Shelton was born in Ada, Oklahoma, to his car dealer father Richard and beauty salon owner mother Dorothy. His mom can be heard singing on the track "
Time For Me To Come Home" from Blake's
Cheers, It's Christmas album.
On November 13, 1990, Blake's older brother Richie, who was 24 at the time, died in a car accident. Blake and his wife Miranda Lambert penned the song "
Over You" in memory of his late sibling. The tune was named CMA Song of the Year for 2012.
Blake first met fellow country singer Miranda Lambert at the CMT's 100 Greatest Duets Concert. After dating for four years, Shelton proposed to Miranda, after seeking (and receiving) her father's blessing. They were married on May 14, 2011, at Don Strange Ranch in Boerne, Texas.
Lambert and Shelton announced their divorce on July 20, 2015.
Blake Shelton is one of the few Country stars who does not live in Nashville. He lives on a farm in Tishomingo, Oklahoma.
Blake sported lengthy hair and a cowboy hat for the first few years of his country singer career. "I know it looks like crap, but it is just more fun to me to irritate people than cut my hair to satisfy them," he quipped to CMT in 2003. Shelton finally got rid of his long locks and lost the hat for his 2006 album, Pure B.S.
When Blake first stepped into his role as coach on The Voice, he was a well-known figure in country music circles, but the NBC show has made him a household name to millions of viewers.
The Voice isn't Blake's first reality TV competition gig. He was also a coach on a 2007 similar show called Clash of the Choirs creating a singing team. His choir came third behind the ones led by Patti LaBelle's, which finished finished second, and former 98° singer Nick Lachey, which won the competition. Blake was also a judge on the 2007 season of Nashville Star, the show that launched Miranda's career in 2003.
Blake refuses to play a love interest in any of his videos. "Since I've been married, I won't go there in a video," he explained to People magazine. "If I was to go there, it would be Miranda in a video. I'm not an actor and don't pretend to be. Everybody knows I'm married to Miranda Lambert, and they don't want to see me leaving a bar with a girl. Why would I take this ring off for a video? I'd be insulted by that if I was Miranda, and I don't want to do anything to insult her or hurt her feelings."
He was the first person to ever be invited to the Grand Ole Opry via Twitter. The actual tweet read: "@blakeshelton, you're invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. See you on 10/23/2010!"
Blake's mom entered him into a pageant when he was 6 or 7 years old. He recalled to CMT. "I remember singing '
Cat Scratch Fever' by Ted Nugent, and '
Old Time Rock And Roll' by Bob Seger -- [they] were probably my two signature songs."
Blake and Miranda divorced in July 2015. Blake announced he was dating Gwen Stefani, his co-star on The Voice, a few months later. The two stars wed on July 3, 2021 at the chapel on Shelton's Oklahoma ranch.
Blake Shelton doesn't like high-octane rides, much to Gwen Stefani's surprise. "I took him to Disneyland - he'd never been to Disneyland," Gwen said during an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. "I was like, 'Your life is not even complete yet, what are you doing?' But yeah, we went and it was crazy, it was like a billion people there."
"He won't do the roller coasters," she added. "That was literally almost a deal breaker for me, I was like, 'I don't know, weird!'"
Shelton told
ABC Radio that his late brother Richie was his biggest musical influence when he was growing up. "He wasn't a singer or a musician or anything," the country star recalled. "He was just a guy that just loved music and from the time I can remember, he was in his bedroom listening to whatever record he was into at the time, as loud as he possibly could."
"It was shaking the house," Shelton added. "My dad would come beat on his door, and you know, 'Turn that down!'"
"That was probably the guy that introduced me to… the most important music of my life," he continued, "because he was listening to a lot of country, a lot of Southern rock… I guess that's probably what planted the seed early on for me."
In 2017 he became the second musician ever to be named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive in the annual feature's more than 30-year history. The first was Adam Levine in 2013, his fellow coach on The Voice.
During a 2024
interview with Taste of Country Nights host Evan Paul, Blake Shelton revealed his surprisingly simple backstage rider.
The country music star said he only requires three things in his dressing room before each show: "I need Sprite Zero and vodka," he said. "It's pretty simple. That's it. I don't want Cheeze-Its, you don't have to put gum back there, no green M&Ms. Sprite Zero, vodka and ice."
Blake Shelton's admiration for Canadian singer Anne Murray goes beyond casual fandom - he once worked for her company in Nashville as a tape copy boy. In a full-circle moment, he tried to record a Christmas duet with her in the rarely 2020s only to discover she had officially retired from singing. Despite this, Blake holds her in the highest regard, referring to her as one of his ultimate "bucket list" collaborators, even though it's a dream he knows won't come true.
