• May 11, 1998
• Vol. 49
• No. 18

Bryan White: Country Singer

• 

From PEOPLE Magazine

High school was tough on Bryan White's hair. "I'd put in all this mousse, and it would end up looking so bad, I'd have to wash it again and go to class with a ball cap on," he recalls. Worse, when White moved to Nashville from his native Oklahoma five years ago, he wore an unflattering shoulder-length ponytail in a misguided effort to blend in with his musician colleagues. "I didn't have a good sense of style," he admits.

But, to paraphrase his 1995 hit, "Look at Him Now." With golden blond highlights that play up his hazel eyes and olive skin, the 5'9" White, 24, has become almost as well-known for his boyish good looks as his No. 1 singles (five since 1995). "He probably doesn't realize how cute he really is," says duet partner Shania Twain. "He's very sweet and shy." Which may be why his ever-growing female following hasn't alienated country music's male listeners. Says producer Dick Clark: "He is like Sinatra. He's a hunk who doesn't offend men."

White, who has been dating TV actress Erika Page, 22 (Second Noah), for the past year, keeps up appearances by getting enough sleep, using a facial scrub and staying true to his moisturizer. When his allergies make his eyes puffy, he soothes them by applying cold spoons or cucumber slices. ("It really works.") And, naturally, he pays special heed to his hair. "I have to keep washing and blow-drying it," he says. "If it gets too high, I start to look like an evangelist."