Tickets for the first five concert weekends at the Encore Theater at the Wynn Las Vegas sold out in less than five hours. It is the first of 15 weekends a year to begin a five year relationship between Brooks and Wynn.

Garth Brooks was born February 7, 1962 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Growing up he was interested in sports. At 18 he was working in a sporting goods shop where he would have t-shirts printed up for his friends that read: ‘Garth Brooks World Tour’. He earned a track scholarship to Oklahoma State University and graduated with a degree in advertising. He started playing small clubs while in college and the rest is history. Nine years later Brooks had become the best-selling solo artist in music history. His concerts broke the attendance records of Elvis, The Grateful Dead, Elton John and Neil Diamond. His albums have sold over 120 million and some sources credit it to be 138 million, a feat unmatched by any other solo artist. Over the course of his career, Brooks has received virtually every award that the music industry bestows on an artist.

Garth also formed a charity called Teammates for Kids Foundation that started with 67 baseball players, and now has over 2,300 pro athletes and other generous donors, helping to generate and provide $75 million in cash and scholarships to kids in 55 countries. One hundred percent of the donations go to the kids, with an emphasis on health, education and inner city services.

Married to his college sweetheart, Sandy Mahl, they had three daughters: Taylor Mayne (born 1992), August Anna (born 1994), and Allie Colleen (born 1996). In December of 1999 he said: “It’s time to take on the responsibility that I took on 7 years ago when we had our baby. I feel like I’ve been a good Dad the times I’ve been at home…but, you know, if you do something, if you put your name on something, well then you give everything you’ve got to it. I put my name on that baby seven years ago, and then August and Allie, but I’ve always found some way to justify it by saying I was out making a living for the family or preparing. I think the time has come to focus on them.”

He explained that there was one day when he was home sitting across the table from his three daughters and he realized that he didn’t know his girls. So at the height of his career in 2000, he announced his divorce from Sandy and his retirement. He then moved back to Oklahoma and became a stay-at-home dad to his three girls. Asked about goals for the future, Garth said: “To be a good father, a good husband and a good son…to try to represent God the best that I can.”

In 2005 he wed Trisha Yearwood, who had been singing and writing with him for years. She was nervous about being a stepmom to Garth’s girls, but he assured her that everything would be alright. Trisha described that at an event together with Jada Pinkett-Smith, Jada had overheard me say: “I hate the word ‘stepmom’, because it conjures up Cinderella and all those bad things.” “And Jada came up to me and said: ‘Bonus-mom. That’s what you are.’ I love that.”

2005 also brought about Brooks’ exclusive distribution deal with Wal-Mart, making them the only place where his music would be commercially available. “I believe in the ‘Wal-Mart’ school of business,” Garth said. “The less people pay, the more they enjoy it.”

During the press conference in the Encore Theater, Wynn explained that Garth had wanted to see the room and hear what it sounded like with his guitar. “He said I could bring in 5, 10, or more friends who I loved, to hear him play, but not to disclose who they were coming to hear. I had about 1,130 friends there that day. Garth came out with his jeans, hat and guitar, and everyone went crazy. In show business, for a single performer to lift an entire audience emotionally to the point where they pray it doesn’t end, is an extraordinary and unique thing that only a few gifted people can do,” Wynn relates. “But that is what I experienced when I saw Garth on stage, alone with his guitar. I watched a man create instant love in real time, right before my eyes.”

When Wynn approached Brooks about playing Vegas, Garth said: “I told him he couldn’t afford me…I was wrong.” But Garth made him aware that he took his girls to school everyday and that he had made a pledge to do that until the last one graduated high school. Wynn accommodated him with a jet plane that would get Garth from Oklahoma to Vegas in time for his Friday night show and back to Oklahoma and his girls again on Sunday night, so he could be there Monday morning for the ride to school. “Steve Wynn has done what I thought was impossible,” Garth explained. “He has given me a chance to sing again for the people, while at the same time never missing a day with my children.”

Wynn has given Brooks complete reign over the Encore Theater the nights he will appear. There will be one show on Fridays, two shows on Saturdays, and one on Sundays, and all tickets are $125. Brooks said that there are no rules for his shows and things will be different on different nights. He plans on having friends give surprise appearances on some nights and when asked if Trisha would be singing with him, he replied: “Hopefully a lot of nights.” Some nights he’ll have a full backup band and other nights will be just Garth and his guitar.

Asked about happiness, he has been quoted as saying: “Happiness isn’t getting what you want—it’s wanting what you got. I am happy with who I am. I’m not satisfied. I’m just happy with who I am and realize that Garth Brooks is all I’m ever going to be.” SLV

Issue 42 featuring: Valentina, Taylor Vixen, Cassidey and Veronica Ricci