Luke Bryan Reveals His Surprising Choice for ‘Greatest Singer of Our Lifetime’

Bill Maher seemed just a little taken aback by the comment from Luke Bryan.

On an episode of the “Club Random with Bill Maher” podcast, released on February 2, Maher and Bryan were discussing the increased amount of crossover appeal in music, prompting the American Idol judge to tout Beyonce as “probably the greatest singer in our lifetime.”

“Really?” Maher responded, with noticeable astonishment in his voice.

“I mean, she’s one of the best singers and performers of all time, in my opinion,” Bryan said.

Maybe an unexpected choice from one of the best-selling country music artists in the world, but perhaps it shouldn’t have been, given the diversity of Bryan’s musical upbringing.

---

Thrilled By ‘Thriller’ as a Child

Getty

As found on Biography.com, Bryan was born July 17, 1976 in south-central Georgia, and he was certainly surrounded by country music. But while Bryan’s career may have largely been shaped by a family record collection that included artists such as George Strait, Conway Twitty, and Merle Haggard, Bryan told Maher that as the youngest of three siblings, he has fond memories of growing up on other musical styles as well.

“You really draw your inspiration from a really wide range,” Maher said during the lengthy interview.

“Yeah, and I never asked to, didn’t even mean to, but it was just whatever my sister, and her friends, whatever they would listen to,” Bryan said.

“I mean, you seem to be the product of all that, that whole range of the American songbook,” Maher said.

And being a child in the 1980s, that meant a pretty heavy dose of Michael Jackson.

“When ‘Thriller’ came out, oh my God, what a, what a moment,” Bryan recalled.

“We would rush home from school, and we knew at certain increments MTV was going to play the ‘Thriller’ video, and we watched it every time.”

Since he was the youngest in the family, Bryan said he was often encouraged to put on a “Thriller”-esque performance.

“When my family members would have, you know, a bunch of people come in the house, my dad and my mother and my brother and my sister, uh, they would make me dance like Michael Jackson in front of strangers,” he said.

---

Still Loves Performing for Crowds

Getty

That willingness to perform before a crowd never left Bryan. And his well-rounded musical tastes made Bryan even more appreciative of the positive response at his concerts in parts of the U.S. that might not be considered as hotbeds for country music.

“When you grow up in south Georgia and you start your music journey, and then you arrive in New Jersey and people are screaming your music,” he said, “it’s one of the proudest moments you could have as a musician.”