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Josh Kear
Origin	Tennessee, USA
Genres	Country
Occupations	Songwriter
Years active	200x-present
Associated acts	Carrie Underwood

Joshua Peter "Josh" Kear is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter. His credits include Carrie Underwood's number-one "Before He Cheats", for which Kear won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 2007. Kear has also written for Jimmy Buffett, Hank Williams, Jr., Gloriana and others.

[edit] History

Kear moved to Nashville when he went to Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), where he majored in History. After receiving his degree, he got his first publishing deal with BMG, where he wrote for eight years.

Three singles co-written by Kear entered the country charts in 2007: "Bama Breeze" by Jimmy Buffett, "That's How They Do It in Dixie" by Hank Williams, Jr. and "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood. On November 7, 2007, "Before He Cheats" won the Single of the Year Award at the Country Music Association Awards, and three months later, it won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song.

Other Kear co-writes include "Wild at Heart" by Gloriana, "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum, "Mister Officer" by Jypsi and "19 and Crazy" by Bomshel, all of which charted in 2009. He also co-produced Bomshel's debut album Fight Like a Girl.

[edit] External links

• Winners List at cmaawards.com
• [1] GulfCoastNews.com Feature Article
• Big Yellow Dog Music website
• Marquee Magazine