Chad Brownlee

A singer possessing a laid-back, guy-next-door charm, Chad Brownlee launched his career in country music after spending time playing hockey professionally for the Idaho Steelheads. He slowly established himself as an attraction in his native Canada, eventually earning a Juno Award nomination for Country Album of the Year in 2013 for his second album, Love Me or Leave Me. From there, Brownlee worked steadily, achieving his first Canadian Country number one in 2019 with "Forever's Gotta Start Somewhere."

A native of Kelowna, British Columbia, Chad Brownlee went to the Vancouver Canucks as a draft pick in 2003. He then went to the NCAA team Minnesota State Mavericks before heading to the ECHL to play on the Idaho Steelheads in 2007. During his only season for the team he sustained a series of injuries, leading him to leave hockey for music.

Brownlee released his first single, "The Best That I Can (Superhero)," in 2009, with a full-length eponymous album following the next year. An additional four singles were pulled from the album, with "Carried Away" reaching 19 and "Day After You" making its way into the Canadian Country Top Ten toward the end of 2010. The success of his debut helped him win the Canadian Country Music Association award of the CCMA Rising Star. Arriving in February 2012, Love Me or Leave Me built upon this success, launching four Canadian Country Top Ten singles -- its title track, "Smoke in the Rain," "Listen," and "Crash" -- over the course of 2012. He quickly followed the record with 2013's The Fighters, which produced a series of singles that hovered around the tenth position of the Canadian Country chart, including "Fallin' Over You," "Just Because," and "When the Lights Go Down."

Hearts on Fire, Brownlee's first EP, arrived in 2016, and it produced three Top Ten singles in its title track," "I Hate You for It" and 'Somethin' We Shouldn't Do