Lee Kernaghan OAM (born 15 April 1964) is an Australian country music singer, songwriter, musician, guitarist. 　　He was the 2008 Australian of the Year, in recognition for his support of rural and regional Australia. 　　Lee Kernaghan's "Pass The Hat Around Australia" tours, "Spirit Of The Bush" drought relief concerts & Farmhand initiative have raised millions of dollars for country Australia.　　 The son of country music singer and truck driver Ray Kernaghan, Lee Kernaghan was born in the Victorian town of Corryong and raised in southern New South Wales. 　　In 1986 Kernaghan travelled to the United States with to represent Australia at the Nashville 'Fan Fair' country music festival. In 1993 his debut solo album The Outback Club won an ARIA award for Best Country Album and his hit single Boys From the Bush topped the Australian country music charts. 　　Kernaghan has dominated the charts with successive hit albums, including Outback Club, Three Chain Road, 1959, Hat Town, Electric Rodeo, The New Bush, Planet Country, Beautiful Noise and Spirit Of The Anzacs. Kernaghan has made a huge impact on country music in Australia, creating a new musical landscape for the genre when he burst onto the scene. 　　To many people, Lee represents the spirit and values of contemporary rural Australia. His love of the Australian way of life features in his music, and he is a passionate supporter of Australia's rural culture. 　　During a visit to the Australian War Memorial in 2013 Lee's friend and AWM Director Dr. Brendan Nelson introduced Lee to letters that were written by Australian service men and women during various wars dating back to the landing at Gallipoli during the First World War. These letters were held in the vaults at the AWM. 　　The power of the letters affected him deeply and the experience at the Australian War Memorial that day was the catalyst that saw theses letters put to music in what would become his most recent album, Spirit Of The Anzacs. 　　Upon release, Spirit Of The Anzacs struck a chord with the Australian people. The album not only went Platinum within 3 weeks but it dominated the ARIA all genre album chart by holding the #1 position for four weeks in a row and the #2 position for another three weeks. Making it the highest selling Australian album for 2015. 　　2015 also saw the release of Kernaghan's first book – The Boy From The Bush, These Are My Songs, These Are My Stories. 　　Kernaghan closed out 2015 with a massive national tour called The Songs And The Stories In Concert. Fittingly, the tour covered elements of the book and also features the songs from Spirit Of The Anzacs. 　　He is the father of two sons and is an avid Magic: the Gathering player.