no attempt to change his sound, and was "sturdy" but less country than his previous efforts.

He soon recovered his chart momentum with the number two "Something That We Do" followed by two straight chart-toppers in the album's Steve Wariner-penned title track and "The Shoes You're Wearing".

In 1998, he made a brief foray into big band jazz when he recorded a cover of the Christmas song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" for the soundtrack of the animated movie of the same name.

Several others featured guest appearances by some of Black's idols, including Waylon Jennings, Kenny Loggins, and Eric Idle.

Only stuff from before I started making records, so it was pre-1989—Waylon, Willie, Buck Owens, Haggard, Don Williams, Jim Croce.

[35] In early 2015, Black appeared with Joe Nichols on the ACM Superstar Duets special, which featured modern artists teaming up with older icons that had influenced their music.

[36] In July 2015, it was reported that Black had signed a new record deal with independent label Thirty Tigers to release an album of new studio material in the Fall.

Rick Mitchell of the Houston Chronicle stated his opinion that The Hard Way "clever wordplay is no substitute for heartfelt emotion".

Although the part required very little actual acting, after the movie's release Black received an increasing number of calls from directors who thought he would be perfect for a particular role.

In 2008, Black was a contestant on a short-lived CBS reality show, Secret Talents of the Stars, in which he practiced stand-up comedy.

On July 4, 2012, Black appeared on an episode of Lifetime's reality series, Coming Home, which documents servicemen and women returning to their loved ones in surprise reunions.

In the episode, he is featured helping two children write a song about their Army captain father, who is returning from Afghanistan to surprise his family.

In the episode, the show pays a visit to his Nashville residence, to uncover the story behind an artifact given to him by his wife decades ago.

[44] In 2020, Black and Lisa appeared in season four of The Masked Singer as "Snow Owls", notably competing as the series' first duet competitors while riding in an egg-shaped vehicle.

[45] Clint Black participated in the seventh season of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. His episode aired in 2021.

Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, George Strait, and Willie Nelson are Black's biggest musical influences.