Tracy Lee Lawrence (born January 27, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Atlanta, Texas, and raised in Foreman, Arkansas, Lawrence began performing at age 15 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1990 to begin his country music career. He signed to Atlantic Records Nashville in 1991 and made his debut late that year with the album Sticks and Stones. Five more studio albums, as well as a live album and a compilation album, followed throughout the 1990s and into 2000 on Atlantic before the label's country division was closed in 2001. Afterward, he recorded for Warner Bros. Records, DreamWorks Records, Mercury Records Nashville, and his own labels, Rocky Comfort Records and Lawrence Music Group.
Lawrence has released a total of 14 studio albums. His most commercially successful albums are Alibis (1993) and Time Marches On (1996), both certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). He has charted more than forty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including eight songs that reached the number one position: "Sticks and Stones", "Alibis", "Can't Break It to My Heart", "My Second Home", "If the Good Die Young", "Texas Tornado", "Time Marches On", and "Find Out Who Your Friends Are". Of these, "Time Marches On" is his longest-lasting at three weeks, while "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" set a record at the time for the slowest ascent to the top of that chart. His musical style is defined mainly by neotraditional country and honky-tonk influences, although he has also recorded country pop, Christmas music, and Christian country music. He has won Top New Male Vocalist from Billboard in 1992 and from Academy of Country Music in 1993, and Vocal Event of the Year from the Country Music Association in 2007.
Tracy Lee Lawrence was born in Atlanta, Texas, on January 27, 1968. He was raised by his stay-at-home mother JoAnn Dickens and stepfather Duane Dickens. He has two brothers and three sisters. When Lawrence was four years old, his family moved to Foreman, Arkansas. Growing up there, Lawrence sang in the local Methodist church choir and learned to play guitar. His mother had wanted him to grow up to be a minister, but he wanted to pursue a musical career instead. Regarding his upbringing, Lawrence told Country Weekly magazine in 1996, "I was hell-bent on doing things my way. I bucked my stepfather. He thought I was risking too much chasing this crazy music dream." Lawrence began performing publicly in local clubs at age 15. By age 17, he had joined a local honky-tonk band. He attended Southern Arkansas University in 1986 to study mass communications, where he also became a brother of Sigma Pi, but dropped out two years later to sing for a band based out of Louisiana. When the band broke up, Lawrence moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1990, supporting himself through odd jobs. He also became a regular performer at several different Nashville nightclubs and bars, and further supported himself through winning local talent competitions. After performing at an artist showcase at Nashville's Bluebird Café in January 1991, Lawrence was discovered by talent manager Wayne Edwards, who helped him sign to Atlantic Records' Nashville division. This signing took place only seven months after his move to Nashville.

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