As a youngster growing up in Tampa, Fla., Thad Cockrell didn't have rock 'n' roll or country records around the house. His father was, and still is, a Baptist preacher, as are Cockrell's two brothers. Thad's first exposure to the pure country sound came from listening to Merle Haggard and George Jones on commercial radio. At home, there was always plenty of Southern gospel music.

Cockrell attended Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., hardly a musical hotbed, but it was there he got the bug to write his own tunes. By the time he moved to Wake Forest, N.C., to attend the Southeast Baptist Theological Seminary, he was spending his nights playing for tips at a small coffeehouse near campus. Breaking into the Raleigh music scene, he enlisted a cast of local luminaries he dubbed the Starlite Country Band and country fans stood up and took notice. Originally intended as a demo, his first release, Stack of Dreams, released through Miles of Music Recordings, was recorded at breakneck pace with veteran musician/producer Chris Stamey. He and the band spent just a day cutting tracks and laying down vocals. The session featured the tearjerker "Pretending," which snagged Cockrell second place in the Chris Austen Songwriting Contest at Merlefest 2000.

Nowadays he lives in Nashville, TN. His latest release was the album "To Be Loved" and worked 2 tracks for the latest Jars of Clay's album "The Shelter" (2010). Still writting songs and doing shows with friends.