Except for Reba McEntire or George Strait, the spotlight eventually dims on Nashville stars – sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.

And like the regular guy who lost his job to corporate downsizing, celebrities have to be creative to find ways to stay in the music business.

Tim Rushlow, for example, fronted Little Texas, which sold more than 11 million albums in the 1990s. After several less-successful reincarnations as a singer – the latest as a Christian artist – Rushlow is transitioning to TV host and businessman.

Chad Brock had a monster country hit in 2000 with Yes!, the true-life story of meeting his wife at the mailboxes of their apartment complex. It was one of only two top-five hits, and after a stint as a Florida country radio personality, Brock now is a regional sales manager for an oil and gas consulting company.

Jaci Velasquez (On My Knees) shot to international fame as a bilingual Christian artist when she was a teenager. Now a married mother of two, Velasquez continues to make music and co-hosts of a popular Nashville-based Christian radio morning show.

Here are their stories.

Tim Rushlow

Not only did Little Texas sell more than 11 million albums, but the group had more than a dozen top-five hits, including Kick a Little and What Might’ve Been.

“I don’t think I realized the size Little Texas had grown to with fame and success until it was over,” Rushlow tells the Nashville Ledger. “Maybe that’s a good thing. I’m not sure.”

By country standards, or any standards, Little Texas had a good run, on the road and on radio. But when the hits and sales started to fade 10 to 12 years later, Rushlow says he was, well, excited.

“When the band was over I felt like, to be honest, I was excited to spread my wings and fly and see where it goes,” Rushlow says.

It turned out to be a bumpy ride. Rushlow had some success as a solo artist, putting out a top-five song about Alzheimer’s disease called She Misses Him, and the music video included some footage of President Reagan. That came complete with a little controversy when Nancy Reagan asked that the footage be taken out.

Tim Rushlow can be found on the 1992 Little Texas album, First Time for Everything, while Chad Brock and Jaci Velasquez produced self-titled albums in 1998.

Rushlow’s label, Atlantic Records, closed, but he forged ahead with forming a couple of other music acts, both of which were short-lived, in part because of another record label restructuring.

“After that, the third time, three record deals, three entities, after that, I went, ‘OK God, I think I got the memo,’” Rushlow says.

He began receiving invitations to play writers’ nights, and Rushlow got feedback that he told some good stories, was able to engage the crowd in a laid-back, more intimate way. And that was the start of some solo nights, Tim Rushlow: Unplugged, and Tim realized that might work for corporate gigs.

Nashville’s talent agencies wished him luck but wanted nothing to do with booking those gigs. Rushlow was bummed at first, but had another idea.

“I called companies I knew and pitched them directly. Hey, it’s a classy, cool end to your seminar. I got about 30 nos and one yes, and I went to play. They paid me extremely well,” he says.

Through the corporate gigs, he met entrepreneurs. That eventually led Rushlow to start his own music distribution company, Liquid Spins.

On top of that, Rushlow recruited Lonestar lead singer Richie McDonald and Restless Heart lead singer Larry Stewart for intimate, high-class lounge shows called The Frontmen, good for a dozen or so shows a year.

And just this week, a TV production group announced that Rushlow will host a new summer replacement reality music competition show.

Rushow is thrilled these days to spend more days with his wife and children while still staying in the creative community.

“God, thank you, I have more tools in my toolbox than my guitar,” he says. “I’m learning I have a business mind and I’m enjoying it all.

“I consider myself an unfinished symphony. I don’t know how it’s gonna finish, but I know it’s good. There’s still a sliver of me that says, boy it’d be cool to have a hit on the radio again. But that’s not what’s driving me now.”

Chad Brock

Years ago, Chad Brock landed himself a deal with Warner Brothers – as long as he became a professional wrestler, too.

“I really didn’t want to wrestle. I was a singer. Just ’cause I was a big guy, they wanted to try something different,” Brock says.

Brock’s wrestling career ended with an injury before the first album came out. And when his second album was released, the catchy diddy called Yes! skyrocketed to No. 1. But, Brock says, there were not albums to sell.

“They weren’t ready,” Brock says of WB execs.

“We had a big hit record, I’d go to every Wal-Mart store and they’d have nothing on the shelves. I was so mad.”

Other clashes led to a split with the label, and Brock went to an upstart label where he struggled. Chad had a son in 2005, and everything changed.

“I made a conscious decision that I wanted to be a dad more than I wanted to be an artist. I wanted to be home with my son and daughter more than I wanted to be on the road chasing a dream that only a few guys really land.”

What to do next? Brock always enjoyed the radio interviews, and he found himself co-hosting radio shows when regular personalities would go on vacation. Soon, he found himself at Florida radio station WQYK. With country comedian Cledus T. Judd, and Brock enjoyed a five-year run.

Downsizing left him looking for work again, and a friend he met through music offered him a job as a sales manager in the gas industry in Georgia, one complete with great salary and benefits.

“We put inspectors on pipelines, on gas pipes, for STS Consulting,” Chad says matter of factly. “I enjoy it more than I do anything else.”

Besides, he adds, “I want to concentrate on fatherhood. I get more joy out of that than anything in the world.”

Still, Brock misses the music – not the fame or the road, but making the music.

“I miss going in and watch something go from work tape into a record. That’s the thing I miss the most,” he says. “And the writing part, creating something from nothing. That’s what I’m gonna get back to doing.”

Jaci Velasquez

Velasquez started out hot with huge Christian radio hits, included On My Knees, while her friends were still in high school.

“It was a very different time in my life. Very different time. It was a blessing,” she says. “In some ways, people ask me, do you ever wish you could’ve started later? I always say, if I had to take all the roads I had to take, in order to get me here, I’d do it all over again.”

Velasquez eventually saw her career slow. She got married, had two children, and eventually switched record labels. (Her latest album, Diamond, is set to be released this month.)

During those changes, Nashville Christian station 94 FM The Fish reached out to Velasquez and other Christian artists to fill in for a morning personality who was out on maternity leave.

The station eventually asked her to make the move permanent.

“When they asked me to be part of The Fish, I said, well, I do love doing this. I wake up early already. My kids wake up really early,” Velaquez says, laughing.

“I love listener interaction. I love that I get to wake people up even when they don’t feel like they’re waking up.”

Now, Velaquez says, she has it all.

“I love being in the ministry but not traveling to do it. I love making music. I love performing,” she says.

“I have a husband. I have two kids. I love that I get to come home at 10:15 in the morning and I get to be mom. I get to put them to sleep. I get to be there when they wake up from their naps.”