Artist:Tommy Shane Steiner
Song:What If She's an Angel
Album:Then Came the Night
The 2001 single What If She's an Angel was a top five country hit and it crossed over to be a top 40 pop hit. It was the only hit single for Tommy Shane Steiner. And Then Came the Night was his only album. He left RCA in 2002 and seemed to disappear. What happened to him? I'll tell you later. And I may even add it to Wikipedia. I have occasionally done that in the past. He was born Oct. 9, 1973 in Austin, TX. His family is in the rodeo business. His parents were rodeo entertainers and so is his brother. But Steiner wanted to sing. His family thought he was a wimp. Steiner played clubs in Texas. He recorded a demo with Jimmy Ritchey and that was enough to get him a record deal with RCA Nashville. The debut single What If She's an Angel reached #2 on the Country Singles chart and crossed over to pop and reached #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. Subsequent singles and the album Then Comes the Night didn't perform as well. Why was the song a hit? Steiner says that it was released right after 9/11 and it struck a chord with listeners. The song is more CCM than country. But of course it has a country arrangement. Jimmy Ritchey produced the album. RCA was going to assign a big name producer like Paul Worley and Frank Riddell to the album. But they convinced RCA to let Ritchey produce the album. Since then Ritchey has gone on to produce Jake Owen and Mark Chesnutt. What If She's an Angel was written by Bryan Wayne. It was his only hit and he died from ALS in 2020. As I suspected, he was a CCM guy. In Dec. 2002, RCA Label Group chairman Joe Galante sent a prepared statement to CMT stating that Steiner had left RCA. We don't know what happened and Steiner probably can't talk about it. But I can tell you that he quit the music business and returned to his family owned cattle ranch in Austin. He sold the ranch to a developer and now owns the Steiner Ranch Steakhouse. He says he performs there occasionally but he has no plans to return to the music business. He also spends a lot of time at the local gym and posts pics on Instagram. Thanks to Emanuel Maiberg of 404 Media for this. But it's like I always say. One hit is better than none. Here's the video for What If She's an Angel by Tommy Shane Steiner.
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