Gene Watson could quite easily be the Emperor of Country Music. His reign has seen him score more than 70 charted songs, including 23 top 10s and six number 1 hits over his 40-year career, which is still going strong at the age of 65.

He is revered by many others such as Vince Gill, Lee Ann Womack, Trace Adkins to Alison Krauss who consider it an honour to record with him. He is considered as one of country music's best ballad singers in the same league as George Jones, Merle Haggard, and others who are the standard bearers for honest, traditional country music. There's no doubt Gene Watson is the real deal. He is what country music is all about.

"I like going to the local cafe to drink coffee and talk with the other guys," Gene says. "I didn't want to be a superstar. I always said stars were good to look at but impossible to touch. I'm with real people."

Born in Palestine, Texas in 1943 Gene was brought up singing in churches with his family. His father played blues harmonica and guitar alongside African-American field labourers. He grew up loving both bluesman Jimmy Reed and honky-tonk king Lefty Frizzell. His earliest public country performance came aged 12.

Gene dropped out of school in the ninth grade to work full-time. He initially supported his family by doing auto body repair, so by day he worked on cars, and at night he sang in clubs. "But doing music professionally was never a goal of mine," he confesses. I always wanted to work on cars. I always say I never did go looking for music. Music found me. Before I ever made a record, The Wilburn Brothers heard me sing down in Houston at a nightclub one night. They said they'd like for me to go with them and do a couple of shows. So I came up to Nashville and travelled to North Carolina with them. They got me on the Grand Ole Opry, and I got a standing ovation and an encore singing the Hank Williams song I Can't Help It if I'm still in Love With You and It Is No Secret What God Can Do. After that, they carried me down to the Ernest Tubb Record Shop and I got on stage and broadcast on The Midnight Jamboree. That was my first experience with the big time. I was 21."

In the mid 1970s, while on Capitol (with whom Gene recorded until 1980), he enjoyed success with a string of national hits such as Love in the Hot Afternoon, Where Love Begins, Paper Rosie, Farewell Party, Should I Come Home (Or Should I Go Crazy), and Nothing Sure Looked Good On You.

Before signing with MCA in the 1980s, Gene's single Any Which Way, from the soundtrack of the Clint Eastwood movie of the same title, reached the top 40 on the country charts. Somewhere along the way, Clint had heard the song as a demo recording by its writer L Ofman, but he insisted that Gene should record the song.

Shortly after moving to MCA, Gene recorded Fourteen Carat Mind which hit number 1. A parade of top ten hits followed during the early '80s, including Speak Softly (You're Talking to my Heart), You're Out Doing What I'm Here Doing Without, Sometimes I Get Lucky, Drinkin' My Way Back Home, Forever Again and Little by Little.

In 1985, Gene moved to Epic Records and returned to the Top 5 with the western swing-influenced Memories To Burn, which was also the title of his first album on the label. Subsequent albums with Epic included Starting New Memories in 1986 and Honky Tonk Crazy in 1987. The following year made his Warner Bros debut with Back in the Fire, which was followed by At Last. Leaving the label in 1991, Gene recorded the album In Other Words, which was initially released only in Canada on Gary Buck's label, Broadland International Records. It was later released in the US in 1993.

Gene says: "I have been on top. And I've been just as low as you can go. There's a tremendous number of people around the world who continue to come out to hear some fiddle and steel, and songs about heartbreak and real life.

"Those folks are there to support real country music and make it possible for singers like me to continue to sing it!"