Rewinding the Country Charts: In 1999, Lonestar ‘Amazed’ Audiences at No. 1
The group scored its biggest hit, which would also top the Hot 100 in 2000.
On July 17, 1999, Lonestar logged its third trip to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart with what would become its signature song, as “Amazed” ascended 2-1 for the first of eight weeks at the summit. No song had led the list for at least that long in nearly 33 years, since David Houston‘s nine-week No. 1 “Almost Persuaded” in 1966.
Lonestar’s love song, sung by frontman Richie McDonald, was written by Marv Green, Aimee Mayo, and Chris Lindsey. Aided by a pop remix, the ballad crossed over to pop and adult formats and, on March 4, 2000, became the first country No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 since Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton‘s Bee Gees-penned “Islands in the Stream” in 1983.
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“Amazed” is also one of only two country songs by groups ever to top the Hot 100: it followed The Browns’ “The Three Bells,” in 1959.
Lonestar debuted in 1995 with the No. 8 Hot Country Songs hit “Tequila Talkin’,” sporting an original lineup of McDonald, John Rich, Dean Sams, Michael Britt and Keech Rainwater. The band has banked 36 Hot Country Songs entries, including 18 top 10s and nine No. 1s.
Rich, now half of the duo Big & Rich, left Lonestar in 1998. Outside of McDonald’s departure from 2007 to 2011, the other four founders have remained intact and still record and perform as Lonestar today. In 2016, the group released its 10th studio album, Never Enders.
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