Aimee Mayo
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Aimee Mayo (born September 28, 1971)[1] is an American author and songwriter from Gadsden, Alabama.

She has written songs recorded by artists such as Tim McGraw, Meghan Trainor, The Backstreet Boys, Billy Currington, and Kellie Pickler. She co-wrote the American country band Lonestar's 1999 single 'Amazed', which was nominated for Best Country Song at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards..[2]

She has received multiple awards, including BMI Foundation's Country Song of the Year and Songwriter of the Year awards.[3][4] Mayo has also received over a dozen BMI Country Awards and BMI Pop Awards.[5]

Personal life

[edit]

Mayo grew up in Gadsden. Her father, Danny Mayo, was a songwriter known for 'Feed Jake' and 'Keeper of the Stars',[6] and her brother Cory Mayo wrote 'You'll Be There' for George Strait in 2005.[7]

Mayo moved to Nashville at the age of 20, where she signed a songwriting contract with BMG.

Mayo is married to fellow songwriter Chris Lindsey; they have three children.[8]

Career

[edit]

Songs written or co-written by Mayo have collectively spent twenty-six weeks at the #1 spot on the charts, and albums featuring her songs have sold over 155 million copies worldwide.Billboard[9]

Mayo was named BMI Songwriter of the Year in 2000.[10]

She has commented on her early career, saying, "I lived in many basements where we had to share a laundry room. It took about seven years before I could afford my own house with a real bathtub."[11]

'Amazed', recorded by Lonestar in 2000, is a notable song written by Mayo.[12] In 2004, it received a Million-Air award from BMI. It won Academy of Country Music (ACM) Song of the Year, BMI Song of the Year, and NSAI Song of the Year, and was nominated for a Grammy. 'Amazed' crossed over to the pop charts, spending two weeks at the top of the Hot 100, becoming the first country song to reach number one on that chart since 'Islands in the Stream' by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers in 1983.[13]

Mayo's song 'This One's for the Girls', recorded by Martina McBride, reached #1 on the Billboard 's Adult Contemporary chart for eleven weeks, in addition to reaching number three on the country chart.[14] The song was used as a theme song for the morning show.[15]

Mayo co-wrote the song 'Wheel of the World' on Carrie Underwood's second studio album with husband Chris Lindsey and collaborator Hillary Lindsey.[16]

Mayo was a judge on the CMT reality competition show, Can You Duet.

In 2020, Mayo released a memoir titled Talking to the Sky.[17]

Songwriting credits

[edit]
Year Song title Artist Album
1995 "Strangers" Mark Chesnutt Wings
1996 "Places I've Never Been" Mark Wills Mark Wills
1997 "Three Chords and the Truth" Sara Evans Non-album single
"(Ooh, Aah) Crazy Kind of Love Thing" The Kinleys Just Between You and Me
1998 "Make Up Your Mind" Deana Carter Everything's Gonna Be Alright
"Me" Faith Hill Faith
"Closer to Heaven" Mila Mason The Strong One
"More Than Everything" Rhett Akins What Livin's All About
1999 "Unknown" Chely Wright Single White Female
"Let's Make Love" Faith Hill & Tim McGraw Breathe
"There Will Come a Day" Faith Hill
"Understanding Everything" Jim Lauderdale Onward Through It All
"It's Always Something" Joe Diffie
"California" Kenny Chesney Everywhere We Go
"Amazed" Lonestar Lonely Grill
"I'll Get You Back" Mark Chesnutt I Don't Want to Miss a Thing
"Over and Over" Mindy McCready I'm Not So Tough
"Take Me Apart"
"Thunder and Roses"
"My Best Friend" Tim McGraw A Place in the Sun
"Seventeen"
"Can I Want Your Love" Trace Adkins More...
"Nothing Like You" William Topley Spanish Wells
"Nothing Else Matters"
2000 "Are You Ever Gonna Love Me" Chris Cagle Play It Loud
"Closer" Jo Dee Messina Burn
"You Don't" Sara Evans Born To Fly
2001 "Karma" Jessica Andrews Who I Am
"When Did I Lose You" Mark Wills Loving Every Minute
"Thunder and Roses" Pam Tillis Thunder & Roses
"Smilin'" Tim McGraw Set This Circus Down
"Things Change"
2002 "Amazed" Bonnie Tyler Heart And Soul
"Beautiful" Faith Hill Cry
"You're Still Here"
"Closer To You" William Topley Feasting With Panthers
2003 "Tangled Up" Billy Currington Best of Billy Currington
"Simple Life" Carolyn Dawn Johnson Dress Rehearsal
"Liar" Deana Carter I'm Just a Girl
"I Wish For You" Jessica Andrews Now
"Never Be Forgotten"
"Now"
"You Are" Jimmy Wayne Jimmy Wayne
"Are You Ever Gonna Love Me"
"Trespassin'"
"This One's for the Girls" Martina McBride Martina
"I Just Close My Eyes" Mark Wills And the Crowd Goes Wild
"Backseat of a Greyhound Bus" Sara Evans Restless
2004 "Drugs or Jesus" Tim McGraw Live Like You Were Dying
"Rocks" Lorrie Morgan Show Me How
"Where I Belong" Rachel Proctor Where I Belong
2005 "Who You Are" Erika Jo Erika Jo
"I Am A Man" Lonestar Coming Home
"Who You'd Be Today" Kenny Chesney The Road and the Radio
"The Secrets That We Keep" Sara Evans Real Fine Place
2006 "Firecrackers and Ferris Wheels" Blue County Firecrackers And Ferriswheels
"Men & Mascara" Julie Roberts Men & Mascara
"I Wonder" Kellie Pickler Small Town Girl
"Red High Heels"
My Angel"
"One Of The Guys"
"Small Town Girl"
"Let's Make Love" Patrizio Buanne Forever Begins Tonight
"Words Get in the Way" Trace Adkins Dangerous Man
2007 "Let's Get Drunk and Fight" Aaron Lines Moments That Matter
"Oh Love" Brad Paisley & Carrie Underwood 5th Gear
"The Wheel of the World" Carrie Underwood Carnival Ride
"Love You With All My Heart" Sara Evans Greatest Hits
"Pray For You"
"Red Umbrella" Faith Hill The Hits
"Let's Get Drunk and Fight" Joe Nichols Real Things
"Let It Go" Tim McGraw Let It Go
"Helpless When She Smiles" Backstreet Boys Unbreakable
"How I Feel" Martina McBride Waking Up Laughing
2008 "Young Love" Carter's Chord Carter's Chord
"I Need A Man" Crystal Shawanda Dawn of a New Day
"Cry Cry ('Til the Sun Shines)" Heidi Newfield What Am I Waiting For
"Out the Window" Ashley Gearing Out The Window
"Happy" Kellie Pickler Kellie Pickler
"Going Out in Style"
"One Last Time"
"Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You"
"Don't You Know You're Beautiful"
"Somebody to Love Me"
"When I Loved You Like That" Jessica Simpson Do You Know
"Days of Thunder" Mark Wills Familiar Stranger
"Panama City"
2009 "Sleepwalker" Adam Lambert For Your Entertainment
"Amazed" Boyz II Men Love
"Address in the Stars" Caitlin & Will Caitlin & Will – EP
"Dark Horse"
"Strangers On A Train" David Nail I'm About to Come Alive
"Good Girls" Tim McGraw Southern Voice
"Poison & Wine" The Civil Wars Live at Eddie's Attic
"Feels Just Like a Love Song" Sara Evans Non-album single
"I'm Here" VanVelzen Take Me In
2010 "Someday When I'm Old" Easton Corbin Easton Corbin
"Say Goodbye" Katharine McPhee Unbroken
2012 "Miss Your Fire" Casey James Casey James
"Crazy One More Time" Kip Moore Up All Night
2013 "Wild Boy" Danielle Bradbery Danielle Bradbery
"I Forgive You" Kellie Pickler The Woman I Am
2016 "Bar at the End of the World" Kenny Chesney Cosmic Hallelujah
"Every Time I Hear That Song" Blake Shelton If I'm Honest
2018 "House of Cards" Caitlyn Smith Starfire
"Champagne High Westside cast, Alexandra Kay, Taz Zavala and Pia Toscano Westside: Music from the Original Series
2020 "Supernova" Caitlyn Smith Supernova
"Crazy One More Time" Kip Moore The Longing (EP)
"Doggone" Tim McGraw Here on Earth
2023 "They Don't Make 'Em Like That No More" Riley Green Ain't My Last Rodeo

Awards and nominations

[edit]

Grammy Awards

[edit]
Year Nominee / work Award Result
2000 "Amazed" Best Country Song Nominated

Academy of Country Music Awards

[edit]
Year Nominee / work Award Result
2000 "Amazed" Song of the Year Won

Country Music Association Awards

[edit]
Year Nominee / work Award Result
2000 "Amazed" Song of the Year Nominated

References

[edit]
[edit]
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Aimee Mayo

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Aimee Mayo (born September 28, 1971) is an American songwriter known for co-writing some of the most enduring country music hits, including "Amazed" by Lonestar, "This One's for the Girls" by Martina McBride, "My Best Friend" by Tim McGraw, and "Let's Make Love" by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. [1] [2] Her catalog features songs recorded by artists such as Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton, Sara Evans, Carrie Underwood, and even pop acts like the Backstreet Boys and Boyz II Men, establishing her as a versatile and influential presence in Nashville's music scene. [3] [2] Born and raised in Gadsden, Alabama, Mayo grew up in a turbulent household that included frequent moves, family hardships, and early exposure to music through her late father, who was also a songwriter. [1] [2] She began writing poetry and songs as a child, moved to Nashville at age 20 to chase a career in songwriting, and signed her first publishing deal at 23, quickly placing her first song on the radio with Mark Wills' "Places I've Never Been." [2] Mayo has earned Grammy nominations and stands out as one of the few female songwriters to receive both BMI's Country Song of the Year and Country Songwriter of the Year honors, alongside accolades from the Academy of Country Music and Nashville Songwriters Association International for tracks like "Amazed." [2] [1] She often collaborates with her husband, fellow songwriter Chris Lindsey, and in 2020 released her memoir Talking to the Sky, a personal account of resilience, faith, and pursuing dreams amid adversity. [4] [1]

Early life

Childhood and family in Alabama

Aimee Mayo was born on September 28, 1971, in Gadsden, Alabama. [5] She grew up in Gadsden amid a volatile and nomadic childhood marked by frequent instability and moves. [1] Her father, Danny Mayo, was a country songwriter. [1] On Christmas Eve when she was 8 years old, her father shot himself in an attempted suicide but survived. [1] Her parents divorced a couple of months after the incident. [1] Her mother soon remarried a man whom Mayo had met only twice before. [1] The stepfather began physically abusing both Mayo and her brother Cory, including one severe incident in which he beat her young brother so violently with an extension cord that he nearly required hospitalization. [1] Although her mother briefly left the marriage following that event, she later returned under the condition that the stepfather no longer discipline the children. [1] The abuse then shifted primarily to psychological torment. [1] Mayo spent almost three years grounded and isolated alone in her bedroom as part of this ongoing turmoil. [1] The volatile home life also led to frequent relocations, including stays at her grandparents' homes, causing her to change schools 11 times before fourth grade. [1] Writing and music became her means of survival and escape during these hardships. [1]

Early musical influences and writing

Aimee Mayo grew up surrounded by music through her father Danny Mayo, a songwriter who often played his demo tapes in the family car.[1] She and her brother Cory would complain about the constant playback, but she dissected the songs closely, and she fondly remembers singing "Brown Eyed Girl" with her father in their beat-up station wagon with the windows down.[1] This early immersion in music, alongside her father's creative process, laid the foundation for her own songwriting aspirations. At age 8, after watching The Buddy Holly Story with her father and seeing someone write a song on screen for the first time, Mayo declared she would become a songwriter.[1] That same night, she shared her first song title with him: "If Only I Could Hold You Again, I’d Never Let You Go."[1] Her father responded by adding the next line—"I’d always let you know that you had a friend, if only I could hold you again"—and they collaborated on it together.[1] He later helped her record it on a 45, and seeing her name on the record intensified her obsession with writing.[6] During periods of isolation and family turmoil in her childhood, Mayo turned to diary writing and poetry as essential survival tools and means of escape.[1] Her mother noted that she constantly carried a notebook and was deeply obsessed with writing poetry.[7] Music similarly served as an "escape hatch—the place I could go when I needed to fade away into my own world."[1] Her early musical influences included Lionel Richie, Cyndi Lauper, Rick Springfield, and The Eagles, but she has cited Paul Simon as her favorite songwriter, praising his lyrics as "otherworldly" and particularly admiring songs like "René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War."[1] Her father Danny Mayo's songwriting career, along with her brother Cory's later contribution to George Strait's "You'll Be There," reflected a family legacy in music.[7]

Relocation to Nashville

Arrival and early struggles

Aimee Mayo moved to Nashville at age 20 to pursue songwriting.[1] She quickly took a job waitressing at Brown's Diner near Music Row, a location she chose deliberately because music publishers and writers often ate lunch there, providing opportunities to network.[1] She lived in shared basements where residents had to share a laundry room, and it took her about seven years to afford her own house with a real bathtub.[8] As a young woman who did not play an instrument and had been told by her father as a child that she was tone-deaf, Mayo was initially afraid to sing in front of others. She faced considerable skepticism in the early 1990s Nashville scene, where nearly all signed songwriters were men in their 40s and 50s; her declaration of wanting to become a songwriter was often met with laughter.[1] Undeterred, she persistently asked nearly everyone she met to write with her, actively seeking collaborators despite the rejections.[1] Jody Williams at BMI became the first person in the industry to believe in her, arranging her initial meetings with publishers and providing crucial early support that she credits with changing her life.[1] Three years after arriving in Nashville, at age 23, Mayo signed her first publishing deal.[1] That same year, she achieved her first song on the radio with "Places I’ve Never Been" recorded by Mark Wills.[2]

First publishing deals and initial successes

Mayo began collaborating with songwriter Chris Lindsey, with whom she wrote for four years before they became a couple.[1] These early professional connections and placements laid the foundation for her emerging career in Nashville's competitive songwriting community.[1]

Songwriting career

Breakthrough with "Amazed"

Aimee Mayo achieved her breakthrough as a songwriter with "Amazed," which she co-wrote with Marv Green and Chris Lindsey during the early stages of her romantic relationship with Lindsey, when the pair were falling in love and still mostly friends. [8] [1] The song emerged from a writing session where their feelings for each other began to surface in the lyrics. [8] Lonestar recorded "Amazed" for their 1999 album Lonely Grill, where it was released as the second single and quickly became a major hit in country music. [9] It spent eight consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart beginning July 17, 1999. [9] The track crossed over to pop audiences with a remix, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in 2000 and becoming the first country song to top the pop chart since Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton's "Islands in the Stream" in 1983. [10] [9] "Amazed" earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Song at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2000. [8] It won the Academy of Country Music Song of the Year in 2000, the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) Song of the Year, and the BMI Robert J. Burton Award as the most performed country song of the year. [8] [10] The song later received a BMI Million-Air award in 2004 and an 8 Million Plays award from BMI. [11] This success marked the start of frequent collaborations between Mayo and her husband Chris Lindsey. [1]

Major collaborations and hit songs

Aimee Mayo has sustained a prolific songwriting career through frequent collaborations and a series of major hit songs in country music. She often works with her husband, fellow songwriter Chris Lindsey, on many of her most successful tracks.[11][2] Her notable post-breakthrough credits include "My Best Friend" for Tim McGraw, "Let's Make Love" for Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, and "This One's for the Girls" for Martina McBride, which spent 8 weeks at number one on the Adult Contemporary chart, peaked at number three on the country chart, and served as a theme song for the television show The View.[2] Additional key songs are "Red High Heels" and "I Wonder" for Kellie Pickler, "Drugs or Jesus" for Tim McGraw, "Wheel of the World" for Carrie Underwood, "Backseat of a Greyhound Bus" for Sara Evans, and "Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You" for Kellie Pickler.[2] Collectively, Mayo's songs have accumulated 26 weeks at number one on the Billboard charts, while albums featuring her compositions have sold over 155 million copies worldwide.[2][11]

Continued career and impact

In her continued career, Aimee Mayo has sustained a prominent presence in Nashville's songwriting community through her independent publishing entity and enduring contributions to country music. She owns Little Blue Typewriter Music, which manages her catalog and supports ongoing creative projects. [4] Mayo stands out as one of only a handful of female songwriters to have won both BMI Country Songwriter of the Year and BMI Country Song of the Year, placing her in rare company alongside figures such as Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, Nicolle Galyon, and others. [1] [7] This dual recognition highlights her exceptional standing in the industry, particularly as a female hitmaker in a field historically dominated by male writers. Her cumulative impact is evident in the commercial scale of her work, with albums featuring her songs having sold over 155 million units worldwide. [7] [11] Mayo has also earned numerous additional BMI Country and Pop Awards across her career, reflecting consistent performance and peer acknowledgment within the professional community. [12] [1] These accomplishments affirm her role as a lasting influence on country music, inspiring subsequent generations of writers while maintaining relevance through contemporary placements.

Awards and recognition

Television contributions

Authorship

Personal life

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