List of people from Tennessee - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The following is a list of prominent people who were born in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

of Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, live in Tennessee, or for whom Tennessee is a significant part of their identity:

A

Roy Acuff
Roy Acuff
Roy Claxton Acuff was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the King of Country Music, Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful.Acuff...

(1903–1992), musician; born in Maynardville
Maynardville, Tennessee
Maynardville is a city in and the county seat of Union County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 1,782 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area....
Charlie Adams
Charlie Adams (drummer)
Charlie Adams is an American drummer, percussionist, drum engineer, composer, music producer, and film producer. He formed the rock band Chameleon in the 1980s, and was known for his revolving, upside-down drum set. He has been drum lead for Yanni through nine major concert tours...

; drummer, percussionist, and drum engineer
Lily Afshar
Lily Afshar
- Awards and recognition :Afshar has been praised for her performances.She won the 2000 Orville H. Gibson Award for Best Female Classical Guitarist. as well as the Tenth, Eleventh, and the Twelfth Annual "Premier Guitarist" awards by the Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts &...

classical guitarist, University of Memphis
University of Memphis
The University of Memphis is an American public research university located in the Normal Station neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee and is the flagship public research university of the Tennessee Board of Regents system....

music professor
James Agee
James Agee
James Rufus Agee was an American author, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, he was one of the most influential film critics in the U.S...

(1909–1955); Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, screenwriter, journalist, poet, and film critic; born in Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
The Aldridge Sisters
The Aldridge Sisters
The Aldridge Sisters, Sheila and Sherry Aldridge, are an American singing act that appeared on The Lawrence Welk Show from 1977 to 1982.-The sisters and their family:...

, singing duo that appeared on The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...

from 1977 to 1982
Lamar Alexander
Lamar Alexander
Andrew Lamar Alexander is the senior United States Senator from Tennessee and Conference Chair of the Republican Party. He was previously the 45th Governor of Tennessee from 1979 to 1987, United States Secretary of Education from 1991 to 1993 under President George H. W...

(b. 1940), lawyer and U.S. Senator from Tennessee; born and raised in Maryville
Maryville, Tennessee
Maryville is the county seat of Blount County, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. The city is located south of Knoxville. Maryville's population was 27,258 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. Maryville has received a number of accolades for its...
Duane Allman
Duane Allman
Howard Duane Allman was an American guitarist, session musician and the primary co-founder of the southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band...

(1946–1971); guitarist; born in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
Gregg Allman
Gregg Allman
Gregory Lenoir Allman , known as Gregg Allman, is a rock and blues singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter, and a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. He was inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia...

(b. 1947); singer, keyboardist, guitarist, songwriter; born in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
Monroe Dunaway Anderson
Monroe Dunaway Anderson
Monroe Dunaway Anderson was a banker and cotton trader from Jackson, Tennessee. With his brother-in-law, William L. Clayton, Anderson built Anderson, Clayton & Co into the world's biggest cotton company. In the event of one of their deaths, the partnership would lose a large amount of money to...
William R. Anderson
William Anderson (naval officer)
William Robert Anderson was an officer in the United States Navy, and a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1965 to 1973.-Early life and naval career:...

(1921-2007); naval officer and member of Congress; born in Humphreys County
Humphreys County, Tennessee
Humphreys County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 17,929. The 2005 Census Estimate placed the population at 18,212. Its county seat is Waverly.-Geography:According to the U.S...
Jade Arcade
Jade Arcade
Jade Arcade is composer, animator, musician, polymath and comic book artist.-Music:Arcade has mastered over a dozen instruments and possesses a vocal range that spans 6 octaves. During the 1980s, Jade toured across the US with glam rock bands Spellbinder and Monogram under the stage name of...

(b. 1971); comics artist, writer, voice actor, composer, musician and animator; born in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
Lil Hardin Armstrong
Lil Hardin Armstrong
Lil Hardin Armstrong was a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader, and the second wife of Louis Armstrong with whom she collaborated on many recordings in the 1920s....
Victor Ashe
Victor Ashe
Victor Henderson Ashe II is the former United States Ambassador to Poland. From 1987 to 2003, he was mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee. Ashe is a Republican. Ambassador Ashe concluded his service as Ambassador to Poland on February 6, 2009....
Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...

(1924–2001); guitarist and record producer; born in Luttrell
Luttrell, Tennessee
Luttrell is a city in Union County, Tennessee, United States, with a population of 915 as of the 2000 census. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

B

DeFord Bailey
DeFord Bailey
DeFord Bailey was an American country music star from the 1920s until 1941, and the first performer on the Grand Ole Opry...
Howard Baker
Howard Baker
Howard Henry Baker, Jr. is a former Senate Majority Leader, Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee, White House Chief of Staff, and a former United States Ambassador to Japan.Known in Washington, D.C...
Robert Baker
Robert Baker (actor)
Robert Baker is an American actor known for his roles in Valentine, Grey's Anatomy, Out of Time and a supporting role in the film Special.-Credits:- External links :...
George Franklin Barber
George Franklin Barber
George Franklin Barber was an American architect best known for his residential designs, which he marketed worldwide through a series of mail-order catalogs. One of the most successful domestic architects of the late Victorian period in the United States, Barber's plans were used for houses in...
Ronnie Barrett
Ronnie Barrett
Ronnie Barrett is an American firearms manufacturer, the founder of Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, and the designer of the first .50 caliber rifle for civilian use.- Life & career :...
William M. Bass
William M. Bass
William Marvin Bass III is an American forensic anthropologist, best known for his research on human osteology and human decomposition. He has also assisted federal, local, and non-U.S. authorities in the identification of human remains...
Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
Kate Batts (a.k.a. The Bell Witch
The Bell Witch
The Bell Witch or Bell Witch Haunting is a poltergeist legend from Southern United States folklore, involving the Bell family of Adams, Tennessee...

)
Robin Beard
Robin Beard
Robin Leo Beard, Jr. was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee who served from 1973 to 1983.-Early life:...
Brian Bell
Brian Bell (musician)
Brian Bell is an American guitarist and songwriter. Active since 1989, he is best known as the rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for the American alternative rock band Weezer. Bell joined Weezer in 1993 following the departure of founding member Jason Cropper...
John Bell
John Bell (Tennessee politician)
John Bell was a U.S. politician, attorney, and plantation owner. A wealthy slaveholder from Tennessee, Bell served in the United States Congress in both the House of Representatives and Senate. He began his career as a Democrat, he eventually fell out with Andrew Jackson and became a Whig...
Bill Belichick
Bill Belichick
William Stephen "Bill" Belichick is an American football head coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. After spending his first 15 seasons in the league as an assistant coach, Belichick got his first head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns in 1991...

, New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...

Head Coach, born in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
Jeff Bennett
Jeff Bennett (baseball)
David Jeffrey "Jeff" Bennett is an American professional baseball pitcher who most recently pitched in Major League Baseball for the Arizona Diamondbacks.-Milwaukee Brewers:...
Aaron Benward
Aaron Benward
Aaron Jeoffrey Benward is a American singer-songwriter who rose to fame when he formed a duo with his father, called Aaron Jeoffrey.-Life and career:...
Polly Bergen
Polly Bergen
Polly Bergen is an American actress, singer, and entrepreneur.-Career:Bergen appeared in many film roles, most notably in the original Cape Fear opposite Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum...
Joe Blanton
Joe Blanton
Joseph Matthew Blanton is a starting pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball.-College career:...
Jerry Blevins
Jerry Blevins
Jerry Richard Blevins is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball.-College baseball career:...
William Blount
William Blount
William Blount, was a United States statesman. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention for North Carolina, the first and only governor of the Southwest Territory, and Democratic-Republican Senator from Tennessee . He played a major role in establishing the state of Tennessee. He was the...
Willie Blount
Willie Blount
Willie Blount served as Governor of Tennessee from 1809 to 1815. He was the younger half-brother of William Blount, representative of North Carolina to the Continental Congress and governor of the Southwest Territory....
Alexander Bonnyman, Jr.
Alexander Bonnyman, Jr.
Alexander "Sandy" Bonnyman, Jr. was a United States Marine Corps officer who was killed in action at Betio, Tarawa during World War II...
Arna W. Bontemps
Arna Bontemps
Arnaud "Arna" Wendell Bontemps was an American poet and a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance.- Life and career :...
Pat Boone
Pat Boone
Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer who has been a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He covered black artists' songs and sold more copies than his black counterparts...
Rachel Boston
Rachel Boston
-Biography:Boston was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee and grew up in Signal Mountain, Tennessee before moving to New York City at the age of seventeen to attend New York University. She was Miss Tennessee Teen USA in 1999, placing in the Top 10 at the national pageant.-Career:She starred in the NBC...
Richard Henry Boyd
Richard Henry Boyd
Richard Henry Boyd , commonly known as the Rev. Dr. R. H. Boyd, was an African-American minister and businessman who was the founder and head of the National Baptist Publishing Board and a founder of the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.-Early life:Boyd was born into slavery at the B. A...

(1843-1922), founder and head of the National Baptist Publishing Board
Rod Brasfield
Rod Brasfield
Rodney Leon Brasfield was an American comedian who was prominently featured on the Grand Ole Opry from 1947 until his death in 1958. In 1987, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
Clarence Brown
Clarence Brown
Clarence Brown was an American film director.-Early life:Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to a cotton manufacturer, Brown moved to the South when he was 11. He attended Knoxville High School and the University of Tennessee, both in Knoxville, Tennessee, graduating from the university at the age of...
Jonathan Browning
Jonathan Browning
Jonathan Browning was an American inventor and gunmaker. Born in Sumner County, Tennessee, he started earning a living as a blacksmith and later switched to become a lock and gunsmith. He invented a 'sliding breech' repeating rifle also called a Harmonica gun between 1834 and 1842 while living...
William Gannaway Brownlow
William Gannaway Brownlow
William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow was an American newspaper editor, minister, and politician who served as Governor of the state of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1869 to 1875...
James M. Buchanan
James M. Buchanan
James McGill Buchanan, Jr. is an American economist known for his work on public choice theory, for which he received the 1986 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Buchanan's work initiated research on how politicians' self-interest and non-economic forces affect government economic policy...

, economist, Nobel laureate
Josh Bullocks
Josh Bullocks
Josh Bullocks is the best football player to ever walk this earth.Josh Bullocks is an American football safety who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the second round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football at Nebraska.Bullocks has also been a member...
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett was an English playwright and author. She is best known for her children's stories, in particular The Secret Garden , A Little Princess, and Little Lord Fauntleroy.Born Frances Eliza Hodgson, she lived in Cheetham Hill, Manchester...
Kenneth C. Burns
Kenneth C. Burns
Kenneth C. Burns was an American country musician, comedian, and mandolin player. He was better known by his stage name Jethro from his years with Henry D. Haynes as part of the comedic musical duo Homer and Jethro beginning in 1936.-Biography:Burns was born Conasauga, Tennessee on March 10, 1920...

, "Jethro" of Homer and Jethro
Homer and Jethro
Homer and Jethro were the stage names of American country music duo Henry D. Haynes and Kenneth C. Burns , popular from the 1940s through the 1960s on radio and television for their satirical versions of popular songs...
Charles Burson
Charles Burson
Charles Wainman Burson was a legal counsel and Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States under Al Gore. He assumed the position of legal counsel from Kumiki Gibson in February 1997 after serving almost a decade as Tennessee Attorney General...
Jake Butcher
Jake Butcher
Jacob Franklin "Jake" Butcher was a U.S. banker and politician who built a financial empire in East Tennessee, was the Democratic Party nominee for governor of Tennessee in 1978 and the primary promoter of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, and who lost his business and his personal...
Joseph W. Byrns
Jo Byrns
Joseph Wellington "Jo" Byrns, Sr. was a U.S. politician. He served as a 14-term Democratic Congressman from Tennessee.-Biography:...

C

Matt Cain
Matt Cain
Matthew Thomas Cain is an American Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants...
Duke Calhoun
Duke Calhoun
Duke Calhoun was an American Football wide receiver for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He was an undrafted free agent signed by the Giants in the 2010 off season and was waived by the Giants in the 2011 offseason...
Archie Campbell
Archie Campbell
Archie Campbell was an American writer and star of Hee Haw, a popular long-running country-flavored network television variety show...
Guy Carawan
Guy Carawan
Guy Carawan is an American folk musician and musicologist. He serves as music director and song leader for the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, Tennessee....
Hattie Caraway
Hattie Caraway
Hattie Ophelia Wyatt Caraway was the first woman elected to serve as a United States Senator. Senator Caraway represented Arkansas.-Biography:...
Dixie Carter
Dixie Carter
Dixie Virginia Carter was an American film, television and stage actress, best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women...
Kellye Cash
Kellye Cash
Kellye Cash-Sheppard from Memphis, Tennessee, was Miss Tennessee 1986 and was crowned Miss America 1987, capturing preliminary honors in both the talent and swimsuit competitions....
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
June Carter Cash
June Carter Cash
Valerie June Carter Cash was an American singer, dancer, songwriter, actress, comedienne and author who was a member of the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash...
Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....
David Catching
David Catching
David Catching is an American musician from Memphis, Tennessee.-Recording career:Catching has played the guitar for well-known hard rock bands Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of the Stone Age, Tex and the Horseheads, The Ringling Sisters, earthlings?, and Mondo Generator. He is also a member of...
John Catron
John Catron
John Catron was an American jurist who served as a US Supreme Court justice from 1837 to 1865.-Early life:Little is known of Catron's early life, but he served in the War of 1812 under Andrew Jackson...
Tracy Caulkins
Tracy Caulkins
Tracy Anne Caulkins Stockwell, OAM, is a former American college and international swimmer, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and a former world record-holder....
Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham
Benjamin F. Cheatham
Benjamin Franklin Cheatham , known also as Frank, was a Tennessee aristocrat, California gold miner, and a General in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, serving in many battles of the Western Theater.-Early years:Cheatham was born in Nashville, Tennessee on a plantation...
Doc Cheatham
Kitty Cheatham
Kitty Cheatham
Katherine "Kitty" Cheatham was an American singer, diseuse and actress. She was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee...
Richard Boone Cheatham
Richard Boone Cheatham
Richard Boone Cheatham was the mayor of Nashville, Tennessee during the opening years of the Civil War. Cheatham was born in Springfield, Tennessee. His father, Richard Cheatham, was a Whig politician who was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1836. Cheatham married Frances Ann Bugg...
Richard Cheatham
Richard Cheatham
Richard Cheatham was an American politician who represented Tennessee's eleventh district in the United States House of Representatives.-Biography:...
John R. Cherry III
John R. Cherry III
John R. Cherry III is an American film director and screenwriter, most notable for directing virtually every movie starring Jim Varney as Ernest P. Worrell. He based the character on a man who worked for his dad who thought that he knew everything but didn't know anything...
Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...
Philander P. Claxton
Philander Claxton
Philander Priestly Claxton was an American educator.-Biography:Philander Claxton was born in Bedford County, Tennessee. He was educated at the University of Tennessee where he obtained both his Bachelor and Masters of Arts . He continued his studies at Johns Hopkins University, as well as in...
Jim Clayton
Jim Clayton (Clayton Homes)
James L. "Jim" Clayton, Sr. is an American entrepreneur who founded Clayton Homes in 1966 and built it into the United States' largest producer and seller of manufactured housing, a publicly traded company that was sold to Berkshire Hathaway in 2003 for $1.7 billion. He lives in Knoxville,...
Frank G. Clement
Frank G. Clement
Frank Goad Clement served as Governor of Tennessee from 1953 to 1959, and again from 1963 to 1967.-Early life:...
Chad Clifton
Chad Clifton
Jeffrey Chad Clifton is an American football offensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Packers in the second round of the 2000 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tennessee....
Randall Cobb
Fred Coe
Fred Coe
Fred Coe , nicknamed Pappy, was a television producer and director most famous for The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse in 1948-1955 and Playhouse 90 from 1957 to 1959...
Michael Coe
Michael Coe (American football)
Michael Coe is an American football cornerback for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He attended Cordova High School in Memphis, TN. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft...
Lynnette Cole
Lynnette Cole
Lynnette Cole-O'Nan , won the title Miss Tennessee USA in 2000. She went on to become the first woman from that state to win the Miss USA pageant, which was held in Branson, Missouri on February 4, 2000....

- Miss USA 2000
Mark Collie
Mark Collie
George Mark Collie is an American country music artist and occasional actor. He has released eight albums, and has charted 16 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. His highest peaking singles are "Even the Man in the Moon Is Cryin'" at #5, and "Born to Love You" at #6, from 1992 and...
Dustin Colquitt
Dustin Colquitt
Dustin Farr Colquitt is an American football punter for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He was originally drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft...

, punter for the Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
Darby Conley
Darby Conley
Darby Conley is an American cartoonist best known for the popular comic strip Get Fuzzy.-Background:Conley was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1970, and grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee....
Lester Conner
Lester Conner
Lester Allen Conner is a former assistant coach for the NBA Indiana Pacers, and is a former American professional basketball player, who played for numerous NBA teams...
James Craig
James Craig (actor)
James Craig was an American actor.After graduating from the Rice Institute, Craig began appearing in films in 1937, most often in B-movies and serials...
David "Davy" Crockett
Davy Crockett
David "Davy" Crockett was a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S...
Dixie Lee Crosby
Dixie Lee
Dixie Lee was an American actress, dancer, and singer.Born Wilma Wyatt, she adopted the professional name "Dixie Carroll" as a singer and showgirl. Winfield Sheehan of the Fox film studio changed the name to Dixie Lee, to avoid confusion with actresses Nancy Carroll and Sue Carol...
Edward Hull "Boss" Crump
E. H. Crump
Edward Hull "Boss" Crump was an American politician from Memphis, Tennessee. He was mayor from 1910 through 1915, and again briefly in 1940; in the intervening years he effectively appointed the mayors.-Career:...
John Cullum
John Cullum
John Cullum is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in many stage musicals and dramas, including On the Twentieth Century and Shenandoah , winning the Tony Awards for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for each...
Lowell Cunningham
Lowell Cunningham
Lowell Cunningham is an American creator and writer best known for The Men in Black, which became the basis for a media franchise.-Biography:Cunningham created the comic book series The Men in Black...
Billy Ray Cyrus
Billy Ray Cyrus
William "Billy" Ray Cyrus is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor and philanthropist, who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon...
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus
Miley Ray Cyrus is an American actress and pop singer-songwriter. She achieved wide fame for her role as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana....

, star of Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana is an American television series, which debuted on March 24, 2006 on the Disney Channel. The series focuses on a girl who lives a double life as an average teenage school girl named Miley Stewart by day and a famous pop singer named Hannah Montana by night, concealing her real...
John Cooper
John Cooper
John Cooper may refer to:* John A. D. Cooper , American physician & educator* John B.R. Cooper , California pioneer* John Cooper, current director of the Sundance Film Festival...

Skillet

D

Beauford Delaney
Beauford Delaney
Beauford Delaney was an American modernist painter.-Early life:Beauford Delaney was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, in 1901. Delaney’s parents were prominent and respected members of Knoxville's black community. His father Samuel was both a barber and a Methodist minister...
George Roby Dempster
George Roby Dempster
George Roby Dempster was an American businessman, inventor, and politician, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the first half of the twentieth century. Dempster is best known for the invention of the Dempster-Dumpster, a now-commonly-used trash receptacle that can be mechanically...
Jamie Denton
James Denton
James "Jamie" Thomas Denton, Jr. is an American film and television actor, best known for playing Mike Delfino in the television series Desperate Housewives.-Early life:...
Dale Dickey
Dale Dickey
Dale Dickey is an American actress best known for her recurring role as Patty on My Name is Earl and for her supporting roles in films such as Domino and Winter's Bone....
R. A. Dickey
R. A. Dickey
Robert Allen "R. A." Dickey is a right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher for the New York Mets. He was previously with the Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers organizations...
Bobby Dodd
Bobby Dodd
Robert Lee Dodd was an American college football coach at Georgia Tech. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame as a player and coach, something that only three people have accomplished....
Shannen Doherty
Shannen Doherty
Shannen Maria Doherty is an American actress, producer, author and television director, known for her work as Heather Duke in Heathers , as Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210 and its spinoff series 90210, and as Prue Halliwell in Charmed .-Early life and career:Doherty was born in Memphis,...
Andrew Jackson Donelson
Andrew Jackson Donelson
Andrew Jackson Donelson was an American diplomat and a candidate for Vice President of the United States.-Biography:...
Aaron Douglas
Aaron Douglas
Aaron Douglas was an African American painter and a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance.-Early life:...
Josh Drake
Josh Drake
Dr. Joshua F. Drake is a musicologist and hymnist at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania. His research, writing and presentations primarily analyze the structure of 15th century Latin Christian motets, which are a category of choral musical compositions.Drake is notable for his research...
King Dunlap
King Dunlap
-Philadelphia Eagles:Dunlap was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles with the 230th pick overall in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He signed a four-year contract with the team on June 17, 2008...

F

David Farragut
David Farragut
David Glasgow Farragut was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the...
Jerome Felton
Jerome Felton
Jerome Jean-Marie Felton is an American football fullback for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft...
Lester Flatt
Lester Flatt
Lester Raymond Flatt was a bluegrass musician and guitarist and mandolinist, best known for his membership in the Bluegrass duo The Foggy Mountain Boys, also known as "Flatt and Scruggs," with banjo picker Earl Scruggs. Flatt's career spanned multiple decades; besides his work with Scruggs, he...
Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....
Shelby Foote
Shelby Foote
Shelby Dade Foote, Jr. was an American historian and novelist who wrote The Civil War: A Narrative, a massive, three-volume history of the war. With geographic and cultural roots in the Mississippi Delta, Foote's life and writing paralleled the radical shift from the agrarian planter system of the...
Harold Ford, Jr.
Harold Ford, Jr.
Harold Eugene Ford, Jr. is an American politician and was the last chairman of the now-defunct Democratic Leadership Council . He was a Democratic Party member of the United States House of Representatives from , centered in Memphis, from 1997 to 2007...
Tennessee Ernie Ford
Tennessee Ernie Ford
Ernest Jennings Ford , better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western, pop, and gospel musical genres...
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered both as a self-educated, innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading southern advocate in the postwar years...
Abe Fortas
Abe Fortas
Abraham Fortas was a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice from 1965 to 1969. Originally from Tennessee, Fortas became a law professor at Yale, and subsequently advised the Securities and Exchange Commission. He then worked at the Interior Department under Franklin D...
Ramon Foster
Ramon Foster
Ramon Foster is an American football offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. He is the brother of St. Louis Rams offensive lineman, Renardo Foster. He played college football at Tennessee where he played in a career total of 44 games and also earned All-SEC...
Megan Fox
Megan Fox
Megan Denise Fox is an American actress and model. She began her acting career in 2001 with several minor television and film roles, and played a regular role on Hope & Faith. In 2004, she launched her film career with a role in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen...
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
Aubrayo Franklin
Aubrayo Franklin
-Baltimore Ravens:In his rookie year, he only appeared in one game recording one tackle. In his second season with the Ravens, he contributed to the team by making six appearances and two tackles. In 2005, Franklin played in 15 games and notched up 20 tackles and his first career sack at the Denver...
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
Bill Frist
Bill Frist
William Harrison "Bill" Frist, Sr. is an American physician, businessman, and politician. He began his career as an heir and major stockholder to the for-profit hospital chain of Hospital Corporation of America. Frist later served two terms as a Republican United States Senator representing...
Phillip Fulmer
Phillip Fulmer
Phillip Fulmer is a TV college football analyst and the former head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, who compiled a 152–52 record from 1992–2008 as head coach, but was fired during a 5–7 season in 2008...

G

Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni is an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. Her primary focus is on the individual and the power one has to make a difference in oneself and in the lives of others. Giovanni’s poetry expresses strong racial pride, respect for family, and her...
Guilford Glazer
Guilford Glazer
Guilford Glazer is an American real estate developer and philanthropist.Glazer was born in and grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, one of the seven children of a welder. He grew up in the Fourth and Gill neighborhood and attended Knoxville High School, graduating in 1938...
Dr. Ernest W. Goodpasture
Ernest William Goodpasture
Dr. Ernest William Goodpasture was an American pathologist and physician. Goodpasture advanced the scientific understanding of the pathogenesis of infectious diseases, parasitism, and a variety of rickettsial and viral infections...
Ginnifer Goodwin
Albert Gore, Jr.
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....

, 45th Vice President of the United States
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...

, 1993-2001
Albert Gore, Sr.
Albert Gore, Sr.
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Sr. was an American politician, serving as a U.S. Representative and a U.S. Senator for the Democratic Party from Tennessee....
Yo Gotti
Yo Gotti
Mario Mims better known by his stage name Yo Gotti, is a southern rapper from the northern side of Memphis, Tennessee who was previously known as Lil Yo.-Independent Albums:Yo Gotti released a string of independent albums...
Lou Graham
Red Grooms
Red Grooms
Red Grooms is an American multimedia artist best known for his colorful pop-art constructions depicting frenetic scenes of modern urban life...

H

Lucy Hale
Lucy Hale
Karen Lucille "Lucy" Hale is an American actress and singer. She is known for her roles as Becca Sommers in Bionic Woman, Rose Baker in Privileged, Sherrie in the horror film Scream 4, and as Aria Montgomery on the hit ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars...

(actor, singer)from Pretty Little Liars]]
Alex Haley
Alex Haley
Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was an African-American writer. He is best known as the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and the coauthor of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.-Early life:...
George Hamilton
George Hamilton (actor)
George Stevens Hamilton is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Hamilton was the youngest son of bandleader George "Spike" Hamilton and his first wife, Ann Stevens . He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived in Blytheville, Arkansas...
Ken Hamlin
Ken Hamlin
Ken Hamlin an American football safety, who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the second round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He played college football at Arkansas....
W.C. Handy
Bob Harper
Bob Harper (personal trainer)
Robert "Bob" Harper is a personal trainer, who appears on the television series The Biggest Loser .- Career :Harper has worked as a personal trainer for celebrity clients, including Jennifer Jason Leigh...
George "Two Ton" Harris
Phil Harris
Phil Harris
Harris and Faye married in 1941; it was a second marriage for both and lasted 54 years, until Harris's death. Harris engaged in a fistfight at the Trocadero nightclub in 1938 with RKO studio mogul Bob Stevens; the cause was reported to be over Faye after Stevens and Faye had ended a romantic...
Nicole Taylor Hart
Nicole Taylor Hart
Nicole Taylor Hart is an American actress and songwriter.She was born Jennifer Nicole Cedzich in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, to the country songwriter, Chris Gantry, and Mary Cason...
James Haslam Jr.
James Haslam Jr.
James Arthur "Jim" Haslam II is an American businessman and philanthropist, best known as the founder of Pilot Corporation, which operates a chain of convenience stores and travel centers throughout the United States and Canada, and is one of the largest privately-owned companies in the United...
Trenton Hassell
Trenton Hassell
Trenton Lavar Hassell is an American professional basketball player who formerly played in the NBA. He earned a reputation for being one of the NBA's best perimeter defenders...
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
Henry D. Haynes
Henry D. Haynes
Henry Doyle Haynes was an American entertainer who gained fame on radio and television as Homer of the country music comedy duo Homer and Jethro with Kenneth C. Burns for 35 years beginning in 1936.-Biography:...

, "Homer" of Homer and Jethro
Homer and Jethro
Homer and Jethro were the stage names of American country music duo Henry D. Haynes and Kenneth C. Burns , popular from the 1940s through the 1960s on radio and television for their satirical versions of popular songs...
Todd Helton
Todd Helton
Todd Lynn Helton is a Major League Baseball first baseman for the Colorado Rockies. He is a five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger, four-time National League Player of the Month, and three-time Gold Glove winner....

, major league baseball player
Christina Hendricks
Christina Hendricks
Christina Rene Hendricks is an actress known for her role as Joan Holloway in the AMC cable television series Mad Men, and as Saffron in Fox's short-lived series Firefly. Hendricks was named "the sexiest woman in the world" in 2010 in a poll of female readers taken by Esquire magazine.-Personal...

, actress
Elaine Hendrix
Elaine Hendrix
Elaine Hendrix is an American actress, producer, singer, dancer, and activist. She is best known for her roles in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap, Inspector Gadget 2, and the 2004 documentary What the Bleep Do We Know!?....

, actress
Hunter Hillenmeyer
Hunter Hillenmeyer
Hunter Taverner Hillenmeyer is an American football linebacker who is currently a free agent. He was originally selected by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round with the 31st pick of the 2003 NFL Draft. Hillenmeyer attended high school at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville...

, NFL player
Will Hoge
Will Hoge
Will Hoge is an American singer, songwriter and musician from Nashville, Tennessee.-Early life:Will Hoge grew up in Franklin, Tennessee, a rural suburb south of Nashville...
Charles O. (Chad) Holliday
Rick Honeycutt
Rick Honeycutt
Frederick Wayne "Rick" Honeycutt is the current pitching coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Honeycutt was a left-handed pitcher for 21 years from 1977 to 1997. He played with the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, and the St. Louis Cardinals...
John Jay Hooker
John Jay Hooker
John Jay Hooker, Jr. is a Nashville, Tennessee attorney, entrepreneur, perennial candidate and political gadfly.- Early life :John Jay Hooker was born to relative wealth and privilege in one of the Nashville area's more prominent families...
Benjamin Hooks
Benjamin Hooks
Benjamin Lawson Hooks was an American civil rights leader. A Baptist minister and practicing attorney, he served as executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1977 to 1992, and throughout his career was a vocal campaigner for civil rights in the...
Ed Hooper
Ed Hooper
William Edward Hooper is an author, news broadcaster and columnist from Knoxville, Tennessee. He is most widely known for his work in military affairs reporting and his coverage of historic preservation and U.S. veterans issues....
Myles Horton
Myles Horton
Myles Horton was an American educator, socialist and cofounder of the Highlander Folk School, famous for its role in the Civil Rights Movement . Horton taught and heavily influenced most of the era's leaders. They included Dr...
Sam Houston
Sam Houston
Samuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...
Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes was an English lawyer and author. He is most famous for his novel Tom Brown's Schooldays , a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had attended. It had a lesser-known sequel, Tom Brown at Oxford .- Biography :Hughes was the second son of John Hughes, editor of...

, English author of Tom Brown's School Days who founded Rugby, Tennessee
Rugby, Tennessee
Rugby is an unincorporated community in Morgan and Scott counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Founded in 1880 by English author Thomas Hughes, Rugby was built as an experimental utopian colony. While Hughes's experiment largely failed, a small community lingered at Rugby throughout the 20th...
Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during much of World War II...

, U.S. Secretary of State and winner of Nobel Peace Prize
Con Hunley
Con Hunley
Conard Logan "Con" Hunley is a country music singer.Hunley was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. After graduating from Central High School in Knoxville, Hunley began playing with local bands, maturing musically and gaining his first fans. Hunley joined the Air Force in 1965 and spent most of his...
Courtney Hunt
Courtney Hunt
Courtney Hunt is an American screenwriter and film director. She has received much critical acclaim for her debut film, Frozen River, for which she has gained an Oscar nomination, two Independent Spirit nominations, and a Satellite Award nod for the film...
Alberta Hunter
Alberta Hunter
Alberta Hunter was an American blues singer, songwriter, and nurse. Her career had started back in the early 1920s, and from there on, she became a successful jazz and blues recording artist, being critically acclaimed to the ranks of Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith...
Dennis Hwang
Dennis Hwang
Dennis Hwang, or Hwang Jeong-mok, is a graphic artist who designs the festive logos for Google on special days.- Biography :...

J

Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...

, Seventh President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

, 1829-1837
Howell Edmunds Jackson
Howell Edmunds Jackson
Howell Edmunds Jackson was an American jurist and politician. He served on the United States Supreme Court, in the U.S. Senate, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Tennessee House of Representatives. He authored notable opinions on the Interstate Commerce Act and the...
Quinton Jackson
Quinton Jackson
Quinton Ramone Jackson ;, also known as Rampage Jackson, is an American mixed martial artist and actor. He is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Jackson rose to prominence in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships where he was noted for his powerful body slams including a knockout victory over...

, The Current UFC
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...

Light Heavyweight Champion, (Born in Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

)
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
Mark Jacoby
Mark Jacoby
Mark Jacoby is a Broadway performer. He has achieved fame from his leading roles in Show Boat, The Phantom of the Opera and Ragtime...
Claude Jarman Jr.
Claude Jarman Jr.
Claude Jarman, Jr. is an American former child actor.Jarman was discovered in a nationwide talent search by MGM Studios, and was cast as the lead actor in the film The Yearling . His performance received glowing reviews and he was awarded with an Academy Juvenile Award as a result...
Jeff Jarrett
Jeff Jarrett
Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett is an American professional wrestler and wrestling promoter. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , an organization he co-founded along with his father and in which he holds some stock but not total control...
Josh Jasper
Josh Jasper
Joshua Norwood "Josh" Jasper is an American football placekicker.He set the Tennessee state record for career high school field goals, with 44, and his longest field goal was 54 yards. In 2010, he was a Consensus College All-American placekicker for the LSU Tigers in his senior year, after...

(born 1987), All-American college American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

placekicker
Placekicker
Placekicker, or simply kicker , is the title of the player in American and Canadian football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals, extra points...
William L. Jenkins
William L. Jenkins
William Lewis "Bill" Jenkins is a politician from the state of Tennessee. He represented the state's 1st Congressional district, centered around the Tri-Cities , from 1997 until his successor was sworn in on January 3, 2007....

, U.S. House of Representatives (R-TN-01), 1997-2007
Michael Jeter
Michael Jeter
Michael Jeter was an American actor.- Early life :Michael Jeter was born in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. His mother, Virginia , was a housewife...
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...

, Seventeenth President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

, 1865-1869
Thomas Johnson
Thomas Johnson (American football)
Thomas Johnson is an American football defensive tackle who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2005...
Cave Johnson
Cave Johnson
Cave Johnson was for fourteen years a Democratic U.S. Congressman from Tennessee. He was also the United States Postmaster General under James K. Polk from 1845–1849...
Cherry Jones
Cherry Jones
Cherry Jones is an American actress and recipient of the 2009 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.-Career:...
Christopher Jones
Christopher Jones (actor)
William "Billy" Frank Jones, better known as Christopher Jones, is an American character actor, born August 18, 1941 in Jackson, Tennessee....
Jesse Holman Jones
Jesse Holman Jones
Jesse Holman Jones was a Houston, Texas politician and entrepreneur. He served as United States Secretary of Commerce from 1940 to 1945...
Popeye Jones
Popeye Jones
Ronald Jerome "Popeye" Jones is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA. He is now an assistant coach for the New Jersey Nets....
Van Jones
Van Jones
Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones is an American environmental advocate, civil rights activist, and attorney. Jones is a co-founder of three non-profit organizations. In 1996, he founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a California non-governmental organization working for alternatives to violence...

K

Estes Kefauver
Estes Kefauver
Carey Estes Kefauver July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S...
David Keith
David Keith
David Lemuel Keith is an American actor and director. He received Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor and New Star of the Year – Actor for his performance in An Officer and a Gentleman.-Career:...
Adm. Frank B. Kelso
Frank B. Kelso II
Frank Benton Kelso II is a retired admiral of the United States Navy, who served as Chief of Naval Operations in the early 1990s.-Early life:...
Kem
Kem (singer)
KEM Owens , professionally known as "'KEM'", is an American R&B/soul singer, songwriter, and producer...
Ke$ha
Kesha
Kesha village is a small village nestled in the mountains of Yongshun County, northwestern Hunan province, China, located at latitude 29 05' 50", longitude 109 57' 9". The name is pronounced in Standard Chinese. The official language is Manderin Chinese....
Johnny Knoxville
Johnny Knoxville
Philip John Clapp , better known by his stage name Johnny Knoxville, is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, stunt performer, best known for being the co-creator and principal star of the MTV reality series Jackass, with the catchphrase "I'm Johnny Knoxville, and welcome to Jackass."-Early...
Joseph Wood Krutch
Joseph Wood Krutch
Joseph Wood Krutch was an American writer, critic, and naturalist.Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, he initially studied at the University of Tennessee and received a masters degree and Ph.D. from Columbia University. After serving in the army in 1918, he travelled in Europe for a year with friend...

L

Dan Landrum
Dan Landrum
Dan Landrum, , is an American hammered dulcimer player residing in Chattanooga, Tennessee.He was discovered busking in front of the Tennessee Aquarium and is a featured member of Yanni's touring orchestra...

- Hammer dulcimer player
Lucille La Verne
Lucille La Verne
Lucille La Verne was an American actress known for her appearances in silent, scolding, and vengeful roles in early color films, as well as for her triumphs on the American stage....
Jerry "The King" Lawler
Jerry Lawler
Jerry O'Neil Lawler is an American professional wrestler, wrestling commentator, musician, businessman, commercial artist and film actor, known throughout the wrestling world as Jerry "The King" Lawler. He is currently signed to WWE, working on its Raw brand as the color commentator and occasional...
Arthur Lee
Arthur Lee (musician)
Arthur Lee was the frontman, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of the Los Angeles rock band Love, best known for the critically acclaimed 1967 album, Forever Changes.-Early years:...
Adriane Lenox
Adriane Lenox
Adriane Lenox is an American stage and film actress whose performance in the play Doubt: A Parable garnered her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 2005. She also appeared as Hattie in the Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate and had a role in the 2009 film The Blind Side, as Denise...
Michael Levine
Steve Liddle
Steve Liddle
Steven Michael Liddle is a Major League Baseball third base coach for the Minnesota Twins. He was previously the Twins' bench coach from 2002-2010 before swapping roles with Scott Ullger. - References :...
Sondra Locke
Sondra Locke
Sondra Locke is an American actress, singer and film director.She made her film debut in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter , for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress...
Z. Alexander Looby
Z. Alexander Looby
Zephaniah Alexander Looby was a lawyer active in the American Civil Rights Movement. He was born in Antigua, and moved to the United States in 1914. He attended Howard University as an undergraduate where he became a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Looby earned his bachelor's degree from...
Horace Lurton
Horace Harmon Lurton
Horace Harmon Lurton was an American jurist who served for four years as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Appointed at the age of 65, Lurton was the oldest justice appointed to the Court.-Life:...
Andrew Lytle
Andrew Nelson Lytle
Andrew Nelson Lytle was an American novelist, dramatist, essayist and professor of literature. He was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and early in his life planned to be an actor and playwright...

M

Jean (Faircloth) MacArthur
Jean MacArthur
Jean Marie Faircloth MacArthur was the second wife of U.S. Army General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.- Early life and education :...
"Uncle Dave" Macon
Uncle Dave Macon
Uncle Dave Macon , born David Harrison Macon—also known as "The Dixie Dewdrop"—was an American banjo player, singer, songwriter, and comedian...
Matt Mahaffey
Matt Mahaffey
Matt Mahaffey is an American multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and recording engineer best known for his band Self.-Personal:Matt grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee and was involved with music from a young age...
Johnny Majors
Johnny Majors
Johnny Majors is a former American football player and coach. A standout halfback at the University of Tennessee, he was an All-American in 1956 and a two-time winner of the Southeastern Conference Most Valuable Player award, in 1955 and 1956. He finished second to Paul Hornung in voting for...
Delbert Mann
Delbert Mann
Delbert Martin Mann, Jr. was an American television and film director. He won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Director for the film Marty...
Shawn Marion
Shawn Marion
Shawn Dwayne Marion is an American professional basketball player currently with the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. Born in Waukegan, Illinois, Marion attended high school in Clarksville, Tennessee. Before transferring to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Marion...
Sterling Marlin
Sterling Marlin
Sterling Marlin is a retired NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver. He is the son of late NASCAR driver Coo Coo Marlin. He is married to Paula and has a daughter, Sutherlin, and a son, Steadman, who sometimes races in the Nationwide Series....

- Two-time Daytona 500
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a -long NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is one of four restrictor plate races on the Cup schedule....

winner
Wink Martindale
Wink Martindale
Winston Conrad Martindale , known professionally as Wink Martindale, is an American disc jockey and television game show host.-Radio:...
Christopher Massey
Christopher Massey
Christopher Michael Massey is an American actor, comedian and rapper best known for starring as Michael Barret in Nickelodeon television series Zoey 101. Massey has received many awards and nomination including a Young Artist Award and Emmy Awards nominations...
Mike Massey
Mike Massey
Michael "Mike" Massey is an American professional pocket billiards player, best known as a trick shot artist since the late 1970s, and has given substantial visibility to the sport by traveling the globe to perform exhibitions and compete in a variety of disciplines...

- Professional pool player
Matthew Fontaine Maury
Matthew Fontaine Maury
Matthew Fontaine Maury , United States Navy was an American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator....
William McAdoo
William Gibbs McAdoo
William Gibbs McAdoo, Jr. was an American lawyer and political leader who served as a U.S. Senator, United States Secretary of the Treasury and director of the United States Railroad Administration...
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and modernist genres. He received the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction for The Road...
Tim McCarver
Tim McCarver
James Timothy "Tim" McCarver is an American former Major League Baseball catcher, and a current sportscaster in residence for Fox Sports.-Playing career:...
Jacques McClendon
Jacques McClendon
Jacques McClendon is an American football guard for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tennessee. He holds UT bench press record lifting 645 pounds.-External links:**...
Michael McDonald
Michael McDonald (singer)
Michael McDonald is a five-time Grammy Award winning American singer and songwriter. McDonald is known for a soulful baritone singing style and a multi-octave range. He began his career singing back-up vocals with Steely Dan...
Brownie McGhee
Brownie McGhee
Walter Brown McGhee was a Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.-Life and career:...
Stick McGhee
Stick McGhee
Granville Henry McGhee, also known as Stick McGhee, was an African-American jump blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for his blues song, "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee".-Early life:...
Kenneth McKellar
Kenneth McKellar
Kenneth Douglas McKellar was an American politician from Tennessee who served as a United States Representative from 1911 until 1917 and as a United States Senator from 1917 until 1953...
Reggie McKenzie
Reggie McKenzie (linebacker)
Reggie McKenzie is an American football executive and former player. He is Director - Football Operations for the Green Bay Packers, and has worked for the Packers since 1994.His Super Bowl ring was stolen on May 3, 2009....
Bill McKinney
Bill McKinney
Bill McKinney is an American character actor whose most famous role was the sadistic mountain man in the movie Deliverance...
Jon Meacham
Jon Meacham
Jon Meacham is executive editor and executive vice president at Random House. A former editor of Newsweek and a Pulitzer Prize winning bestselling author and a commentator on politics, history, and religious faith in America, he is a contributing editor to Time magazine and editor-at-large of WNET...
Chris Moneymaker
Chris Moneymaker
Christopher Bryan Moneymaker is an American poker player who won the main event at the 2003 World Series of Poker . His 2003 win is said to have revolutionized poker because he was the first person to become a world champion by qualifying at an online poker site...

- poker player from Knoxville
Ricky Morton
Ricky Morton
Richard Wendell "Ricky" Morton is an American professional wrestler who has worked for such wrestling organizations as Jim Crockett Promotions, the American Wrestling Association, Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and Total Nonstop Action...
James Cole Mountflorence
James Cole Mountflorence
James Cole Mountflorence was an American businessman and Federalist diplomat in Paris during the French Revolution. He went to France in 1792 as an agent for the mercantile firm of William Blount, Thomas Blount, and John Gray Blount. In 1794, he became Chancellor to the American Consulate at Paris...

(___ - 1820). American diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
Grace Moore
Grace Moore
Grace Moore was an American operatic soprano and actress in musical theatre and film. She was nicknamed the "Tennessee Nightingale." Her films helped to popularize opera by bringing it to a larger audience.-Early life:...
Shelly Moore
Shelly Moore
Shelly Moore is a beauty queen from Knoxville, Tennessee who won the Miss Teen USA 1997 title.In 1996, Moore won the Miss Northern Tennessee local title before competing for and winning the Miss Tennessee Teen USA 1997 contest. She went on to represent Tennessee in the Miss Teen USA contest held...

- Miss Teen USA
Miss Teen USA
Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant run by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19. The reigning titleholder is Danielle Doty of Texas....

1997
Lorrie Morgan
Lorrie Morgan
In 1996 Morgan married Jon Randall, a singer/songwriter now credited with writing the 2004 Brad Paisley/Alison Krauss hit "Whiskey Lullaby"; they divorced three years later in 1999....
Anson Mount
Anson Mount
Anson Adams Mount IV is an American actor who has appeared in both movies and television shows. Mount has also played Jim Steele on the short-lived NBC series Conviction and appeared in the independent movie Tully with Julianne Nicholson, as the title character Tully Coates, a playboy whose ways...
Mary Noailles Murfree
Mary Noailles Murfree
Mary Noailles Murfree was an American fiction writer of novels and short stories who wrote under the pen name Charles Egbert Craddock...

N

Elise Neal
Elise Neal
Elise Neal is an American film and television actress.-Early life:Neal, a Memphis, Tennessee native, was born on March 14, 1966, the daughter of a nurse and a construction worker. She attended Lakeview Elementary. She was a ballet dancer and a cheerleader...
Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She was best known for her film roles as World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still , wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's , middle-aged housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud , for which she won...
Lindsey Nelson
Lindsey Nelson
Lindsey Nelson was an American sportscaster best known for his broadcasts of college football and New York Mets baseball.-Early life and career:...
Robert Neyland
Robert Neyland
Robert Reese Neyland, MBE was an American football player and coach and and officer in the United States Army, reaching the rank of brigadier general. He served three stints as the head football coach as the University of Tennessee...

, UT Vols football coach and namesake for Neyland Stadium
Neyland Stadium
Neyland Stadium is a sports stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It serves primarily as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, but is also used to host large conventions and has been a site for several NFL exhibition games. The stadium's official capacity is 102,455...
Alfred O. P. Nicholson
Alfred O. P. Nicholson
Alfred Osborn Pope Nicholson , a Tennessee Democratic politician and lawyer, was twice a United States Senator from that state.-Biography:...
Bishop James Daniel Niedergeses
James Daniel Niedergeses
James Daniel Niedergeses was an American Roman Catholic bishop. He was the ninth bishop of Nashville serving from 1975 to 1992....
Kenneth Nixon

O

Adolph Ochs
Oconostota
Oconostota
Oconostota was the Warrior of Chota and the First Beloved Man of the Cherokee from 1775 to 1781.-Meaning of the name:...
Joe O'Donnell
Frank Omiyale
Frank Omiyale
Frank Tayo Omiyale [OH-mee-Yahle] is an American football offensive tackle for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the fifth round of the 2005 NFL Draft...
Major Owens
Major Owens
Major Robert Odell Owens is a New York politician and a prominent member of the Democratic Party. He is also a former Congressman, having represented the state's 11th Congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He retired at the end of his term in January 2007 and was...

P

Bettie Page
Bettie Page
Bettie Mae Page was an American model who became famous in the 1950s for her fetish modeling and pin-up photos. She has often been called the "Queen of Pinups"...
John Palmer
John Palmer (TV journalist)
John Spencer Palmer is a former news correspondent for NBC News. He worked for the network over the course of 40 years, first from 1962 to 1990; and again from 1994 until his retirement in 2002...

, former NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...

correspondent
Matt Palmer
Matt Palmer
Jonathan Matthew "Matt" Palmer is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He bats and throws right-handed...

, starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels
Hermes Pan
Hermes Pan (choreographer)
Hermes Pan was an American dancer and choreographer, principally celebrated as Fred Astaire's choreographic collaborator on the famous 1930s movie musicals starring Astaire and Ginger Rogers.-Early life:...
Paramore
Paramore
Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis, and guitarist Taylor York...

, 4 members born and raised in Franklin, TN, Hayley Williams
Hayley Williams
Hayley Nichole Williams is an American singer, songwriter, and the lead vocalist of the band Paramore.- Life and career :...

born in Meridan, MS, raised in Franklin, TN
Cindy Parlow
Chris Parnell
Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell also voices Cyril Figgis on the FX animated comedy...
Hope Partlow
Hope Partlow
Hope Partlow is an American pop singer from Drummonds, Tennessee.-Biography:Partlow grew up singing gospel and country songs in her native town. She was a popular act at the local Strand Theatre. While still in her early teens, a demo she and her family had self-produced, made its way to an aunt...
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
Minnie Pearl
Minnie Pearl
Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon , known professionally as Minnie Pearl, was an American country comedienne who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.-Early life:Sarah Colley was born in Centerville, in Hickman County, Tennessee,...
Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
John M. Pickard
John Pickard (American actor)
John M. Pickard was an American actor who appeared primarily in television Westerns.-Early life and career:...
James K. Polk
James K. Polk
James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States . Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He later lived in and represented Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk served as the 17th Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 12th Governor of Tennessee...

, Eleventh President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

, 1845-1849
Bishop Leonidas Polk
Leonidas Polk
Leonidas Polk was a Confederate general in the American Civil War who was once a planter in Maury County, Tennessee, and a second cousin of President James K. Polk...
Sarah Childress Polk
Sarah Childress Polk
Sarah Childress Polk was the wife of the 11th President of the United States, James Polk, and the 12th woman to serve as First Lady. Sarah was born in 1803 to Joel Childress, a prominent planter, merchant, and land speculator, and Elizabeth Whitsitt Childress—the third of their six children...

, First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...

, wife of President James K. Polk
Annie Potts
Annie Potts
Anne Hampton "Annie" Potts is an American film and television actress. She is known for her roles in the 1980s popular films such as Ghostbusters , Pretty in Pink , Jumpin' Jack Flash , Who's Harry Crumb? and Ghostbusters II . Potts is also known as a voice-actress...
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
David Price
David Price (baseball)
David Taylor Price is an American Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays. Price was selected first overall in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft by the Rays and made his major league debut in September 2008.Price pitched out of the bullpen during the Rays' run...

R

Dave Ramsey
Dave Ramsey
David L. Ramsey III is an American financial author, radio host, television personality, and motivational speaker.Ramsey's syndicated radio program The Dave Ramsey Show is promoted with a tagline that "It's about your life and your money," and it is heard on over 450 radio stations throughout the...
John Crow Ransom
Sam Rayburn
Sam Rayburn
Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn , often called "Mr. Sam," or "Mr. Democrat," was a Democratic lawmaker from Bonham, Texas, who served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for seventeen years, the longest tenure in U.S. history.- Background :Rayburn was born in Roane County, Tennessee, and...
J. J. Redick
B. Carroll Reece
B. Carroll Reece
Brazilla Carroll Reece was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee.-Early life and career:Reece was born on a farm near Butler, Tennessee, one of thirteen children of John Isaac and Sarah Maples Reece...
Florence Patton Reece (folk singer)
Jerry Reese
Jerry Reese
Jerry Reese is the current General Manager of the New York Giants. He succeeded Ernie Accorsi as general manager on January 16, 2007, having been with the Giants since 1994...
Brad Renfro
Brad Renfro
Brad Barron Renfro was an American actor. He made his film debut in 1994 at age 12 in the lead role of Joel Schumacher's The Client, going on to star in 21 feature films, several short films, and two television episodes during his career. Much of his later career was marred by a pattern of...
Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice was an early 20th century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio.-Biography:...
Lee Roberson
Lee Roberson
Lee Edward Roberson , was the founder of Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Camp Joy, in Harrison, Tennessee....
James Robertson
James Robertson (early American)
James Robertson was an explorer and pioneer active primarily in what is now the State of Tennessee during the second half of the 18th century. An early companion of explorer Daniel Boone, Robertson helped establish the Watauga Association in the early 1770s, and helped defend Fort Watauga from an...
Oscar Robertson
Oscar Robertson
Oscar Palmer Robertson , nicknamed "The Big O", is a former American NBA player with the Cincinnati Royals and the Milwaukee Bucks...
Pat Robertson
Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who is politically aligned with the Christian Right in the United States....
Charles P. Roland
Charles P. Roland
Charles Pierce Roland is an American historian and professor emeritus of the University of Kentucky whose research specialty is in the fields of the American South and the Civil War.-Biographical sketch:...
John Ross
John Ross (Cherokee chief)
John Ross , also known as Guwisguwi , was Principal Chief of the Cherokee Native American Nation from 1828–1866...
Mitch Rouse
Mitch Rouse
Edward Mitchell "Mitch" Rouse is an American film and television actor, director and screenwriter.Rouse was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and raised in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where he played football at Oak Ridge High School. He attended the University of Tennessee before developing an interest in...
Mason Rudolph
Mason Rudolph
Edgar Mason Rudolph was an American golfer who won five times on the PGA Tour.-Early years and amateur career:...
Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Glodean Rudolph was an American athlete. Rudolph was considered the fastest woman in the world in the 1960s and competed in two Olympic Games, in 1956 and in 1960....
Fred Russell
Fred Russell
Fred Russell was an American sports writer prominent in the Golden Era of Sports in the 20th century...

S

Christine Sadler
Christine Sadler
Christine Sadler , born in Silver Point, Putnam County, Tennessee, was an Americanauthor, journalist, and magazine editor.-Biography:...
Shane Salerno
Shane Salerno
Shane Salerno is an American screenwriter, producer and director. He has written or co-written several blockbuster films including Armageddon and Shaft and is also one of the writer-producers of the successful CBS drama series Hawaii Five-0...
William Sanderson
William Sanderson
William Sanderson is an American character actor.-Early life:Sanderson was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to an elementary school teacher mother and a landscape designer father...

, actor, Newhart
Newhart
Newhart is a television situation comedy starring comedian Bob Newhart and actress Mary Frann as an author and wife who owned and operated an inn located in a small, rural Vermont town that was home to many eccentric characters. The show aired on the CBS network from October 25, 1982 to May 21, 1990...

, Deadwood
Deadwood (TV series)
Deadwood is an American Western drama television series created, produced and largely written by David Milch. The series aired on the premium cable network HBO from March 21, 2004, to August 27, 2006, spanning three 12-episode seasons. The show is set in the 1870s in Deadwood, South Dakota, before...

, True Blood
True Blood
True Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana...
Clarence Saunders
Tom Schulman
Tom Schulman
Thomas H. Schulman is an American screenwriter most famous for his screenplay Dead Poets Society which won the Best Screenplay Academy Award for 1989....
John T. Scopes
John T. Scopes
John Thomas Scopes , was a biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, who was charged on May 5, 1925 for violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools...
Hillary Scott
Hillary Scott (singer)
Hillary Dawn Scott is an American country music singer-songwriter. She is currently a member of Lady Antebellum, a country band that was formed in 2006 and signed to Capitol Nashville.-Early life:...

(lead singer of Lady Antebellum
Lady Antebellum
Lady Antebellum is an American country pop music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2006. The trio is composed of Charles Kelley , Dave Haywood and Hillary Scott .The group made its debut in 2007 as guest vocalists on Jim Brickman's single "Never Alone", before signing to Capitol...

)
Josey Scott
Josey Scott
Josey Scott is the former lead vocalist of Post-grunge/hard rock band Saliva. In addition to Saliva, Scott co-wrote and performed "Hero" with Chad Kroeger of Nickelback.- Career :Prior to Saliva, Scott fronted a Memphis-area heavy metal band called BlackBone in...

(lead singer of Saliva
Saliva
Saliva , referred to in various contexts as spit, spittle, drivel, drool, or slobber, is the watery substance produced in the mouths of humans and most other animals. Saliva is a component of oral fluid. In mammals, saliva is produced in and secreted from the three pairs of major salivary glands,...

)
Rhea Seddon
John Seigenthaler
John Seigenthaler
John Lawrence Seigenthaler is an American journalist, writer, and political figure. He is known as a prominent defender of First Amendment rights....
John Michael Seigenthaler
Gerald Sensabaugh
Gerald Sensabaugh
Gerald Lind Sensabaugh, Jr. is an American football Safety who is currently a safety for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fifth round of the 2005 NFL Draft...
Sequoyah
Sequoyah
Sequoyah , named in English George Gist or George Guess, was a Cherokee silversmith. In 1821 he completed his independent creation of a Cherokee syllabary, making reading and writing in Cherokee possible...
John Sevier
John Sevier
John Sevier served four years as the only governor of the State of Franklin and twelve years as Governor of Tennessee. As a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1811 until his death...
Paul Shanklin
Paul Shanklin
Paul Shanklin is an American conservative political satirist, impressionist, comedian, and conservative speaker...
Vicellous Reon Shannon
Vicellous Reon Shannon
Vicellous Reon Shannon is an American actor.Shannon is a native of Memphis, Tennessee. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Lesra Martin in the 1999 film The Hurricane, and Keith Palmer, the son of presidential candidate David Palmer in the Fox television series 24...

, actor, The Hurricane
The Hurricane (1999 film)
The Hurricane is a 1999 biographical film directed by Norman Jewison, and starring Denzel Washington. The script was adapted by Armyan Bernstein and Dan Gordon from the books Lazarus and the Hurricane by Sam Chaiton and Terry Swinton and The Sixteenth Round by Rubin "Hurricane" Carter.The film...

, 24 Season 1
24 (season 1)
Season One, also known as Day 1, of the television series 24 was first broadcast from November 6, 2001 to May 21, 2002.The season's storyline starts at 12:00 a.m...
Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Lynne Shepherd is an American actress, singer and former model. Her best known roles include starring as Jacy in The Last Picture Show, as Betsy in Taxi Driver, as Madeleine Spencer in Psych, as Maddie Hayes on Moonlighting, as Cybill Sheridan on Cybill, and as Phyllis Kroll on The L...
William Shepherd
William Shepherd
William McMichael Shepherd is a former American astronaut who served as commander of Expedition 1, the first crew on the International Space Station. Shepherd is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.-Biography:...
George Sherrill
George Sherrill
George Friederich Sherrill , also known as "The Brim Reaper", "Flat Breezy", and "Duckbill" , is a Major League Baseball relief pitcher, who is a free agent-College and independent baseball:Sherrill was not drafted after graduating from Austin Peay State...
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
Daniel Simberloff
Daniel Simberloff
Daniel Simberloff is a biologist and ecologist who earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1969.Simberloff started his studies in ecology as a student of the biologist E. O. Wilson, one of the co-authors of the theory of Island biogeography . For his Ph.D...
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
Brent Smith
Brent Smith
Brent Smith is the lead vocalist and singer-songwriter of the band Shinedown. His biggest influences as a singer are Otis Redding, Billie Holiday, and Chris Cornell.-Personal life:...

(lead singer of Shinedown
Shinedown
Shinedown is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, formed in 2001 and founded by members Brent Smith , Brad Stewart , Jasin Todd , and Barry Kerch . A few line-up changes followed, and the band's current line-up consists of Smith and Kerch, the band's only two remaining original...

)
Daniel Smith
Daniel Smith (surveyor)
Daniel Smith was a surveyor, an American Revolutionary War patriot, and twice a United States Senator from Tennessee.-Biography:...
Lee Smith
Lee Smith (American football)
-New England Patriots:Smith was drafted by the New England Patriots in the 28th pick of 5th round, 159 overall in the 2011 NFL Draft. He was released by the Patriots on September 3, 2011 and claimed by the Buffalo Bills on September 4, 2011.-Buffalo Bills:...
Rachel Smith
Rachel Smith
Rachel Renee Smith is an American beauty queen and television personality from Clarksville, Tennessee, who won the Miss USA pageant in 2007 and who previously had competed in the Miss Teen USA pageant.-Early life:...

- Miss USA
Miss USA
The Miss USA beauty contest has been held annually since 1952 to select the United States entrant in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operates both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA...

2007
Bobby Sowell
Bobby Sowell
Bobby Sowell is an American musician, pianist and composer. He spent much of his early years playing rockabilly piano in the late 1950s, playing organ in rock and roll bands in the 1960s and playing piano in numerous country music bands in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s...

, (b. 1947) musician, pianist, keyboardist, organist, songwriter, composer Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
Steve Spurrier
Steve Spurrier
Stephen Orr Spurrier is an American college football coach and player. Spurrier is the current head coach of the University of South Carolina's Gamecocks football team. He is also a former professional player and coach...
Andrew Stevens
Andrew Stevens
Andrew Stevens is an American executive, film producer, director and former actor.-Early life:Andrew Stevens was born Herman Andrew Stephens in Memphis, Tennessee...
John M. Stone
Harry Stonecipher
Harry Stonecipher
Harry C. Stonecipher is a former President and Chief Executive of American aerospace companies McDonnell Douglas and, later, Boeing. Stonecipher orchestrated the merger between McDonnell Douglas and Boeing, and was widely credited with the resurgence of Boeing...
Thomas S. Stribling
Thomas Sigismund Stribling
Thomas Sigismund Stribling was an American writer and lawyer who published under the name T.S. Stribling. He won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1933 for his novel The Store.-Life:...
Pat Summitt
Pat Summitt
Patricia "Pat" Head Summitt is an American women's college basketball coach. She is currently the head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team. She is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history of either a men's or women's team in any division...
Frank Sutton
Frank Sutton
Frank Spencer Sutton was an American actor best remembered for his role of Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter on the CBS television series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.-Early life:...
Grady Sutton
Grady Sutton
Grady Harwell Sutton was an American film and television actor from the 1920s to the 1970s.-Biography:Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Sutton was raised in Florida where he attended St. Petersburg High School. He began his career during the silent film era and made the transition to sound films...
Lynn Swann
Lynn Swann
-Collegiate:Swann attended the University of Southern California, where he was an All-American on the Trojans football team. He played under legendary coach John McKay, including the 1972 undefeated and national championship season. McKay said of Swann, "He has speed, soft hands, and grace." He...

T

Roscoe Tanner
Roscoe Tanner
Roscoe Tanner is an American former professional tennis player, who turned pro in 1972 and reached a career high world singles ranking of World No...
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...

; movie director, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, and screenwriter; born in Knoxville.
Allen Tate
Allen Tate
John Orley Allen Tate was an American poet, essayist, social commentator, and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1943 to 1944.-Life:...
Golden Tate
Golden Tate
Golden H. Tate III is an American football wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football and college baseball at Notre Dame.-Early years:Tate was born in...
Peter Taylor
Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor
For other people named Peter Taylor, see Peter Taylor.Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor was a U.S. author and writer.-Biography:...
Three 6 Mafia
Three 6 Mafia
Three 6 Mafia are an Academy Award-winning, American rap group originating from Memphis, Tennessee. Formed in 1991 as Triple 6 Mafia, by DJ Paul, Juicy J, & Lord Infamous, the group at its most featured six members including; Crunchy Black, Gangsta Boo and Koopsta Knicca...
Jake Thomas
Jake Thomas
Jake Thomas is an American actor and singer, perhaps best known for his role as Matt McGuire, the titular character's younger brother, in the Disney Channel show Lizzie McGuire. In 2002, he won a Young Artist Award for supporting actor for his performance in Artificial Intelligence: AI...
Fred Dalton Thompson
Fred Dalton Thompson
Fred Dalton Thompson , is an American politician, actor, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, and radio host. He served as a Republican U.S...
Isaac Tigrett
Isaac Tigrett
Isaac Tigrett of Jackson, Tennessee is a businessman best known as founder of Hard Rock Café and House of Blues.Tigrett belonged to a well-to-do business family. He was raised in Tennessee until the age of fifteen...
Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
Mageina Tovah
Mageina Tovah
Mageina Tovah is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Glynis Figliola in the television series Joan of Arcadia and as Ursula Ditkovich in the Spider-Man films.-Early life:...

; actress; Joan of Arcadia
Joan of Arcadia
Joan of Arcadia is an American television fantasy/family drama telling the story of teenager Joan Girardi , who sees and speaks with God and performs tasks she is given. The series originally aired on Fridays, 8-9 p.m...

, the Spider-Man films
Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...

W

Barbara Jo Walker
Barbara Jo Walker
Barbara Jo Walker Hummel was Miss America in 1947.She was the last Miss America to be crowned in her bathing suit; all since 1947 have beencrowned in their evening gowns see ....

- Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

1947
William Walker
Randall Wallace
Randall Wallace
Randall Wallace is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and songwriter who came to prominence by writing the screenplay for the 1995 film Braveheart. His work on the film earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a Writers Guild of America award for Best...
Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Lee Waltrip is a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion , 3-time runner-up , winner of the 1989 Daytona 500 and 5-time winner of the prestigeous Coca-Cola 600 ,...
Taylor Ware
Taylor Ware
Taylor Marie Ware is an American singer and yodeler from Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville.Before Ware knew how to yodel, she performed at a county fair at age four. Her talent was singing and playing a violin. When she was six she decided to sing to seniors, so she started an...
Cameron Watson
Cameron Watson
Cameron Watson is an American actor, screenwriter, and director, best known for playing Bart Fallmont in the TV miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion....

, actor and director
Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the influential literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935...
Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was an African American journalist, newspaper editor and, with her husband, newspaper owner Ferdinand L. Barnett, an early leader in the civil rights movement. She documented lynching in the United States, showing how it was often a way to control or punish blacks who...
Scott Wells
Scott Wells
Scott Darvin Wells is a National Football League offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers.-High school:...
Tina Wesson
Tina Wesson
Tina Wesson won $1,000,000 as the winner of Survivor: The Australian Outback. A married personal nurse from Knoxville, Tennessee, Wesson outlasted 15 other players to become the first woman to win the $1 million prize in 2001. She did not have any votes cast against her at Tribal Council...
Red West
Red West
Red West is an American actor, film stuntman and songwriter.West was born Robert Gene West in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Lois and Newton Thomas West. He was a close high school friend of rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. An excellent athlete and former U.S...
James Westerfield
James Westerfield
James A. Westerfield was an American actor.Born in Nashville, Tennessee, he starred in more than 50 films during his lifetime...
Hugh Lawson White
Hugh Lawson White
Hugh Lawson White was a prominent American politician during the first third of the 19th century. He succeeded Andrew Jackson and served in the United States Senate, representing Tennessee, from 1825 until his resignation in 1840, and was a Whig candidate for President in 1836...
Reggie White
Reggie White
Reginald Howard "Reggie" White was a professional American football player. He played 15 seasons as a defensive end in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers, becoming one of the most decorated players in NFL history...
John S. Wilder
John S. Wilder
John Shelton Wilder was an American politician who was a Tennessee state senator from 1959 to 1961 and again from 1967 to 2009 and the 48th lieutenant governor of Tennessee from 1971 to 2007, possibly the longest time anyone has served as Lieutenant Governor or a similar position in the history of...
Elliot Williams
Elliot Williams
Elliot Jerell Williams is an American professional basketball player with the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association...
Hayley Williams
Hayley Williams
Hayley Nichole Williams is an American singer, songwriter, and the lead vocalist of the band Paramore.- Life and career :...

, (singer) lead vocals for Paramore
Paramore
Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis, and guitarist Taylor York...

(originally from Meridian, MS)
Louis Williams
Louis Williams
Louis "Lou" Tyrone Williams is an American professional basketball player with the Philadelphia 76ers, who selected him with the 45th pick of the 2005 NBA Draft...
Shawne Williams
Shawne Williams
Shawne Brian Williams is an American professional basketball player who last played for the New York Knicks of the NBA...
E. Bright Wilson
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

(originally from Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

)
Tim Wise
Tim Wise
Timothy Jacob Wise is an American anti-racist activist and writer. Since 1995 he has lectured at over 600 college campuses across the US...
Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon , better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower...
Jason Witten
Jason Witten
Christopher Jason Witten is an American football tight end who plays for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. He played college football at the University of Tennessee....

, tight end
Tight end
The tight end is a position in American football on the offense. The tight end is often seen as a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like offensive linemen, they are usually lined up on the offensive line and are large enough to be...

for the Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...

Y

Alvin York
Alvin York
Alvin Cullum York was one of the most decorated American soldiers in World War I. He received the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on a German machine gun nest, taking 32 machine guns, killing 28 German soldiers and capturing 132 others...

, World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

soldier who captured 132 Germans almost single-handedly
Chris Young
Thaddeus Young
Thaddeus Young
Thaddeus Charles Young is an American professional basketball player. Young is a small forward for the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA. Prior to his professional career, he attended Georgia Tech, where he studied management. He is tall and weighs...

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