He may just be known as Miley Cyrus’ dad to the younger generation, but before his Disney Channel era, he was one of the biggest country stars in the 1990s.
Billy Ray Cyrus is celebrating his 65th birthday on Tuesday. Since his debut, Cyrus has released 17 studio albums and more than 50 singles. His biggest hit, “Achy Breaky Heart,” topped the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart and became the best-selling single in 1992, and also made line dancing rise in popularity around the world.
In June, Cyrus released his first album since 2019, titled The Hill, which was co-produced by his son Braison and includes a collaboration with his daughter, Noah, who’s also a singer.
“I gave [Braison] the reins, and he really did a masterful job, with the right blends, the right harmonies. It’s not over-produced. Other than the saving of my Dad’s voice from a 1998 answering machine, that’s about how high-tech this album goes. There is no AI,” Cyrus told Americana Highways over the summer. “There is nothing else brought in. If anything, it’s the most imperfect album I’ve ever released.”
Braison Cyrus, Noah Cyrus and Billy Ray Cyrus pose for a portrait backstage during the 2026 Stagecoach Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 24, 2026 in Indio, California.Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Stagecoach
Billy Ray Cyrus’ beginnings
Cyrus was born on Aug 25, 1961, in Flatwood, Kentucky, to Ruth Ann and Ron Cyrus, a former steelworker who became a politician and served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1975 to 1996. He grew up around music, specifically bluegrass and gospel. While a student at Georgetown College, he attended a Neil Diamond concert and realized that he wanted to become a musician. He dropped out of college and started playing in a band called Sly Dog in 1980.
In his early beginnings, Cyrus struggled and suffered many hardships, including living in his neighbor’s car before signing to PlyGram/Mercury in 1990 and opening for Reba McEntire. Afterward, he started writing and recording music for his debut album, Some Gave All, which became an instant chart and sales success upon its release in 1992.
The album debuted at the top spot on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, the Billboard 200, as well as multiple charts in Canada and around the world. The most successful song, “Achy Breaky Heart,” also came with a successful music video, which caused line dancing to become mainstream. In addition, the songs “She’s Not Cryin’,” “Could’ve Been Me” and “Wher’m I Gonna Live” also placed on different charts.
A year later, Cyrus released his follow-up, It Won’t Be the Last, which also had three singles make the Top 40 on different charts. After the success of that, he released his third album, Storm in the Heartland, which was successful, but did not hit top spots like his predecessors. Storm in the Heartland ended up being Cyrus’ last album with PolyGram, which shut down in 1995. He was transferred to Mercury Nashville and released three more studio albums before transitioning into Christian music and acting in the early 2000s.
Cyrus’ transition from music to acting
Cyrus recorded two Christian albums: Time Flies and The Other Side, both in 2003. In the early 2000s, Cyrus started acting. In 2001, he appeared in Mulholland Drive as Gene and starred as David Lynch in the TV series Doc. From 2006 to 2011, he played Robby Ray Stewart, the father of his real-life daughter Miley Cyrus, in the hit Disney Channel series Hannah Montana.
Though in 2011 he told GQ that he wished the show never happened, and the magazine ran a headline saying that the show destroyed his family, Cyrus cleared up the accusation in another interview with ABC News that “he hated [the headline] cause that’s not what [he] meant.”
“I hated it because I love Hannah Montana. I love Disney; I love the show. I love the entertainment we’ve been able to make,” Cyrus cleared up. He also explained that he did the GQ interview in the middle of a divorce and it was conducted “at a bad time.”
“I did that interview with GQ two weeks before Christmas in the midst of a divorce, separated from my family,” he explained. “It was a mess. Surrounded in darkness. GQ, the writer, photographer, showed up. And I kind of learned this: that doing an interview when you’re mad is a whole lot like going to the grocery store when you’re hungry. It’s not a real good idea.”
Miley Cyrus and Billy Ray Cyrus at the World Premiere of Walt Disney Pictures’ “Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both World Concert” on January 17, 2008 at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, CA.Eric Charbonneau/WireImage
After Hannah Montana ended in 2011, he continued his music career. After releasing a string of albums, his resurgance came back in 2019 when he appeared on a remixed version of Lil Nas X’s hit song, “Old Town Road,” which was crowned the top spot on the Hot 100 for almost 20 weeks. In an interview with Business Insider in 2020, Cyrus revealed that Lil Nas X, who was 19 years old at the time, didn’t know Cyrus was originally a country singer and only knew him from Hannah Montana.
“So really, if I hadn’t done Hannah Montana, I’d have never met Lil Nas X. He would have never known I was on the planet,” Cyrus continued, explaining earlier that he had many doubts about doing the show because he didn’t want to derail his music career. “So you really can’t question God’s plan.”
Billy Ray Cyrus performs onstage during the 2019 Stagecoach Festival at Empire Polo Field on April 28, 2019 in Indio, California.Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Stagecoach
What is Cyrus doing now?
As Cyrus celebrates his 65th birthday, the legendary musician and actor has been focused on promoting his most recent project, The Hill, and spending time with his girlfriend, actress Elizabeth Hurley. A deluxe version of The Hill is set to be released on Oct. 23.
“As Miley referenced when she got her Hollywood Star, ‘As my dad always says, every skyscraper begins with a jackhammer,'” Cyrus told Americana Highway. “Remember, it’s not the force of the jackhammer that busts up the concrete; it’s the repetition. That’s the thing. You keep on keepin’ on. Hopefully, first of all, you do what you do because you love it. And if you don’t, find something new to do, because life’s too short.”
Related: Billy Ray Cyrus Reacts to Major Update on ‘Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special’
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