After moving to
Los Angeles alone, Cyrus made a deal with Satan. The details remain sketchy, but apparently Cyrus was awarded one annoying musical "hit" in exchange for raising the daughter of the beast as his own. Cyrus didn't really make out very well on this deal, but then again he's a moron. Cyrus then signed to
Mercury Nashville Records in 1990. The success of "
Achy Breaky Heart" from his first album
Some Gave All helped renew the popularity of
line dancing and made Cyrus a star. The success of the album also caused speculation of Cyrus becoming the sole competition of
Garth Brooks who at the time was dominating the
country music genre. At the time he was widely known for his signature
mullet hairstyle. In 1993, Cyrus was scheduled to perform for
Queen Elizabeth II but had to cancel due to family reasons.
Cyrus' follow-up,
It Won't Be the Last, began strong but sales wound up being disappointing compared to
Some Gave All. He continued to chart and release four more albums over the next six years. These were
Storm in the Heartland in 1994,
Trail of Tears in 1996,
Shot Full of Love in 1998, and
Southern Rain in 2000. He also recorded an album of
Christian music, titled
The Other Side in 2003. His most recent albums are
Wanna Be Your Joe in 2006 and
Home At Last in 2007. In 2004,
Blender magazine selected "Achy Breaky Heart" as the magazine's choice for "second worst song ever." Some people claim Cyrus is a
one-hit wonder, mainly because "Achy Breaky Heart" was his only major hit on the
Billboard Hot 100. He did land six Top Ten singles on the country charts, including "Could've Been Me", "Busy Man", and "In the Heart of a Woman".
Cyrus starred in the
1999 independent film
Radical Jack. Cyrus also had a small part in
David Lynch's 2001 film
Mulholland Drive as Gene, a pool cleaner who had been having an affair with the wife of Adam Kesher (
Justin Theroux). In 2001, Cyrus played the lead role on the
PAX (now ION Television) comedy-drama
Doc.
Doc became the highest-rated show on the network. In 2005, Cyrus expanded his acting career in a stage production of
Annie Get Your Gun in
Toronto, as the role of
Frank Butler.
Cyrus' television credits include
The Nanny,
Diagnosis Murder,
Love Boat, The Next Wave, and
TNN’s 18 Wheels Of Justice. In 2004, Cyrus guest starred in the episode, "The Power of Love" of the
Canadian teen drama
Degrassi: The Next Generation as the limo driver, Duke. Cyrus has also been the subject of many television specials that detail his rise to fame and his career. These include two
ABC documentaries,
Dreams Come True and
A Year On The Road, a
VH1 exclusive, as well as the
TNN specials
I Give My Heart To You, and
The Life and Times of Billy Ray Cyrus.
In late 2005, Cyrus and his daughter
Miley began co-starring in the
Disney Channel original television series,
Hannah Montana. He also sang "
The Star Spangled Banner" at Game 5 of the
2006 World Series in St. Louis, Missouri. In March 2007, Cyrus joined several other celebrities to take part in the
fourth season of the
US version of
Dancing with the Stars. He and his partner
Karina Smirnoff, were eliminated in the eighth week (
May 8, 2007) after having also placed in the "bottom two" the week before.
In 2007, Cyrus filmed the music video for his latest hit,
Ready, Set, Don't Go. He dedicated this song to
Miley. The video showed pictures from
Hannah Montana along with others.
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