Country Singers Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood Engaged
Garth Brooks has got a good thing going–his engagement to fellow country star Trisha Yearwood.
Brooks popped the question to Yearwood before some 7,000 onlookers Wednesday night at the Legends in Bronze event at Buck Owen’s Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, California.
Brooks was one of the night’s honorees, along with country legends Buck Owens, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Bob Wills, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, George Jones and George Strait.
After his larger-than-life bronze statue was revealed, Brooks turned to Yearwood, dropped to one knee and asked her to be his wife.
When the “How Do I Live” singer tearfully accepted, the crowd went wild.
The couple met in the mid-1980s when both were working to launch their careers.
Yearwood was Brooks’ opening act on his first headlining tour and he sang backup vocals on her 1991 debut album, Like We Never Had a Broken Heart. Yearwood, in turn, has provided backup vocals on the majority of Brooks’ albums.
It will be the second trip down the aisle for the groom and the third for the bride, Brooks’ spokeswoman, Nancy Seltzer, confirmed.
Brooks, 43, has three daughters from his first marriage to Sandy Mahl. The pair called it quits in 2000.
Yearwood’s first marriage, to Christopher Latham, ended in divorce in 1991. Her second marriage, to musician Robert Reynolds, ended in 1999.
Both halves of the musical couple have racked up a hefty stash of awards and recognitions for their contributions to the world of country music over the years.
Yearwood, 40, was named Female Vocalist of the year at the Country Music Awards in both 1997 and 1998, while Brooks took home Entertainer of the Year in 1991, 1992, 1997 and 1998, as well as numerous other CMA honors.
In 1997, the couple shared a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for “In Another’s Eyes.”
Brooks also won a Grammy in 1991 for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for “Ropin’ the Wind,” while Yearwood won the Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1997 for “How Do I Live” and shared a third Grammy with Aaron Neville in 1994 for their collaboration on “I Fall to Pieces.”
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