Sunday Morning Country Classic Spotlight to Feature Chris LeDoux

Join me at 11 a.m. on Sunday January 26th for the Sunday Morning Country Classic Spotlight featuring Chris LeDoux.  The Country Classic Show kicks off at 9 a.m. 

Chris LeDoux was known as the singing Bronc Rider,  born in Biloxi, Mississippi on October 2, 1948.  When the family moved to Texas, he developed an interest in music and the rodeo.  He specialized in bareback bronc riding and in 1976 he was named the World Champion Bareback Bronc Rider.

Chris established his own recording company, Lucky Man Music, just outside of Nashville.  He spent twenty years recording and marketing his own records to fans of the rodeo.  He was a very good friend of Garth Brooks.  Garth gave a major boost to Chris' career in the song Much Too Young to Feel This Damned Old when he made reference to listening to a worn out tape of Chris LeDoux. This attracted the attention of Capitol Records and Chris was signed to a major contract with Capitol Records.

His family moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming where he attended high school.  He earned a rodeo scholarship to Casper College in Casper, WY.

In August 2000, LeDoux was diagnosed with Sclerosing Cholangitis, which required a liver transplant.  Garth Brooks volunteered to donate part of his live but it was incompatible.  An alternative donor was found and he received a transplant in October of 2000.  In November 2004, he was diagnosed with liver cancer and he underwent treatment until his death March 9, 2005.

He was survived by his wife of 33 years, Peggy and children Clay , Ned, Will, Beau and Cindy.  His son Beau,also a rodeo competitor, on July 24, 2007 spread his father's ashes over Frontier Park Arena during the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.  The city of Casper, Wyoming celebrates Chris' life and legacy each November with the Chris LeDoux Memorial Rodeo, which is a weekend event.