Over 50 years ago, Larry, Steve, and Rudy Gatlin started singing in their little hometown of Abilene, Texas, and from there went on to make music history. Over the course of a four-decade career that has taken the Gatlin Brothers from dusty Texas stages to White House performances, from Broadway to Grammy Awards to the top of the country charts, there has been one unifying element, music. There's no harmony quite as pure as family harmony. "Gatlin harmonies spin with high and light precision and their music bleeds and screams of love and a lot of living." Said Country Capsule in New York. Larry, Steve, and Rudy love to sing together. Raised on Gospel music, the brothers first began entertaining audiences in churches and then with guest appearances on the Slim Willet radio and TV shows in Abilene, Texas when they were 2, 4, and 6 years old. Larry says that their history as "gospel music junkies" came from those early roots. "My folks took us to those old fashioned Southern style quartet concerts, and it was love at first sound! My first hero was James Blackwood of the Blackwood Brothers Quartet-I just knew somehow from that moment that I wanted to be a singer for the rest of my life."
Larry Gatlin was born in 1948 in Seminole, Texas, the son of a driller in the oil field. The oldest of the three Gatlin brothers, he was by age seven, already accompanying younger brothers, Steve and Rudy in singing at family and church events.
After high school, Larry went to the University of Houston on a football scholarship. Larry majored in English and developed “a love affair with the English Language” that later served him well in his songwriting.
On the strength of his songwriting talents, Larry Gatlin became known throughout the Nashville music industry. While Steve and Rudy were finishing college, Larry was already touring the small club and listening room circuit as a solo act, looking forward to the time when he could afford to expand his live show to include his brothers.
From 1976 to 1992 the brothers toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. They racked up hit after hit and and banked some of the most prestigious awards in the industry. Larry penned every Gatlin Brothers hit you’ve ever heard. Larry Gatlin has written songs that were later recorded by Elvis Presley, Glen Campbell, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Charlie Rich, Johnny Mathis, Dottie West and many more. December of 1992 marked a farewell to concert touring for the Gatlin Brothers as they completed their ADIOS TOUR with a CD of the same name. Then came a major turning point in his career. Larry took the lead role on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning musical “The Will Rogers Follies.” The musical then toured throughout the nation to rave reviews.
Throughout the next decade Larry would go on to write an autobiography, All The Gold In California, record a solo album, In My Life, and would occasionally tour solo.
In the early 2000’s the brothers reunited for selective road dates and 2008, recorded their first album in nearly two decades, Pilgrimage. In 2015 the brothers celebrated 60 years of making music together and released a new album, The Gospel According to Gatlin.
Larry currently resides in Nashville with the love of his life, Janis, to whom he’s been married for over 44 years. They are the proud parents of two children, Josh and Kristin. He is also “Papa” to Kristin’s daughters, Parker and Campbell.