John Michael Montgomery (born January 20, 1965) is an American country music singer.

"I Swear" and "Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)" were named by Billboard as the top country songs of 1994 and 1995, respectively.

Montgomery's recordings of "I Swear" and "I Can Love You Like That" were both released concurrently with cover versions by the R&B group All-4-One.

Several of Montgomery's singles crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, his highest peak there having been achieved by "Letters from Home" in 2004.

Montgomery has released 10 studio albums, selling over 16 million copies worldwide.

Montgomery received musical encouragement from his father, who played in a local country band and taught him his first chords.

[3] John Michael joined the family band (which included his older brother, Eddie Montgomery, who with Troy Gentry would form the duo Montgomery Gentry), playing guitar before becoming lead singer when his parents divorced.

Life's a Dance earned a triple-platinum Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certification for shipments of three million copies.

He appeared on the PBS music program Austin City Limits in 1994 during Season 19.

Kickin' It Up also sold even higher than his debut, earning a quadruple platinum certification for shipments of four million copies.

Like "I Swear" before it, the former was covered by All-4-One, while the latter was also declared the Number One country hit of 1995 on the Billboard Year-End charts.

Also included on the album was "Holdin' Onto Somethin'", which was a top 10 country hit in early 1996 for Jeff Carson.

At the end of 1995, Montgomery placed his career on hiatus due to a vocal cord injury.

He regained his chart momentum with three more Top Ten hits off the same album: "Friends" at No.

56-peaking musical track which included snippets from a Bill Engvall comedy sketch.

This song, featuring backing vocals from Alison Krauss and inspired by an urban legend, was the first single from his 2000 album Brand New Me, spending three weeks at Number One and reaching No.

This album saw minimal success in its chart singles, with lead-off "Til Nothing Comes Between Us" reaching No.

Despite the success of this single, the album's third and final release, "Goes Good with Beer", peaked at No.

After an off-key performance of the National Anthem at the televised NASCAR event, Golden Corral 500, on March 20, 2005, Montgomery confirmed on his website that he had a condition known as acoustic neuroma, which is a non-cancerous growth that interferes with a nerve running between the brain and the ear.

He also sang duet vocals on the title track to Colt Ford's debut album Ride Through the Country.

[9] Montgomery married Crystal White on January 8, 1996; the couple have two children, Walker and Madison.