Scotty McCreery (born October 9, 1993) is an American country music singer. He won the tenth season of American Idol on May 25, 2011. His debut studio album, Clear as Day, was released in October 2011 and was certified platinum in the United States. The album includes the Top 20 country songs, "I Love You This Big" and "The Trouble with Girls". McCreery released a Christmas album, Christmas with Scotty McCreery, in October 2012 and it has been certified gold. He released his third album, See You Tonight, in October 2013. The first single from the album, also called "See You Tonight", became his first song to reach the Top 10 on Billboard's Country charts. Setting a new record in July 2017 with his single "Five More Minutes", McCreery became the only country music artist in Country Aircheck/Mediabase history to chart a song without the backing of a record label; it topped Billboard in February 2018. His most recent album, Seasons Change, was released in March 2018 which became McCreery's fourth Top 10 album in the United States. "You Time" was released on September 23, 2020 as the first single to his upcoming fifth studio album. McCreery is a Christian. He graduated from Garner Magnet High School in 2012, and attended North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, pursuing a bachelor's degree in communications. Although he is one fourth Puerto Rican, he does not speak Spanish fluently, and regrets that he did not learn the language when he was younger. In September 2017, McCreery became engaged to his longtime girlfriend Gabi Dugal. They were married on June 16, 2018, in North Carolina. McCreery said that during his childhood, he listened to Merle Haggard, George Jones, and Conway Twitty; and he cites Elvis Presley as his greatest musical influence. McCreery is an avid sports fan and is a particular fan of the Carolina Hurricanes, as well as the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots — his father having grown up in the Boston area. He is an avid fan of the NC State Wolfpack sports, having been raised in greater Raleigh and attended NC State University. McCreery sang the National Anthem before the Patriots AFC divisional game on January 16, 2016. On October 4, 2013, he began blogging for Major League Baseball, continuing to blog for the remainder of the 2013 Major League Baseball season.
