Vince Gill's Real Name: Vincent Grant Gill

Quick answer: The singer, guitarist, and songwriter is known professionally as Vince Gill. AllMusic and a Country Music Hall of Fame biography both record the full name Vincent Grant Gill and the birth date April 12, 1957, in Norman, Oklahoma.

Real name and early life

AllMusic's fact box lists the birth as April 12, 1957, in Norman, Oklahoma, and the alias Vincent Grant Gill. Its biography says Vincent Grant Gill was born on that date in Norman, and that his father, a judge, played banjo and guitar. The Hall of Fame independently gives the same full name, date, and city, and says he was born and raised in Norman, where his father, a federal appellate court judge and part-time country musician, taught him to play banjo and encouraged his career. Both accounts say he played in the high-school bluegrass group Mountain Smoke, later joined Bluegrass Alliance after moving to Louisville, played briefly with Ricky Skaggs's Boone Creek, and then worked in Los Angeles with Byron Berline's group Sundance before joining Pure Prairie League in 1979.

Career highlights

Both accounts say he was the lead singer on Pure Prairie League's 1979 hit "Let Me Love You Tonight," then joined Rodney Crowell's band, the Cherry Bombs, and later moved to Nashville. The Hall of Fame says he signed with RCA and moved to Nashville in 1983, with early singles including "A Victim of Life's Circumstances" and, in 1987, the Top Five hit "Cinderella." AllMusic independently describes a 1980s period in country's new traditionalist movement before a 1990s solo breakout. Both name later hits including "When I Call Your Name" and "I Still Believe in You." The Hall of Fame records his 2007 induction. The Hall of Fame also notes 1980s studio and songwriting work for other artists, including Rosanne Cash and Emmylou Harris, and AllMusic independently describes him as a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter who broke out as a solo country star in the 1990s. AllMusic independently discusses later wide-ranging work, including a later association with the Eagles, which is not independently developed in the Hall of Fame page used here. Both accounts emphasize the later important 1990 song "When I Call Your Name" and the later single "I Still Believe in You" as central to that solo period.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Vince Gill or Vincent Grant Gill are looking for the same country singer and guitarist. Both sources used here record the longer name.