Luke Combs

Luke Combs met Nicole Hocking at a songwriting festival in Florida in 2016, when she was working for the recording organization BMI. They became engaged in November 2018 and married in Florida on August 1, 2020. Combs wrote the song "Beautiful Crazy" about Hocking during their relationship, with Robert Williford and Wyatt B. Durrette III as co-writers.

Combs and Hocking have three sons. He has described spending time at home with his family between touring commitments, including cooking, caring for the children, and living on a farm outside Nashville. He has also discussed experiencing anxiety and primarily obsessional obsessive-compulsive disorder from adolescence through his college years.

Luke Albert Combs grew up in North Carolina after his family moved from Huntersville to Asheville. As a child, he sang in church, performed in school musicals, and joined his school chorus. The chorus later performed at Carnegie Hall. In high school, he played football and participated in several music groups.

Combs attended Appalachian State University, initially studying business before switching to criminal justice. He worked as a bouncer at Town Tavern Blowing Rock and began performing at the same bar. After teaching himself guitar at 21, he played his first country music show at the Parthenon Cafe in Boone. He left college shortly before graduation and moved to Nashville in 2014 to pursue music full-time.

Combs released the extended plays The Way She Rides and Can I Get an Outlaw in 2014, followed by This One's for You in 2015. His first single, "Hurricane," was initially released independently before being re-released through Columbia Nashville. It reached number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart in 2017, and his debut studio album, This One's for You, reached number one on the Top Country Albums chart and number four on the Billboard 200.

His second album, What You See Is What You Get, arrived in 2019 and became his first album to top both the Billboard 200 and the Top Country Albums chart. He followed it with Growin' Up in 2022, Gettin' Old in 2023, and Fathers & Sons in 2024. Combs was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry in 2019. His collaborations have included Eric Church, Ed Sheeran, Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson, Post Malone, and Amanda Shires.

Combs has built a major touring career through headlining tours including the Don't Tempt Me with a Good Time Tour, Beer Never Broke My Heart Tour, Luke Combs World Tour, and Growin' Up and Gettin' Old Tour. The Luke Combs World Tour sold out 37 of 39 venues immediately, including stadium dates. In 2024, he and Eric Church organized Concert for Carolina at Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium to support Hurricane Helene relief.

Combs released his cover of Tracy Chapman's 1988 song "Fast Car" in 2023. The song was connected to childhood memories of listening to Chapman's music with his father, and it became the most-streamed track from Gettin' Old on Spotify. His version reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the US Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts.

"Fast Car" won Single of the Year at the 2023 Country Music Association Awards. At the 2024 Grammy Awards, Combs and Chapman performed the song together in a surprise duet, while Combs received a nomination for Best Country Solo Performance.

Combs won the Country Music Association Award for New Artist of the Year in 2018 and the Academy of Country Music Award for New Male Artist of the Year that same year. His CMA honors also include Male Vocalist of the Year in 2019 and 2020, Song of the Year for "Beautiful Crazy," Album of the Year for What You See Is What You Get and Growin' Up, and Single of the Year for "Fast Car."

He won the CMA Entertainer of the Year award in 2021 and 2022. His other honors include Academy of Country Music awards for Male Artist of the Year and Album of the Year, as well as the 2021 Nashville Songwriter Award for Songwriter-Artist of the Year. He has received multiple Grammy nominations, including for Best New Artist, Best Country Album, Best Country Duo or Group Performance, Best Country Solo Performance, and Best Song Written for Visual Media.