Maybe you first discovered Adam Doleac when his single "Whiskey's Fine" caught the attention of SiriusXM's The Highway Channel back in 2017. Maybe you heard "Famous" or saw its memorable music video starring former Bachelor couple Colton Underwood and Cassie Randolph. Either way, the country singer has come a long way since he first moved to Music City 10 years ago. He's toured with Ryan Hurd, Scotty McCreery, and Mitchell Tenpenny, with a number one hit on SiriusXM's Hot Country Countdown and doesn't seem like he plans on slowing down anytime soon.
2019's "Famous" was Doleac's first big song with Sony Nashville that really helped put him on the map. Though longtime fans also appreciate the independently released "Puzzle of Us" and "Wake Up Beautiful," his latest new songs like "Drinkin' It Wrong" and "Coulda Loved You Longer" prove that he's a voice who is here to stay.
Here are a few things you might not know about Adam Doleac.
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1. He was a natural athlete and former baseball star
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Doleac was so skilled athletically he dabbled in pretty much everything until he settled on the dream of playing college golf. But he started playing baseball his senior year of high school and that changed everything.
"I played everything until I was about 12 or 13, and I decided I wanted to play golf in college. I was playing golf and basketball in high school. That was it. And [I] got what I wanted. I signed a full ride to Delta State University in North Mississippi," explained Doleac during an interview with Sounds Like Nashville.
"My junior year of high school... I vividly remember, I had walked off the basketball court my senior year, the day of the first baseball game," he continued. "There was a guy named Jeff Ferris who was the coach of the baseball team, and he knew I used to play, and he knew I was a good athlete and he goes, 'Hey, like, we've got a good team this year.' He'd been working on me for a few weeks. 'We need one more guy.' And so, I walked in my basketball uniform into the batting cage, hit a bucket of balls, went out to the field, fielded a bucket of balls, and started in the baseball game that night."
Doleac ended up turning down his golf scholarship after landing a full ride to play baseball at University of Southern Mississippi...coincidentally the same school where his mother had been a cheerleader years earlier. He was so good he even competed in the College World Series but eventually some sports related injuries led to his decision to pursue other things...like music.
2. He didn't start playing music until college
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Doleac, who never actually had a formal music lesson, didn't start playing music until college when he picked up his roommate's guitar. He realized he was pretty good and the two of them even released an EP together. During a performance in his hometown of Hattiesburg, Miss., he realized he had found something he loved to do and decided to pursue a solo career in country music. He moved to Nashville in 2012, signed with Sony/ATV, and has been working on building his career ever since.
3. His early career includes songwriter credits for big country stars
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Like many other singer-songwriters in Nashville, Doleac helped kick off his career writing for other people. A couple of his most notable credits include Darius Rucker's "Don't" and Kane Brown's "Pull It Off."
4. He's engaged!
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The country singer popped the question to girlfriend MacKinnon Morrissey, market manager at The Home Edit, in Feb. 2022. He surprised her with a sweet proposal at the historic Franklin Theatre in Franklin, Tennessee. Morrissey thought she was showing up to attend a girls night and watch her favorite movie, The Parent Trap, but Doleac was there instead with plenty of family and friends to witness the special moment.
"I was definitely feeling a little nervous waiting on her to get to the theater, but the best kind of nervous," Doleac tells PEOPLE. "I had been planning this night for months. I was just so excited, and she couldn't have walked through those doors fast enough."
5. He's a hopeless romantic
At least that's how he described himself in an interview with The Shotgun Seat.
"It's one of those things that inspires me, that's what I like to write about," he says. "The best way I can describe me is, I've never had lessons playing guitar or lessons singing so my main source of motivation is real and genuine. I tell people I don't know how to sing it if I don't mean it. I try to write about things that matter to me and always say something that's important."
