Brett Kissel
Brett Kissel (born May 27, 1990) is a Canadian country singer. He has achieved four number-one hits on the Canadian country chart with "Airwaves", "Drink About Me", "A Few Good Stories", and "Make a Life, Not a Living". Kissel has released the albums, Started with a Song (2013), Pick Me Up (2015), We Were That Song (2017), Now or Never (2020), What Is Life? (2020), and The Compass Project (2023). Early life Kissel was born in St. Paul, Alberta, the son of Brenda and Gordon Kissel. He has one older brother, Jamison. He grew up on a cattle ranch in northeastern Alberta's Flat Lake region, where his family operates the Wengzynowski North View cattle ranch. Career 2000–2011: Early years Kissel recorded his first album, Keepin' It Country, when he was 12 years old. Kissel released three more albums, By Request in 2004, Tried and True – A Canadian Tribute in 2006 and My Roots Run Deep in 2008. In 2006, Kissel was nominated for the Chevy Trucks Rising Star Award at the Canadian Country Music Association Awards. Kissel was 16 years old at the time, making him the youngest CCMA nominee in the history of the awards show. On May 10, 2013, Kissel signed a record deal with Warner Music Canada. His debut single, "Started with a Song", was released on June 17. It became the most added song at Canadian country radio in its first week, surpassing a Canadian country radio record set by Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". It debuted at number 87 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 for the week of July 27, 2013. The music video for the song premiered on CMT Canada on June 27. Kissel's first album for Warner, also titled Started with a Song, was released on October 1, 2013. On February 14, 2014, Kissel released his third single from his Started with a Song album titled "3-2-1". On March 29, 2014, Kissel won his first Juno Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year, and also performed on the 2014 Juno Awards broadcast on CTV alongside OneRepublic, Tegan and Sara, Bachman–Turner Overdrive and The Sheepdogs. In September 2014, Kissel led all country singers with eight nominations for the Canadian Country Music Awards held in Edmonton, Alberta. 2015–2018: Pick Me Up and We Were That Song In September 2017 Kissel won Male Artist of the Year, Interactive Artist of the Year, Country Music Program or Special of the Year and Video of the Year for I Didn't Fall in Love With Your Hair at the 2017 Canadian Country Music Awards. He also released a new album We Were That Song on December 8, 2017. In 2018 he went on a tour across Canada to support the album. 2019–2021: Now or Never, What Is Life? In September 2019, Kissel released his first American country radio single "Drink About Me", the lead single from his fourth major-label album Now or Never which was released on January 1, 2020. "Drink About Me"