He is a singer, musician, rapper and composer born Matthew Lynford Shafer in Mount Clemens, Michigan whose older brother is the DJ Mike Shafer.
He went to a turntable competition in 1987 with his brother at a nightclub and from there became acquainted with the singer and musician Kid Rock, who was unknown at the time but gave him the nickname Kracker. He rapped more in those days and Kid Rock asked him to play turntables for his band Twisted Brown Trucker. Although turning tables wasn’t so much his thing as his brother’s he took the job on and performed first at live shows and then in the studio on Kid Rock’s 1996 album Early Mornin’ Stoned Pimp, on which he also sang on some of the tracks.
After Kid Rock had released his 2000 compilation album The History of Rock, which he had performed on, he decided to release his debut solo album Double Wide, which Kid Rock and Michael Bradford produced. It became a Top 10 chart song in Austria, Germany and the United States and reached No.40 on the UK Album chart. It was certified two-time platinum in the United States and platinum in Canada in 2001 and produced the hit single “Follow Me”, which reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The following year, in 2002, he released No Stranger to Shame which was less successful when it reached 43 on the Billboard album chart but the single from it “Drift Away”, with guest vocals by Dobie Gray who had a No. 5 hit with it in 1973, went to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart, where it remained for 28 non-consecutive weeks.
He toured with the country music singer Kenny Chesney and duetted with him on his video and song “When the Sun Goes Down”. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and No.26 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached No. 1 on Canada’s Country chart.
His third album Seventy Two and Sunny was released in 2004 and became his first to be pure country music and not feature any hip hop songs or a parental advisory label. The album reached No.39 on the Billboard 200 chart. In 2007 he had pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of an original second-degree sex offence and was put on probation for a year.
Two years later, in 2009 he released Happy Hour, which had been delayed due to bringing in the producer Rob Cavallo. The album produced several singles with “Smile” achieving No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 6 on the Hot Country Songs chart.
In 2010 he released the EP Happy Hour: The South Road River Sessions which included remakes of the singles “Smile” and “Good To Be Me”. Two years later it was the turn of his 5th album Midnight Special and performed songs from it when he toured with Kid Rock in 2013.
Five years later in 2018 he released the single “Floatin'” and two years after it was the turn of “No Time To Be Sober” and “Silver Bells”, which was released for Christmas 2020.
When 2023 came around he released “Sweet 16” followed by “Reason to Drink” and went on tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top. After that he released the single “Cruising Altitude”.
Sources:
- https://www.unclekracker.com/about-full
- https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/uncle-kracker
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Kracker
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/uncle-kracker-mn0000219428#biography
- https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1073156/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Rock
- https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/uncle-kracker-kid-rocks-mellower-half-54878/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Wide_(album)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Sun_Goes_Down_(Kenny_Chesney_song)
- https://www.billboard.com/artist/uncle-kracker/
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/uncle-kracker-mn0000219428#credits
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/113595-Uncle-Kracker