John Berry
Photo provided
John Berry has a new outlook, a new address and a new beginning. The singer-songwriter rose to stardom on the country charts of the 1990s with such mega hits as “Your Love Amazes Me,” “Standing on the Edge of Goodbye” and “She’s Taken a Shine.”
Berry will open the festivities for the Missouri Peach Fair in Campbell on August 19, at the Campbell Community Building. The concert will begin at 7:30 with Berry taking the stage at 8 p.m.
During his star-making decade, John placed 20 singles on the country charts, six of which went Top 5, with “Your Love Amazes Me” scoring a No. 1 on the Billboard and Radio & Records Country Chart as well as “She’s Taken a Shine” and “Standing on the Edge of Goodbye” earning the #1 slot in Radio & Records. He had earned multiple Gold and Platinum records over the years. John was nominated for the ACM Top New Male Vocalist in 1994, won a Grammy Award in 1996 for his participation in Amazing Grace: A Country Salute to Gospel Vol. 1, was nominated for another Grammy in 1995 for his smash hit “Your Love Amazes Me” and was nominated for the CMA Horizon award and Top Male Vocalist Award in 1995. In 1997 he was nominated for Vocal Event of the Year (for “Long Haired Country Boy” with Charlie Daniels and Hal Ketchum) and in 2013 was nominated for the Mainstream Country Male Artist by the ICM Awards. And thanks to the miracles of modern technology, he even sang a duet with Patsy Cline.
John’s enduringly powerful performances draw on a lifetime of making music and living life. Born in South Carolina and raised in Georgia, he began playing guitar at 13, performing shows at age 14 and making records at age 19. “By the time I was 17, I knew that music was what I wanted to do with my life”; and he has done it well ever since.
Between 1979 and 1990, he recorded and marketed six albums on his own labels. Those early discs and John’s strong regional popularity attracted attention on Music Row. Capitol Records signed him to his first major label in 1992. Berry’s co-written hits “A Mind of Her Own” and “Kiss Me In The Car” introduced him to radio audiences in 1992. Then “Your Love Amazes Me,” “What’s in it for Me” and “You and Only You” thrust him to stardom in 1994. “Standing on the Edge of Goodbye,” “I Think About it all the Time,” and “If I Had Any Pride Left at All” were all major hits the following year, with “Standing on the Edge of Goodbye” earning John the coveted Grammy nomination.
But it was his stunning performance of the title track of the 1995 CD O’ Holy Night that led to his most enduring legacy to date. John began doing special Christmas tours that year and completed his 20th anniversary holiday concert tour in 2016. “If O’ Holy Night is all that anyone remembers of me, that’s fine with me,” he comments about his Christmas popularity. “It is a truly inspired piece of music.”
Happily, there were more successes to come. The hit “Change My Mind” earned John a Top-5 spot on the country charts in 1996. “She’s Taken a Shine” became an even bigger hit in 1997.
In 2002, Berry returned to making records on his own label, Clear Sky Records. Songs and Stories was released that year, with “Those Were The Days” released in 2003. In 2008, “Those Were The Days” marked John’s return to mainstream country music. He created his first Christian-music CD in 2011. Over the years he has continued to tour steadily.
In 2015 John launched a crowd funded Kickstarter project that proved very successful. Overwhelmed by the fan response, John cut a Country album entitled What I Love The Most and a new 5-song Christmas EP This Christmas Night.
With time, I’ve learned that the road to fulfillment is doing what I was called to do, love to do, and then doing it the best I can, regardless of the circumstances. And for me, that is making music and singing for people.”
Tickets for the concert will go on sale June 1 and will be sold at $15.00 in advance.
Tickets the day of the show will be $17.50. Tickets may be purchased after the release date at Vancil’s Foods, Sugar Shack and City of Campbell Office and from any fair board member.
For more information or to purchase tickets by phone, contact Tina Finder at 573-217-9620.