Country star Kane Brown is now a dad-of-three - and worlds away from traumatic childhood

Sunday World

15-06-2025

The American country star was raised for most of his childhood by his single mother and he says they were homeless for a time and lived in a car.
Kane says his wife Katelyn gave up everything for him
Kane Brown had been working for FedEx when he made his big breakthrough in country music
American country music superstar Kane Brown is a dad to three young children — and their childhood is a world away from his own traumatic upbringing.
The singer and songwriter, who will play Dublin's 3Arena in October and has just released a summer single, 2 Pair, grew up dirt poor in rural Georgia.
Born to a white mother and an African American father, Kane didn't meet his biological dad until his teenage years.
He was raised for most of his childhood by his single mother and he says they were homeless for a time and lived in a car.
However, at one stage there was a stepdad in his life who brutally physically abused him for wetting his bed.
Kane with wife Katelyn and their children
When his grandmother, who was a detective and sheriff, discovered the assault she had him jailed.
Brown (31), who is touring his latest album, The High Road, is now a dad himself to Kingsley Rose (5), Kodi Jane (3) and one-year-old son Krew Allen.
Now also a multi-millionaire, Kane and his wife, Katelyn, who he married in 2018, can give their children a charmed life, but the performer says he doesn't want them to be spoiled.
'I tell them all the time they are spoiled,' Kane tells the Sunday World as we chat over Zoom.
He points out that their eldest has already been to Disneyland six times. 'Before I started music I'd never been to Disney,' he says.
'The hardest part is telling them, 'Y'all are lucky.' They have already been to 50 States.'
Kane Brown and Katelyn Brown on stage in Nashville
The trick now is not to over-spoil them? 'Oh, they don't have to worry about that from me,' he nods. 'It's their mom. I tell them all the time, 'when I say no, no means no, don't back talk.'
'Kate says, 'oh, but she's three.' I tell her, 'She knows what she's doing, she is milking you.''
Their third child, son Krewe, was unplanned and Brown has since had a vasectomy, but he is clearly besotted with his children. 'They are totally different personalities that I could not live without,' he tells me.
His wife, Katelyn, is also a singer, but she has stepped back from her career to be a full-time mum.
'Katelyn the best mom, wife I could ask for,' Kane says. 'I was telling someone the other day she is with the kids non-stop. She is superwoman holding the house down. I couldn't do it without her.
'Katelyn gave up everything for me. If someone gives up their life for you and watches you do your dreams, that's an amazing person. It takes a lot of heart for that.'
Kane with one-year-old son Krew Allen
I follow Brown on social media and in recent times his posts have been more to do with his physical fitness regime than his music.
'I'm in the best shape of my life. I run a mile every day, work out every day and I haven't had sugar since April,' Kane tells me when I mention it.
Was there a reason for that? 'I really needed something…I'm a very competitive person and I'm in a job where I can't really be competitive.
'So I'm just trying to compete and do better about my body and do better about pushing through things I don't want to do, such as waking up every day and then running a mile that I don't want to run. That pushes me to be able to do whatever I want to do for the rest of the day. It makes you not want to give up, it keeps that motivation.
Kane Brown had been working for FedEx when he made his big breakthrough in country music
News in 90 seconds - 16th June 2025
'I'm to a point now where I want to see how ripped, how in shape I can get my physique at 31.'
Brown had been working as a FedEx employee when he hit the big time. 'I was about to become a driver and my pay was going to go up 17 dollars an hour, which I thought was amazing,' he says.
At school he'd sang in a choir with Lauren Alaina, who was runner-up in American Idol in 2011. Alaina's success, he says, inspired him to pursue music.
Kane says his wife Katelyn gave up everything for him
'I thought, 'Maybe I can do it too.' I did all the shows, but I would always just make it past the first couple of rounds. With The X Factor in 2013 I made it on to TV, but they tried to put me in a boyband and I refused.
'It was like somebody came and put a hand on my shoulder and said, 'Don't do it.' And I listened, and it was right after that that everything took off.
'I started posting my videos on Facebook. Then I put up my song, Used To Love You Sober, and it got one million views in less than three hours. There were so many notifications I thought someone had hacked my phone.
'I remember going into my bathroom and crying. All the work had paid off.'
One of his personal thrills has been striking up a relationship with his hero, country legend Randy Travis. 'Pops,' Kane says when I mention it.
Travis has visited Brown at his home. 'It was cool to have Randy Travis coming down your driveway to eat breakfast with you,' he says.