Is Neal McCoy Country Music's Cupid?

02/12/1999 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Lisa Zhito

(2/12/99, 1 p.m. PST) - Look out, Cupid: you might have some competition in Nashville from Neal McCoy. McCoy is responsible for one high-profile engagement (artist Bryan White and soap actress Erika Page) and is indirectly responsible for the recent nuptials of Kevin Sharp.

"I'm not a matchmaker!" claims McCoy, who has been happily married to wife Melinda for 18 years. McCoy's sister-in-law, Tracy, married Sharp last year, and although McCoy says he had "nothing to do with that," the two did meet at Fan Fair. One can argue that had McCoy not been playing Fan Fair to begin with, his sister-in-law would not have been there either.

McCoy, however, does admit to fixing up White and Page, who announced their engagement recently, and it seems the now-happy couple owes quite a debt to McCoy's persistence. McCoy met the actress at a benefit concert in Los Angeles three years ago during the Academy Of Country Music (ACM) Awards. White was also on the bill, and McCoy introduced the two. It took considerably more effort to get this romance off the ground, however.

"She thought he was cute. I thought, 'Well, Bryan's not dating anybody, I ought to see if he would meet you or something.' But I never could get them to hook up. Finally I just stayed on Bryan; I said, 'Bryan, trust me! If you meet this girl you'll think she's beautiful! I think you'll really like her!'

"I gave him her number. He lost her number. She called and said, 'Bryan never called!' So I called Bryan and said, 'Boy! Meet this girl!' They ended up meeting but then he'd never end up asking her out. And the next ACM's were coming up and she wanted to go. She thought he was going to ask her, and he never did. I called Bryan and he said, 'I wanted to go with her, I just didn't know how to ask her!'"

Undaunted, McCoy kept at the shy White. "She called and said, 'He never called, never asked me to go!' So I called him back and said, 'Boy! If you want her to go to the awards show with you, you have to ask her! Hello! You have to say: will-you-go-to-the-awards-show-with-me.'" White did--and, thankfully, the two have been in love ever since. Now, McCoy can retire his Cupid's bow--for now, at least.

To read a Bryan White feature, click here.

-- Lisa Zhito, Nashville

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