The Real Reason Garth Brooks Walked Away From The Music Industry

Publish date: 2024-05-08

For Garth Brooks, the motivation to walk away from the music business was simple: family. Back in 2015, Brooks told People that he had three very good reasons to retreat from life in the spotlight — daughters Taylor, August, and Allie, from his first marriage to Sandy Mahl. "People said, 'How could you walk away from music?'" he told the magazine at the time. "But being a dad –- there's nothing that can touch that."

When he announced his retirement to shocked and disappointed fans in October of 2000, Brooks was coming off an incredible run, with 18 No. 1 hits under his belt and some 100 million albums sold in the United States alone. Though he did do some gigs, including a residency at the Wynn Las Vegas from 2009 to 2012, and nine sold-out charity benefit shows in Nashville in 2010, he mostly kept a low profile. Most of his time was spent with his daughters on his ranch in Oklahoma, where he would pack school lunches, do chores, and participate in school events and soccer games like every other dad in the community. "The dads across the soccer field looked at me as a dad just like them," he said. "And I was very grateful."

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