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Country singer Kenny Chesney has been named Country’s Hottest Guy 2013 by PEOPLE magazine.

The Country Special issue picked Chesney because he is easy on the eyes, consistently sells out stadiums, and has been churning out #1 hit singles for over a decade.

In an interview with PEOPLE, he admitted that he doesn’t feel like he used to. “Sometimes things happen that just stop you in your tracks, and they change you. And that’s what’s happened to me. I’m a different person now.”

Kenny lost his longtime friend Kristi Hansen last year and he said it made him take stock in his life. They were part of a circle of friends who found each other in the early 90’s in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

He explained, “We came from all over and wound up there for our own different reasons. But they were all just like me. We were all a bunch of free spirits, all chasing something or running from something, and we all loved love and loved life and loved living it there.”

Kristi died at age 35 while 6 months pregnant with her first child. Her death devastated the singer and he decided to reevaluate his own life.

He acknowledges, “You realize it could all end in a second. And if it all went away just like that, did I do everything I wanted to do, did I say everything I wanted to say?”

Photo Credit: PEOPLE, WENN