How Thomas Rhett Built His Career and His Heart Around the People He Loves

Thomas Rhett has had a lot of number one hits, a lot of sold-out tours, and a lot of hardware on his shelves. But if you ask him what his career is really about, he will give you the same answer every time. Family. And in his case, that story starts before he ever sang a note.

The Father Who Showed Him the Way

Thomas Rhett Akins Jr. was born in Valdosta, Georgia, on March 30, 1990, the son of renowned country singer-songwriter Rhett Akins. Growing up, music was not something Thomas Rhett discovered. It was simply the air he breathed. "By the time I was four years old, there wasn't really a song on the radio that I did not know all the words to," he said in an interview on Apple Music Country. "That's all I wanted to do was sit in the living room and have Dad play every country song on the radio so that me and him could sing them."

Rhett Akins had his own successful recording career in the 1990s, landing a number one hit with "Don't Get Me Started," before transitioning into one of Nashville's most sought-after songwriters, penning chart-toppers for Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, and Luke Bryan. The father-son musical connection runs deep. Akins co-wrote Thomas Rhett's very first number one single, "It Goes Like This," in 2013, and the two have collaborated multiple times since. "Dad has always just been such a constant when it comes to me and my live show," Thomas Rhett told CMT. "I'll walk offstage and know that I did not play my best show, and he's always the first one to be like, 'Yeah, a couple of things were pretty rough. But overall, it was good.'" There is no better example of a father raising a son in music and staying right by his side while doing it.

The Girl He Never Stopped Loving

Thomas Rhett met Lauren Gregory in first grade and the two grew up together, attending the same school and the same church before drifting apart during college. They reconnected in 2011 when Lauren returned from a semester abroad in Uganda, began dating that fall, got engaged just six months later, and married on October 12, 2012, at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville with about 200 guests. She was his high school sweetheart, his best friend, and eventually the inspiration for some of his biggest songs. His Grammy-nominated hit "Die a Happy Man," one of the most romantic songs in modern country music, was written entirely about Lauren.

A Family Built in the Most Beautiful Way

In 2016, Lauren joined the nonprofit 147 Million Orphans on a trip to Uganda, where she met an orphaned baby girl in a children's home. At that point, the couple had been unable to conceive and had been discussing adoption. When Thomas Rhett saw a photo of Lauren holding the baby, he told her they should adopt her.

What happened next is the kind of story that does not seem real until it is. The complicated international adoption process was already underway when Lauren discovered she was pregnant. They completed the adoption of eighteen-month-old Willa Gray in May 2017, and their first biological daughter Ada James was born just three months later, on August 12, 2017.

The experience was not without its hard moments. Thomas Rhett later admitted that while Lauren was seven months pregnant and traveling to Uganda to finalize the adoption, he was back in Nashville performing shows with friends in the background. When Lauren called and heard the noise, she told him they were "living two completely separate lives." He called it a humbling experience that led them to seek therapy. He came out the other side a better husband and a better father.

In February 2026, Thomas Rhett and Lauren welcomed their fifth child, son Brave Elijah, joining big sisters Willa Gray, Ada James, Lennon Love, and Lillie Carolina. Five children. One house in Nashville. One high school sweetheart. One famous dad who started it all by letting his little boy sit in the living room and sing every country song on the radio.

It turns out the best songs Thomas Rhett has ever written were not really about music at all. Read his full bio now.