Who is Oliver Anthony? Unknown musician rockets to No. 1 with blue-collar anthem

Oliver Anthony’s “Wealthy Males North of Richmond” has rocketed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart — thrusting a songwriter from Appalachia who insists he’s “nothing particular” onto the nationwide stage.

Self-released on Aug. 11, Anthony’s “Wealthy Males” is a country-folk tune a couple of man who sells his soul “workin’ all day,” whereas struggling below the load of inflation, excessive taxes and so-called elitism, sparking complaints from liberal critics.

A video of the beforehand unknown singer sporting a bushy crimson beard — and wielding a guitar — grew to become a viral sensation because of social media, the place plenty of influential customers, notably in conservative media, started circulating the clip.

However who’s Oliver Anthony?

What’s Oliver Anthony’s actual identify?

The singer-songwriter’s actual identify is Christopher Anthony Lunsford.

“My authorized identify is Christopher Anthony Lunsford. My grandfather was Oliver Anthony,” he defined in a prolonged Facebook post. Anthony advised his followers he makes use of the identify not solely as a dedication to his grandfather, “however [also to] Thirties Appalachia the place he was born and raised.”

He described his grandfather’s life as “grime flooring, seven youngsters, arduous instances.”

As for whether or not or not he needs to go by his now-viral id or his beginning identify, he mentioned that both is okay by him.

“At this level, I’ll gladly go by Oliver as a result of everybody is aware of me as such. However my family and friends nonetheless name me Chris,” he wrote.

The place is Oliver Anthony from?

Anthony grew up in North Carolina.

He dropped out of highschool at age 17 in 2010 and bought his GED whereas residing within the small city of Spruce Pine, NC, he shared on Fb.

In western North Carolina, he labored a number of plant jobs, his final being at a McDowell County paper mill, saying, “I labored third shift, 6 days every week for $14.50 an hour in a residing hell.”

How did Oliver Anthony grow to be a musician?

In 2013, Anthony suffered a nasty fall at work and fractured his cranium, which led him to transferring to Virginia to be close to household.

“Attributable to issues from the damage, it took me 6 months or so earlier than I may work once more,” he wrote.

After he recovered, he labored in outdoors gross sales in industrial manufacturing, taking him throughout Virginia and into the Carolinas, “attending to know tens of hundreds of different blue collar staff on job websites and in factories.”

“Ive spent all day, on a regular basis, for the final 10 years listening to the identical story. Individuals are SO rattling uninterested in being uncared for, divided and manipulated,” he added.

“In 2019, I paid $97,500 for the property and nonetheless owe about $60,000 on it. I’m residing in a 27′ camper with a tarp on the roof that I bought off of craigslist for $750,” he mentioned.

Oliver Anthony’s struggles with psychological well being and habit

His track and message might need gone viral, however Anthony likes to consider himself as “just a few fool and his guitar,” in accordance with a latest Fb submit.

“I’m not a superb musician, I’m not an excellent particular person. I’ve spent the final 5 years battling psychological well being and utilizing alcohol to drown it,” he shared. “I’m unhappy to see the world within the state it’s in, with everybody combating with one another. I’ve spent many nights feeling hopeless, that the best nation on Earth is rapidly fading away.”

Anthony goes on to say how he hates the division that the web has delivered to the world, and that the web is “a parasite that infects the minds of people.”

“I wrote the music I wrote as a result of I used to be struggling with psychological well being and despair. These songs have linked with tens of millions of individuals on such a deep degree as a result of they’re being sung by somebody feeling the phrases within the very second they have been being sung,” he added. “No modifying, no agent, no bullshit … the fashion of music that we must always have by no means gotten away from within the first place.”