Kenny Chesney Accepts Pinnacle Award at 50th Annual CMA Awards
"Thanks for loving the music, thanks for giving me an amazing life," Chesney said during his acceptance speech.
Kenny Chesney has been an entertainer for over two decades. Along the way he has sold out stadiums across the country, earned 29 No. 1 singles, won Entertainer of the Year several times, along with more accomplishments that make him a staple in the country music world.
All of these achievements make him more than deserving of winning CMA’s Pinnacle award, only the third time this honor has been given (to Garth Brooks in 2005 and Taylor Swift in 2013).
“The Pinnacle Award was created to recognize those rare artists who have made country music a more powerful global force forever impacting in a big and positive way this music we all love,” Chesney’s good friend Peyton Manning said, welcoming him on stage to accept his award. “Tonight it rightly goes to a performer who by any standard has taken country music to the pinnacle, my friend, Kenny Chesney.”
Chesney was emotional upon taking the stage, thanking those who came before him, his team that have taken him to new levels and his fans that allow him to do what he loves.
“Standing up here in this spot tonight looking out at a lot of friends and a lot of heroes that have touched my life in so many ways. They took a kid from East Tennessee, your music, your songs took a kid from East Tennessee and showed me it was possible,” he addressed the crowd. “Thanks for loving the music, thanks for giving me an amazing life.”
