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WATCH: Kelly Clarkson and Dwayne Johnson Sing Loretta Lynn Classic

Dwayne Johnson appeared on The Kelly Clarkson show this week, and among other subjects, they talked about how he had aspirations of becoming a country singer when he was young…

WATCH: Kelly Clarkson and Dwayne Johnson Sing Loretta Lynn Classic
Matt Winkelmeyer, Jesse Grant, Terry Wyatt/Getty Images

Dwayne Johnson appeared on The Kelly Clarkson show this week, and among other subjects, they talked about how he had aspirations of becoming a country singer when he was young and living in Nashville.

Kelly  asked him, "You had country music star-like ambitions, you wanted to be a country singer, and I had no idea."

Dwayne  confirmed, saying, "I did! As wild as that sounds, and you'll appreciate this obviously cause of your love for music and certainly country music too. I grew up loving blues, hip-hop, of course, but then country but traditional like that three chords and the truth, steel guitar kind of country."

He even admitted that while living in the Music City, he would sing in some places you would not expect. He offered, "I was at a grocery store, and I was shopping, and when I say shopping, I was doing a little five-finger discount at that time because I couldn't afford anything, and I was in the middle of the row in a shopping aisle, and I was belting out this song, not caring who was listening to me."

Johnson continued, "Then, a woman comes around the corner, and she sticks her head around the corner, she looks, and I stopped singing, she looks at me, her eyes go wide, and she's like 'wow I did not expect to see someone who looks like you singing that song.' And I said, 'oh, thank you,' then we had this chat, and she was like, 'so clearly you should go down to Broadway 'cause that's where all the country singers are.' I didn't tell her I was 15 and had no business being in a bar at that time, but then I went down there to Broadway, and I used to hang out down there and listen to all the acts, and I did have it in my mind that I was gonna become a country music singer."

(Funny enough, in one of his early film roles -- 2005's Be Cool -- he plays a bodyguard with dreams of being a country singer. In it, he actually covers Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough To Take My Man.")

The two superstars sang a Loretta Lynn classic they turned into a duet, "Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Loving On Your Mind)." Loretta, who passed away at age 80 on October 4th, released the song in 1967. The song was the first of 16 No. 1 country hits Lynn would have over the course of her career.

Kelly Clarkson celebrates her 40th birthday on Sunday (4/24), and while she says it's going to be "low-key" this year noting to E!, "I know it's my big 4-0, but I've had a crazy two years, so I just wanted a chill birthday." She is planning a dinner with her band and hiking with friends, but we want to make a big deal about it and celebrate.

Kelly is the perfect combination of a fantastic singer, an honest songwriter, and an infectious and downright fun personality.

She not only hosts her own daily talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, but she is also a regular on NBC's The Voice, and she just recently started co-hosting another NBC show called American Song Contest with Snoop Dogg.

We are covering her ten best radio singles for this special birthday list, and no doubt it was hard to choose.

10. "Piece by Piece" (2017)

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A song was written about the pain her father caused her when he left the family when Kelly was just six years old. The song is actually a sequel to her 2005 song "Because Of You." It's powerful for sure and was also the title of her seventh studio album. The version of this song she sang on ‘American Idol’ in 2017 was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance.


9. "A Moment Like This" (2002)

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This song was released as her debut single. Later, it was included in her debut studio album, ‘Thankful’ (2003). "A Moment Like This" was written to be the first single for the winner of the first season of ‘American Idol.’


8. "My Life Would Suck Without You" (2009)

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Reviews for this song were mixed, but TIME named it the best song of 2009.


7. "Heartbeat Song" (2015)

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This beat just won't quit. Lyrically, it’s about meeting someone who restores the narrator’s faith in love.


6. "Mr. Know It All" (2011)

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When this song was first released, Clarkson described the song as a "vocally raw record" and said that she and her producers strove to record her voice as it is heard at live performances, using as little auto-tune processing as possible.


5. "Breakaway" (2004)

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A classic hit pop song. It was initially intended for Avril Lavigne's debut studio album. After being deemed unsuitable for the album, it was passed to Kelly to be recorded as a soundtrack for the film ‘The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.’


4. "Miss Independent" (2003)

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A top ten hit that Clarkson's record label didn't want to release as a single, but Kelly insisted. She co-wrote the song with Christina Aguilera, Rhett Lawrence, and Matt Morris.


3. "Since U Been Gone" (2004)

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This may be the song most closely related to Kelly Clarkson. Clarkson performed "Since U Been Gone" at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards and at the 2006 BRIT Awards. Fun fact: The song was first given to Hilary Duff, but she rejected it because she could not reach its higher notes.


2. "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" (2012)

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What a great song to get anyone through a breakup. The song's accompanying music video incorporates the theme of a global flash mob dance, featuring submitted videos of people dancing to the song.


1. " Because of You" (2005)

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It is just one of the most honest and heartbreaking songs. One line in the song just kills, saying, "My heart can't possibly break / When it wasn't even whole to start with." Kelly's emotional performance of the song on the record is just excellent. Clarkson even wrote the treatment for the video herself to reflect the pain that she felt due to her parents' divorce.

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.