Toby Keith Covel (born July 8, 1961), best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums ? 1993s Toby Keith (Toby Keith (album)), 1994s Boomtown (Boomtown (album)), 1996s Blue Moon (Blue Moon (Toby Keith album)) and 1997s Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of Mercury Records before exiting in 1998. These albums all earned gold or higher certification, and produced several chart singles, including his debut "Shouldve Been a Cowboy", which topped the country charts and was the most played country song of the 1990s. The song has received 3 million spins since then, according to Broadcast Music Incorporated.

Signed to DreamWorks Nashville in 1998, Keith released his breakthrough single "How Do You Like Me Now?! (How Do You Like Me Now?! (song))" that year. This song, the title track to his 1999 album of the same name (How Do You Like Me Now?!), was the Number One country song of 2000, and one of several chart-toppers during his tenure on DreamWorks Nashville. His next three albums, Pull My Chain, Unleashed (Unleashed (Toby Keith album)), and Shockn Yall, produced three more Number Ones each, and all of the albums were certified multi-platinum. A second Greatest Hits package followed in 2004, and after that, he released Honkytonk University.

When Dreamworks closed in 2005, Keith founded his own label, Show Dog Nashville. He has released four studio albums on this label: 2005s White Trash with Money, 2007s Big Dog Daddy, 2008s That Dont Make Me a Bad Guy and 2009s American Ride as well as the compilation 35 Biggest Hits. He has also signed several other acts to the label, including Trailer Choir, Carters Chord, Flynnville Train, Mac McAnally and Mica Roberts. Keith also made his acting debut in 2005, starring in the film Broken Bridges; he also co-starred with comedian Rodney Carrington in the 2008 film Beer for My Horses (Beer for My Horses (film)).

Keith has released thirteen studio albums, two Christmas albums, and multiple compilation albums. He has also charted more than forty singles on the Billboard (Billboard (magazine)) Hot Country Songs charts, including nineteen Number One hits and sixteen additional Top Ten hits. His longest-lasting Number One hits are "Beer for My Horses" (a 2003 duet with Willie Nelson) and "As Good as I Once Was" (2005), at six weeks each.