As if being a Grammy-winning, chart-topping and incredibly talented country music vocalist wasn’t enough…
Chris Stapleton was quite a high achiever back in high school, too. The Kentucky native attended Johnson Central High School in Paintsville, Kentucky, where he was actually valedictorian AND voted “Most Stylish” there in 1996.
He would later go on to Vanderbilt University in Nashville to study engineering, where he studied that subject for one year and did two years of business school. He ultimately decided to drop out and pursue music, which was clearly the right call, though I think it’s so obvious that he would’ve been successful at pretty much anything.
And during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live this week, Jimmy had an old high school photo of Chris from the mid-90’s, where he joked that Chris looked like he was in his early 30’s as opposed to a teenager, which is so funny and very true if you look at the photo of much more clean-shaven Stapleton.
They also had a different photo from the yearbook, which featured Chris standing in front of his mustang next to a girl who was voted “Most Stylish” along with him. Apparently, Mr. Stapleton has always had a signature look and used to be a very sharp dresser back in the day.
He also shyly offered up the fact that he was valedictorian, and did “everything that was available to do”:
“That’s my car right there. It’s 1996, come on. I did everything that was available to do. I was valedictorian.”
The quote from nearly 30 years ago about him being best dressed was a very Chris Stapleton-style answer too, where he kept it simple, saying:
“I just wear what feels good, but I’m glad people like it.”
Brains and style… I love a man that has both. It’s actually not even fair that he got the incredible voice and musical talent he does too, but we’re certainly all better off for it so I guess I really can’t complain.
You can check out both photos of him in the clip below, and I’d highly recommend doing so:
Chris’ most recent album Higher was released last year, and he also performed “It Takes A Woman” for the first time live on Kimmel, though the video hasn’t been released yet, so I’ll leave you with the gorgeous studio version:
