Kix Brooks

Kix Brooks
Brooks in April 2010
Background information
Birth name	Leon Eric Brooks III
Born	(1955-05-12) May 12, 1955 (age 61) Shreveport, Louisiana, US
Genres	Country
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, piano
Years active	1983–1989; 2012–present (solo career) 1990–2010; 2015–present (Brooks & Dunn)
Labels	Capitol, Arista Nashville
Associated acts	Ronnie Dunn
Website	www.kixbrooks.com/

Leon Eric "Kix" Brooks III (born May 12, 1955) is an American country music artist, actor, and film producer best known for being one half of the duo Brooks & Dunn and host of radio's American Country Countdown. Prior to the duo's foundation, he was a singer and songwriter, charting twice on Hot Country Songs and releasing an album for Capitol Records. Brooks and Ronnie Dunn comprised Brooks & Dunn for 20 years, with both members beginning solo careers. Brooks's solo career after Brooks & Dunn has included the album New to This Town.

Brooks grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana. He has one sister, one half-sister, one half-brother and his father adopted one son of his third wife. He attended Riverside Elementary for grades K-5. After graduating from the former Sewanee Military Academy, an Episcopalian institution in Sewanee, Tennessee, Brooks attended Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, where he was a theatre arts major. He moved to Alaska to work for his father on an oil pipeline for one summer and then returned to Louisiana Tech to finish his education. He then moved to Maine and wrote advertising for a company owned by his sister and brother-in-law.

His father urged him to pursue his desire to become a musician, and Kix moved to Nashville in the early 1980s. His then girlfriend (now wife Barbara, with whom he has a son and daughter) followed shortly thereafter. He began working for Tree Publishing as a staff songwriter. He recorded his first solo single, Baby, When Your Heart Breaks Down, for Avion in 1983 but returned to songwriting after its failure. Brooks and Dan Tyler co-wrote Modern Day Romance, released by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in June 1985; it became the band's second No. 1 hit on the country chart.