New Yorkers and tourists alike are well acquainted with the Naked Cowboy, but most of us know little about just what series of events led him to strip down to his underwear and serenade Times Square passersby for a living.
A new New Yorker video helps change that.
This week, the publication shared the latest installment of its "The New Yorker Presents" series, in which producer Jyllian Gunther profiles the Naked Cowboy's father, Kenny R. Burck.
In the video, Burck, a genealogist and Greenhills, Ohio resident, details his son's childhood, as well as the winding road that led his son to become the "No. 3 tourist attraction in the city," Burck said. (The Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty are first and second respectively, Burck said, citing ABC News).
"Even at a very young age," Burck recounts, "he always had the idea that he was going to be rich and famous."
Before achieving that fame, the Cowboy — née Robert Burck — tried his hand at bodybuilding and working as a male escort. Burck Senior added that in his youth, Robert Burck had suffered from anorexia. He also earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Cincinnati, his dad said.
"I assumed he was going to work in Washington, D.C. and have a good steady job," Burck said. "But he came home one day and said he was going to be a country western singer."
Burck senior then reveals that the Naked Cowboy did some "X-Rated Country" albums.
Learn more about the Cowboy — and what made him decide to switch from jeans to his skivvies — in the video below:
