In total, McGraw's albums have produced 65 singles, 25 of which have reached number one on the Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay charts. His Soul2Soul II Tour , which was done in partnership with his wife, Faith Hill , is one of the highest-grossing tours in country music history, and one of the top five among all genres of music. He has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She lived in the same apartment building as Tug McGraw, who was playing baseball for Jacksonville.
When she became pregnant with McGraw as a teen, D'Agostino's parents sent her to Louisiana to live with relatives. McGraw grew up believing Smith was his father, and used this stepfather's surname until meeting Tug. At age 11, McGraw discovered his birth certificate while searching in his mother's closet to look for a picture for a school project.
Following the discovery, he learned from her who his biological father was and she took him to meet the elder McGraw for the first time. After that time, the two formed a relationship and remained close until the former baseball star died in As a child, McGraw played competitive sports, including baseball, even before the knowledge of who his father was and his professional baseball career. Following high school graduation, he attended Northeast Louisiana University on a baseball scholarship, where he was a pre-law major and pledged as a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
While in college, McGraw learned to play guitar and would frequently perform and sing for money. He has claimed his roommates often hid the guitar because he was so bad. After the move, he attended Florida Community College at Jacksonville for one term, and occasionally sat in with local bands. McGraw came to the attention of Curb Records in After cutting a demo single, McGraw gave a copy to his father.
A man who was friends with Curb Records executives heard the demo while driving with Tug one day and recommended that Curb contact the young singer. Several weeks later, he was able to play his tape for Curb executives, after which they signed him to a recording contract.
