Fame & Fortune interview: Country singer Aaron Tippin Retirement set, his charity shows he 'stands for something'
By Tamar Alexia Fleishman • Bankrate.com

Country-music star Aaron Tippin's songs really mesh with American audiences: "You've Got to Stand for Something" became a top 10 hit in 1991 during the first Gulf War. This was a great achievement, considering he had only just signed with RCA in 1990. "Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly" hit the right note with the public after Sept. 11, reaching No. 2 on the charts. As patriotic as Tippin is, many of his popular songs are edgier and have a honky-tonk quality: "There Ain't Nothin' Wrong With The Radio," "Working Man's Ph.D." and "Kiss This."

A South Carolina native, Tippin's family is full of aviators on both sides of his family, both the men and the women. He is married with three children and prefers to spend his free time with them.

Bankrate: Tell me about your wine-making hobby.

Aaron Tippin: I've just crushed grapes to make a really good bottle of white wine. My wife got me into it. I only drink red wine or Sprite. It's all I have use for. I'm very hands-on; I thought, if someone else can do it, I can do it. There's a grower here who grows muscadine grapes. I have visited California, learned how they make wine; but I stay here in Tennessee. If you're in the music business, you ought to get close to Nashville.

Bankrate: Do you market your wine commercially? It seems many entertainers have delved into the food industry.

Aaron Tippin: No. It's just for fun. Maybe someday. I've learned that you can't run something with the side of your hand.

Bankrate: You were a commercial pilot at age 20. Who did you fly for?

Aaron Tippin: Multimedia, I was a corporate pilot flying around Greenville, S.C.

Bankrate: For many guys, being a pilot is the ultimate career. What made you switch to music?

Aaron Tippin: It wasn't voluntary. You're right, it is the ultimate career. My dad, every man in the Tippin family, were pilots. My uncle worked for KLM. I even had an aunt in the business. Being a country singer was the last thing on my mind. But when the energy crunch hit, I started looking for something else to do. The second-best thing I liked doing is singing. I quit my job, moved to Nashville. I took a job as a welder there. I won a contest, "You Can Be a Star" and Jeannie C. Wright heard me and told me I should go into the business. I was an "overnight success," it only took five years. I was playing honky tonks at night.

Bankrate: Do you think that knowing you had security and a professional background made you more confident in dealing with music executives?

Aaron Tippin: No. For a while, I was probably hurting myself! I am logical, an aviator. I'm not emotional. I probably hurt people's feelings. Creative people are sensitive. You have to watch how you say things with them. With the contracts, you really need a music lawyer; things are just too big now. They put things in there that you're not going to see yourself for several years.