Kathie Lee, Mike Wolfe, Maneet and the Chrisleys — Celebs are flocking to Nashville, too
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Nationally-known celebrities — who aren't even country singers — are part of recent waves of people flocking to Music City and the region. Here are some of the most famous new residents from the last 20 years.
Kathie Lee Gifford
Longtime television talk show host; actress; singer; songwriter; former "Hee-Haw" Honey; 68 years old
Moved to Franklin: 2018
Why Middle Tennessee? "It's a culture of kindness in Nashville," she told the Today show in 2019. "They're authentically kind... and joyful!"
Look out Nashville: More people from Chicago, New York and Los Angeles are coming
What she loves to do here: Make lunch for and write with some of Nashville’s biggest songwriters, including Brett James, Kelley Lovelace and Stephanie Bentley, she told the Tennessean.
Where you might spot Gifford: Gray's on Main in Franklin or the Franklin Farmers Market
Mike Wolfe
Creator and star of the History Channel show "American Pickers"; antiques stores owner; 57 years old
Moved to Leiper's Fork: 2011
Why Middle Tennessee? "I'm a huge fan of country music," he told the Tennessean. "And I love the collaborative atmosphere that's here."
What he loves about it: "I love the way people hold onto history here more than anywhere else in this country that I've ever been."
Where you might spot Wolfe: The Country Boy Restaurant in Leiper's Fork or his Antique Archaeology store in Marathon Village in Nashville
Maneet Chauhan
Food Network celebrity chef; restaurant owner; 45 years old
Moved to Franklin: 2014
Why Middle Tennessee? Business partners suggested Music City as a place to launch restaurants, and Chauhan visited and loved it.
All in on Nashville from the jump: "It was love at first landing," Chauhan said during a 2016 Tennessean Nashville Storytellers event. "That's how my love story with Nashville started."
Where you might spot Chauhan: Loveless Cafe, King's Market Cafe or at one of her Nashville restaurants, Chauhan Ale & Masala House, Chaatable, Tansuo or Mockingbird Nashville
Barry Zito
2002 Cy Young-award winning pitcher; book author; 43 years old
Moved to Nashville: 2015
Why? Zito finished his career pitching for the AAA Nashville Sounds and decided to stay here when he retired
On moving to Nashville from California: “It felt like a reset here. No one knows me, in the malls or whatever. I feel like I can truly be myself," he told the Tennessean. "I always felt I was on guard in the Bay area or Los Angeles. I don’t get any of that here, so it’s a liberation.”
Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Former conservative voice on national TV talk shows "The View" and "Fox & Friends"; one-time "Survivor" contestant, 44 years old
Moved to Belle Meade: 2016
Why Nashville? Hasselbeck told the Tennessean she fell in love with the city after hosting the K-LOVE Christian music awards show here in 2015
She loves it here because: "Nashville is a city that has eyes that see other people, the space for kindness and the hands to lift someone up when they need it."
Where you might spot Hasselbeck: A Titans game, a Predators game, or a fundraiser for Mending Hearts, The Next Door or other programs that serve drug-addicted women
Justin Timberlake (sort of)
International pop star; actor; founding member of 'N Sync; record producer; restaurateur; 40 years old
Bought a place in Leiper's Fork: 2015
Why Middle Tennessee? A Memphis native, Timberlake obtained land in Williamson County and opened a restaurant in downtown Nashville to get a feeling of "community" and to return to the South, his business partner, Trace Ayala, told the Tennessean.
Ready for a change: "We were touring everywhere, and lived in L.A., and it was so far from where we'd come from,” Ayala said. “I think now that we've found this place and landed here, we've kind of settled things back down.”
Where you might spot Timberlake: The Twelve Thirty Club in downtown's 5th + Broadway entertainment/restaurant complex.
Scott Hamilton
Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater; TV commentator; actor; philanthropist; cancer survivor, 63 years old
Moved to Franklin: 2005
Why Middle Tennessee: Hamilton's wife, Tracie, is a Tennessee native, and the Los Angeles-based couple was looking for a different place to raise their children.
Quotable: "I love Nashville — the most giving city I've ever been in, period," he told the Tennessean.
Where you might spot Hamilton: Scott Hamilton Skating Club at Ford Ice Centers in Antioch and Bellevue or most any charity fundraiser event in Nashville
Keb' Mo'
Grammy award-winning bluesman; guitarist; singer; songwriter; actor; political activist; 70 years old
Moved to Franklin: 2010
Why? Keb' Mo' found a house here while playing a show at the Ryman Auditorium, and his wife encouraged him to go for it.
First impressions: "I stood on the deck right there and I looked around and said, 'This ain't so bad. This'll be all right,'" he told the Tennessean.
Walk of Fame: Mo' will be inducted into the Music City Walk of Fame in April alongside country artists Deirks Bentley, Connie Smith and Bobby Bare.
Ben 'Zorilla' Zobrist
2016 Chicago Cubs World Series hero; longtime Major League Baseball player; 40 years old
Moved to Franklin: 2005
Why Middle Tennessee? His then wife, Julianna was an aspiring Christian music star, and the contemporary Christian music industry is based in Franklin and Nashville.
A rocky road here: Zobrist and his ex-wife got involved in a sloppy divorce, with accusations filed in court that Julianna Zobrist an affair.
Kristin Cavallari
"Very Cavallari" reality TV star; jewelry designer and store owner; ex-wife of former NFL and Vanderbilt football QB Jay Cutler; 35 years old
Moved to Nashville: 2017
Why Middle Tennessee? She and Cutler spent several of their first weeks dating in Nashville. The two bought a house eight months later, hoping to move here when Cutler's football career ended.
What she loves about Nashville: The mother of three told the Tennessean that Music City "is a great place to raise a family."
Where you might spot Cavallari: Her store, Uncommon James, in the Gulch or Nashville Farmers Market or restaurant 5th & Taylor
Jack White
Rocker; producer; singer/songwriter; record label owner; 46 years old
Moved to Nashville: 2005
Why the move: After exploding into rock 'n' roll fame with the White Stripes in his native Detroit, White started looking for a change. "This was a music business town where I could do my thing on the side and sneak through the cracks," he told the Tennessean in 2018.
The result? "I guess I'm a Detroiter for life, but I feel like I'm a Nashvillian now.”
Where you might spot White: Third Man Records, his record label/concert venue/record store/bar/photo studio near the Music City Center
Todd and Julie Chrisley
Reality TV stars from USA Network's "Chrisley Knows Best," real estate tycoons, restaurateurs, 52 and 49 year old
Moved to Nashville: 2016
Big plans for Music City: Last year, the Chrisleys told the Tennessean they planned to open a Southern home-cooking restaurant and a "classy" champagne bar here soon. "If we’re going to participate in something, I want to participate in something classy, and you’re not out here bar fighting," Todd Chrisley said.
Where you might spot the Chrisleys: Moto, Hattie B's, Green Hills Grille, Arnold's Country Kitchen
Sean Brock
James Beard award-winning chef; restaurateur; founding chef of lauded Husk chain; cookbook author; New York Times bestseller
Moved to Nashville: 2013
Why? To open Nashville's version of Husk, an award-winning Southern restaurant he launched in Charleston, S.C.
Quotable: "Here in Nashville, the energy is amazing right now," he told the Tennessean in 2016. "What you're seeing now is a bunch of young, enthusiastic, creative people."
Where you might spot Brock: His flagship rustic restaurant, Audrey, in East Nashville, or his fine-dining restaurant, The Continental, in the Grand Hyatt — or his East Nashville burger joint Joyland
Tomi Lahren
Fox News personality; Fox Nation commentator; influencer; author; 29 years old
Moved to Nashville: 2020
Quotable: "Nashville, Tennessee, my new and current hometown. A vibrant, tight-knit and usually safe Southern town...," she said in a commentary following the Christmas 2020 downtown bombing. "I know our city is resilient, proud and strong."
Reach Brad Schmitt at brad@tennessean.com or 615-259-8384 or Twitter @bradschmitt.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Celebs moving to Nashville include Kathie Lee Gifford, Maneet Chauhan