Tulsa World: Garth Brooks may be coming out of retirement

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Garth Brooks may be coming out of retirement

Garth Brooks, announcing charity concerts in 2007, is expected to be named artist-in-residence at the Wynn Theater in Las Vegas. ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE

By SARAH HART World Assistant Scene Editor and JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer
Published: 10/14/2009 11:04 AM
Last Modified: 10/14/2009 4:29 PM

Country music superstar and Oklahoma native Garth Brooks might be coming out of retirement. Celebrity columnist Robin Leach says in his blog that Brooks will become the resident artist at the Encore/Wynn Theater in Las Vegas.

Brooks' official Web site teases that "something exciting is coming" Thursday, to be carried live on GarthBrooks.com.

Other news outlets speculate as to whether Brooks is really "coming out of retirement," as the musician has vowed multiple times not to launch any tours until his youngest daughter, now a 13, is out of school.

On his blog, Leach said, "It now looks definite after weeks of rumors and speculation that country superstar Garth Brooks is coming out of retirement to become a resident headliner at the Wynn. He’ll play in the theater that was to have been the longtime permanent home of the late Danny Gans."

Wynn Las Vegas Resort and Country Club ("Wynn") is a luxury resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. It's named after Steve Wynn, a casino developer, and covers more than 200 acres.

The Las Vegas Review Journal reported that Brooks was seen with Wynn in Las Vegas as early as May, further fueling rumors of an upcoming residency announcement. At the time, Brooks' publicist denied residency rumors, the newspaper reported.

This week, bloggers from Nashville's Music Row claim Brooks announced two press conferences for Thursday – one in Nashville and one in Las Vegas. However, there's no confirmation if a Vegas concert will be a one-off deal or

a longer-termed residency.

Also, celebrity news site Extra reported in August that a deal was indeed imminent: "Brooks would be performing in the Encore Theater for 16 weeks beginning this October, where Danny Gans performed his Las Vegas show."

Brooks "retired" from the touring business in late 2000. He moved to a home outside of Tulsa with his wife Trisha Yearwood, close to his children and former wife.

He has since performed a handful of charity concerts, along with a short string of record-breaking, sold-out Kansas City shows in 2007 and 2008. Those shows earned him the No. 5 top-tour earner spot in 2008 from Pollstar Pro. He earned $562,000, for each of 11 headlining shows, while technically retired from touring.

Brooks was born in 1962 in Tulsa and raised in Yukon. Some of his first paying gigs were at the Tumbleweed venue in Stillwater. Since his self-titled album debut in 1989, he has sold more than 113 million albums. Six of his studio albums went "diamond," selling over 10 million albums each.

Brooks also hasn't ruled out a big event in his home city. In 2008, he told the Tulsa World that although a possible event was still in early development, "It will be something extremely amazing, cool, fun and will probably end up helping children all around the world." He also helped cut the ribbon last year's BOK Center grand opening event.

In 2007 at a benefit honoring his lifetime work with children and charity, Brooks did tell the Tulsa World that once his children leave home, he hopes to tour with Yearwood.

"In 10 years, if Miss Yearwood says 'Sic 'em,' you better buy a helmet," he said with a laugh.

The World will report on this and any other Brooks news as it becomes available. This story will update. By SARAH HART World Assistant Scene Editor and JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer

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Reader comments for this story have been moved to the most updated version of the story, now under the headline "New Brooks venture speculated," which was published on 10/15/2009. So far, 53 comments have been made.