Mark Collie, born George Mark Collie in Waynesboro on January 18, 1956, became a singer, songwriter, actor, philanthropist, and advocate whose career included 16 country hits in the 1990s and a rowdy, rockabilly edge in country music. Influenced by gospel, traditional country, rockabilly, and the southern rock and R&B recordings made in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, he began writing songs at age 12 while teaching himself guitar and piano, worked part time as a disc-jockey on WWON, then WAAN, graduated from Wayne County High School in 1974, moved to Memphis, and later moved to Nashville in 1982 after his songs drew the attention of music publishers. Signed to MCA Records in 1989, he released Hardin County Line in March 1990, writing or co-writing every song, and his co-written song "Something with a Ring to It" became his first hit; his later albums included Born and Raised in Black and White in 1991, Mark Collie in 1993, which featured his biggest hit, "Even the Man in the Moon is Crying," and Tennessee Plates after he signed with Giant Records in 1995, which included the Top 30 country hit "3 Words, 2 Hearts, One Night." His songs were also recorded by performers including Tim McGraw, Billy Ray Cyrus, George Jones, Garth Brooks, and Martina McBride, and his work expanded into acting, documentary filmmaking, and television and film appearances including Nashville in 2015 and 2016. A Type 1 diabetic, he launched the Race for Diabetes Cure in 1994, and in 1996 Vanderbilt University announced the foundation of the Mark Collie Chair in Diabetes Research. He also supported the United States Armed Forces and prison outreach, performed for troops through the Department of Defense and the USO throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, helped organize the shipment of 25,000 cassettes to American troops in Bosnia in April 1996 with Aaron Tippin, received the American Spirit Award from the United States Air Force, and in 2015 was inducted into the International Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He credited his success to faith and family, especially his mother, Edith, who worked at Bunch Grocery Store on the Waynesboro square to provide for her family.