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Clay Walker first topped the Billboard country singles chart in 1993 with “What’s It to You” and followed with his second consecutive No. 1 hit, “Live Until I Die.” Since then he’s placed 31 titles on Billboard’s singles chart including such additional chart toppers as “Dreaming with my Eyes Open,” “If I Could Make Living,” “This Woman and This Man,” and “Rumor Has It.” (The latter two songs each spent two weeks at the summit.) He’s enjoyed his share of success at the cash registers and has consistently been one of the busiest artists on the road. He’s scored four platinum-selling albums, signifying sales of a million units, and two gold albums, discs that sold over 500,000 units.

Like Mark Chesnutt and Tracy Byrd, Walker made a name for himself on the competitive Texas honky tonk circuit before graduating to success on a national level. “After I saw Mark and Tracy do it, that gave me even more desire because I knew both of them,” Walker recalls. “Watching them do it led me to believe that if I kept trying hard, then maybe I could get my break too.”

He did and in 1993, his first single on Giant, “What’s It To You,” flew up the chart and landed at No. 1. His smooth, evocative voice and energetic stage presence quickly established Walker as the latest Texas export to find national acclaim and a lengthy string of hits has followed. However, the Houston resident has never strayed far from his Texas roots or the Lone Star lifestyle. In fact, one of the accomplishments Walker is most proud of is having placed seventh in the cutting horse competition at the Houston Livestock Rodeo, the largest rodeo in the United States. He took the prize with his horse Maddie.

It’s an impressive feat, made even more special because Walker was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996. “If you’d asked me when I was diagnosed that first day if I would still be alive, I would have said ‘No’ because that’s what the doctor’s said,” he admits. “Here I am, and actually I’m probably healthier than I was [when I was diagnosed.]” Clay set his mind to overcome the obstacles MS set before him. Since them, he has founded Band Against MS (BAMS) to fight the disease and has raised upwards of $2,000,000 for the cause.

After more than a decade in the national spotlight, Clay Walker believes the best is yet to come. “I trust my gut more than ever now,” he says. “I definitely don’t feel like a rookie, but at the same time, I think the best years of my recording career are ahead of me. I believe if the good Lord wants it, who’s going to stop it?”