Donny Kees is an American songwriter and musician. Kees has written songs for numerous artists and charted several singles on the Billboard country charts. Since 1984, Kees has continued to write hit songs for other artists, most notably George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, George Jones, Conway Twitty, Joe Nichols, Bryan White and Diamond Rio.
Kees was born in Carbondale, West Virginia, to Earnest "Pete" Kees, and Loretta. The family soon moved to Chesapeake, West Virginia, where Kees grew up. His father, an insurance salesman, musician and blues singer, influenced Kees' to pursue a career in music. When Kees was 12 years old, he became the youngest member of the local musicians union. As a young teen, he had his first public performance at a local Chesapeake venue called Ralph's with his band the Don Juans.
Continuing to perform with the Don Juans, Kees attended East Bank High School where he met his wife, Diana, and from where he graduated in 1965. After high school, he enlisted in the United States Air Force while attending University of Maryland and served in the Vietnam War in 1967 and 1968. During that time, he also performed for the United Services Organization (USO).
During the 1970's, Kees continued to perform and write music. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1984 after scoring cuts for Conway Twitty and others to pursue a career in songwriting, eventually signing a publishing deal with Acuff/Rose and an artist deal with 16th Avenue Records.
Kees quickly became one of Nashville's most sought after songwriters. Kees has had 3 number one singles on Billboard Country Charts and R&R charts along with five Top 10 singles. Kees has won five Broadcast Music (BMI) awards for 1 million plus airplays. In 1993, Kees' song "When Did You Stop Loving Me" from the Pure Country soundtrack by George Strait was nominated by the Music City News Songwriter Awards as a Top Ten Song of the Year. The song was later used in a nationwide ad campaign for Nissan. In 1997, he received a Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) Achievement Award for his work on the number one hit, I'm Not Supposed to Love You Anymore, along with Skip Ewing and Bryan White and again in 2003 for I Believe, another with Skip Ewing, the latter also winning a BMI award in 2004. The 2002 song Brokenheartsville for singer Joe Nichols was Kees' first number one hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Kees soon followed that up with <nowiki></nowiki>I Believe" by Diamond Rio. The song spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and also charted in the top 40 of Billboard Hot 100. The song has also been used in music therapy practices to help people deal with grief and loss.
Kees has worked with country stars including George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, George Jones, Conway Twitty, Joe Nichols, Diamond Rio, Bryan White, Aaron Tippin, Tammy Wynette, Randy Travis, Mark Wills, and Lorrie Morgan.
Kees has either written or co-written the following songs for other artists: