Chris Stapleton Wins 'Male Vocalist of the Year' & 'Music Video of the Year' at CMA Awards

Chris Stapleton won "Male Vocalist of the Year" and "Music Video of the Year" ("Fire Away") at The 50th Annual CMA Awards. This marks Stapleton's second consecutive Male Vocalist win and his first for Music Video. In addition to the two honors, Stapleton was joined by special guest Dwight Yoakam for a rousing rendition of Ray Charles and Willie Nelson's 1984 hit "Seven Spanish Angels" alongside full string and horn sections.

Conceived by Stapleton, the powerful music video for "Fire Away" was directed by Tim Mattia and stars actors Ben Foster and Margarita Levieva. Beyond serving as the visual representation of his song, the video aims to bring attention to the culture of mental health awareness throughout the country, specifically through The Campaign to Change Direction (www.changedirection.org). The organization, which was introduced to Stapleton through Foster, strives to start a common language about the Five Signs of suffering emotionally: change in personality, agitation, withdrawal, decline in personal care and hopelessness. The Five Signs are clearly represented in the video through Levieva's poignant performance.

The two new awards cap off a series of breakthrough years for Stapleton since the release of his now certified RIAA double platinum solo debut album, Traveller. The breakthrough album has gone on to receive multiple Grammy, CMA and ACM awards and continues to consistently top the Billboard Country Albums chart-over a year since its May 2015 release on Mercury Records Nashville.

Photo credit: Donn Jones/CMA

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