Tracy Lynn interviews Tebey.
NASHVILLE RESIDENT AND ONTARIO, CANADA NATIVE, TEBEY, IS A PLATINUM SELLING ARTIST, AWARD-WINNING PRODUCER AND ACCOMPLISHED SONGWRITER WITH MULTIPLE #1 SONGS IN HIS REPERTOIRE OF HITS. HIS MUCH-MISPRONOUNCED NAME (READ: TAY-BAY) IS OF NIGERIAN DESCENT – HIS FATHER’S BIRTHPLACE, BUT TEBEY GREW UP IN THE SMALL TOWN OF PETERBOROUGH AND WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL IN BURLINGTON. WHILE ENJOYING SIMULTANEOUS SUCCESS ON THE FOOTBALL FIELD, HE AND HIS FATHER MADE THE DECISION TO MOVE TO NASHVILLE IN HIS MID-TEENS TO PURSUE HIS MUSIC CAREER, WHILE HIS MOTHER STAYED BACK IN CANADA TO CARE FOR TEBEY’S BROTHER AND SISTER. THIS BOLD MOVE PAID OFF WHEN TEBEY SIGNED TO BNA RECORDS NASHVILLE (RCA LABEL GROUP) IN 2002.
THOUGH HE’S BEEN EXPERIENCING A STEADY TRAJECTORY FOR OVER A DECADE, THE PAST FOUR YEARS IN PARTICULAR HAVE SEEN SOME OF TEBEY’S BIGGEST SUCCESSES TO DATE WITH THREE #1 SONGS AS A WRITER: A US BILLBOARD #1 WITH JUSTIN MOORE’S “SOMEBODY ELSE WILL”; A CANADIAN #1 WITH GORD BAMFORD’S “DIVE BAR” AND HIS FIRST #1 AS AN ARTIST AND WRITER WITH HIS GOLD SINGLE “WHO’S GONNA LOVE YOU”, FOR WHICH HE ALSO RECEIVED A SOCAN AWARD IN MARCH 2019. HE ALSO CO-WROTE TWO ADDITIONAL TOP 5 RADIO HITS DURING THIS TIMEFRAME – “DENIM ON DENIM” (CERTIFIED PLATINUM) AND “GOOD JEANS”. OVERALL, TEBEY HAS FOUR OFFICIAL TOP 5 RADIO SINGLES, FIVE TOP 10 SINGLES, AND FIVE TOP 20 SINGLES AS A RECORDING ARTIST, AND HIS MUSIC AND VIDEOS HAVE AMASSED OVER 80 MILLION STREAMS.
AS A SONGWRITER, TEBEY HAS EARNED SUCCESS ON MULTIPLE CONTINENTS WITH THE AFOREMENTIONED #1 CHART TOPPERS; ONE IN THE US, ONE IN THE UK (PIXIE LOTT), AND THE REMAINDER IN CANADA. NOTABLE POP ARTISTS TO HAVE RECORDED HIS SONGS INCLUDE ONE DIRECTION, FIFTH HARMONY, PIXIE LOTT, CHER, FLO RIDA AND SMASHMOUTH AND, NO STRANGER TO THE COUNTRY GENRE, JUSTIN MOORE, BIG & RICH, JIMMY RANKIN, EMERSON DRIVE AND MANY OTHERS ALL RELEASED TEBEY-PENNED TUNES. THIS PAST WINTER JOE NICHOLS RELEASED HIS SONG “I GOT FRIENDS THAT DO” FEATURING BLAKE SHELTON; WRITTEN BY TEBEY, DANICK DUPELLE AND JIMMY THOW.
BACK ON THE ARTISTS SIDE OF THINGS, OVER THE PAST SIX YEARS, THREE OF TEBEY’S SINGLES HAVE BEEN NOTED FOR THEIR SUBSTANTIAL SPIN COUNT, BEING NAMED “MOST PLAYED CANADIAN COUNTRY SONG” OF BOTH 2013 AND 2014 (‘SOMEWHERE IN THE COUNTRY’ AND ‘WAKE ME UP’), AND PLATINUM HIT, “DENIM ON DENIM”, WAS THE THIRD HIGHEST SPINNING SONG OF 2018 IN THIS CATEGORY.
TEBEY’S 2021 ALBUM, “THE GOOD ONES,” IS HIS MOST SUCCESSFUL RELEASE TO DATE. THE TITLE TRACK FROM THE ALBUM, A POWERHOUSE DUET WITH QUÉBEC POP SUPERSTAR MARIE-MAI, REACHED TOP TEN AT RADIO AND WAS PERFORMED ON THE CCMA BROADCAST BY THE DUO IN 2020. ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE REVIEWED THE SONG CALLING IT, “A POWERHOUSE POWER BALLAD, THE ‘GOOD ONES’ WOULD’VE ACED ALL ITS EXAMS AT THE LADY A SCHOOL OF COUNTRY HIT-MAKING. ‘NEED YOU NOW’ JUST GOT A NEW COUSIN.” HIS 2ND SINGLE OFF OF THE ALBUM, ‘HAPPENED ON A SATURDAY NIGHT,’ REACHED TOP TEN AT NATIONAL RADIO AND WAS CERTIFIED GOLD; ‘SHOTGUN RIDER’ ALSO REACHED THE TOP 10 AT CANADIAN RADIO. HIS SINGLE ‘SONG OF THE SUMMER’ WITH IRISH SUPERSTAR, UNA HEALY AND WAS FEATURED ON BBC RADIO2 AND MADE NATIONAL UK PLAYLISTS. TO WRAP UP 2021, TEBEY RELEASED A COVER OF THE CLASSIC DARLENE LOVE CHRISTMAS HIT, ‘CHRISTMAS (BABY PLEASE COME HOME)’ MAKING IT HIS FIRST HOLIDAY SONG. THE TRACK QUICKLY ROSE TO NEARLY 1 MILLION STREAMS AND WAS ADDED TO SEVERAL PLAYLISTS WITHIN THE MONTH.
TEBEY IS CURRENTLY WORKING ON A NEW PROJECT FOR 2022/23 TITLED ‘TULUM’ WHICH IS SET TO RELEASE LATER IN THE NEW YEAR. HIS CURRENT SINGLE FROM THIS UPCOMING ALBUM IS ‘WHAT WAS I DRINKING’ (RELEASED JAN 14) HAS ACCUMULATED OVER 2.4 MILLION STREAMS TO DATE. HIS SECOND SINGLE OFF THIS PROJECT ‘SINK WITH THE SUN’ WILL BE RELEASED TO DSP’S JULY 15TH!
IN EARLY 2019, TEBEY TOURED WITH TIM HICKS ON THE NATIONAL “GET LOUD” TOUR AND SINCE THEN HAS HAD TWO HEADLINE TOURS ACROSS CANADA – THE GOOD ONES TOUR IN 2020 AND THE SHOTGUN RIDER TOUR IN 2022. IN THE FALL OF 2019, TEBEY PERFORMED HIS FIRST INTERNATIONAL TOUR DATES AS PART OF COUNTRY MUSIC WEEK, WHICH TOOK HIM TO BERLIN, COLOGNE AND LONDON. HE RETURNED FOR THE ILLUSTRIOUS C2C FESTIVAL IN BERLIN AND LONDON IN EARLY 2020. LAST SUMMER TEBEY RETURNED TO EUROPE/UK TO HEADLINE THE BUCKLE & BOOTS FESTIVAL IN MANCHESTER ALONG WITH DATES IN LONDON AND HAMBURG. MOST RECENTLY, IN MARCH 2022, TEBEY WAS IN LONDON FOR THE C2C FESTIVAL WHERE HE PLAYED 5 CAPACITY SHOWS AND CO-HOSTED THE BOB HARRIS COUNTRY SHOW LIVE ON BBC RADIO2. TEBEY ALSO PERFORMED AT THE 2022 CMAFEST IN NASHVILLE IN JUNE/22. HE ONCE AGAIN HOSTED A BBC RADIO2 SHOW BUT THIS TIME ON HIS OWN, AND INTERVIEWED MAIN STAGE ARTISTS SUCH AS THOMAS RHETT, KANE BROWN, KELSEA BALLERINI, COLE SWINDELL, LAINEY WILSON AND MORE!
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