Billy Ray Cyrus has to be feeling this year like he's been reborn. After having a major hit on the country charts fifteen years ago, he and his mullet seemed to disappear into music oblivion. Thanks to Disney, his daughter, and a genuine desire to do well on Dancing With the Stars, he's on all our minds once again, minus the mullet, and we're starting to discover just who Cyrus really is.

Cyrus has actually led a much larger career than what we think of when the Achey Breaky Heart artist's name is invoked. Although he was on a state championship football team in high school and attended college on a baseball scholarship, he quit his education and athletics and started a band, Sly Dog, with his brother. He later made the move to Los Angeles from Kentucky and landed a record contract.

It wasn't long before Cyrus had his first bona fide hit in Achey Breaky Heart, and although it was at one time named one of the worst songs of all time by Blender magazine, it also holds a record for the longest amount of a time a debut spent at number one on the Billboard Hot 200. He became known as much for this song as for his hairstyle of the time, a mullet. His debut album and some subsequent albums spawned two more number ones as well as many other top tens, but we don't remember those. All we remember Cyrus for is that song we seemed to hear everywhere in 1992.

In the late 90s, Cyrus added actor to his list of credits, starring in the film Radical Jack, and appearing in Mulholland Drive as well. He turned his sites on television, starring in Doc, and appearing in other shows such DeGrassi: The Next Generation, The Nanny, and Love Boat: The Next Wave. Cyrus also tried his hand at theatre, appearing as Frank in Annie Get Your Gun in Toronto.

Yet, it seems his largest success since Achey Breaky Heart has been on his television series Hannah Montana which stars him along with his daughter, Miley, in semi-autobiographical parts. He stars as a singer with a daughter that leads a double life as just a regular girl as well as the famous pop singer, Hannah Montana. He pokes fun at the character of Billy Ray Cyrus and his big hit occasionally, showing he gets the joke, and has said he likes this project as it affords him time with his daughter, one of three children with his current wife.

As we started to see a whole different side of Cyrus on Hannah Montana, and that's not just with his missing mullet hairstyle, we saw even more of it on Dancing With the Stars. We weren't sure exactly what type of dancing talent he would have, and it turns out he doesn't have much in the way of natural talent, but there doesn't seem to be anyone else willing to work as hard as he does. Judge Len Goodman pointed out that the couple that puts in the most amount of time in practice is Cyrus and professional dancer Karina Smirnoff.

It's a little confusing somewhat, as we know Cyrus has rhythm, as he's a singer, yet for some reason the dancing just doesn't come natural to him, and it's apparent he's more comfortable doing the singing and letting everyone else dance. But he tries hard and has a self-deprecating humor of himself throughout, knowing that he is definitely out of his comfort zone. Yet, unlike Master P a few seasons back, Cyrus isn't phoning in the performances, pushing himself every time.

And aside from that, as an audience we're allowed to see Cyrus' heart for the first time, and it doesn't appear to be achey or broken in the least. After getting good critiques from the judges he is thoroughly honored, and it's visible how much it means to him that his hard work is behind honored. His mouth has even dropped open occasionally in surprise. As modest as he is, he receives 7s all around every week, and has said he just wants to get one 8, then he can leave the show happy with his time there. He's not looking for a lot.

Another surprising part to Cyrus' personality is shyness when it comes to sensuality. Doing the very sensual Latin dances, he was required to bring a sensuality and closeness to his dance with Smirnoff, but it was difficult for him to pull up that emotion for someone that is just his dancing partner, no matter how many hours they spend dancing together. Sadly, it came out in their performance, and it appeared he was just walking through it. Smirnoff understood where she was going wrong with the choreography the following week, and allowed him to put in some of his own dance moves, including the "Bubba Chicken," and he seemed so much more comfortable. His joy of performing returned again, bringing us joy as we watched.

Perhaps what we're seeing on Dancing With the Stars as he's pushed beyond his own comfortability is the real Billy Ray Cyrus. Maybe he's really just a shy guy that's more comfortable with a guitar in his hands than anything else, and perhaps he just wants to bring that joy to others with his music, making it a shame that he started out with a hit like Achey Breaky Heart that seems to forever have branded him.

In addition to his acting and singing, it turns out Cyrus is also a great humanitarian. Reading that he was the first ever recipient of the Bob Hope Congressional Medal of Honor Society Entertainer’s Award for his charity work, along with many other humanitarian awards, I became glad that I decided to find out exactly who this guy is.

Digging more, I found that of all of Cyrus' charity work, what he does with dying and ill children is the most special to him. After receiving a letter that it was a young girl's dying wish to to meet him, Cyrus invited her to a recording session, and met with her afterward to take pictures with her. It became such a special part of the album he was recording, that they dedicated the album to her. He later heard that she had passed away and that at her funeral, the other children danced, sang Achey Breaky Heart and let butterflies go.

He's the grandson of a preacher and had always been told he'd do great things some day, and the fact that some people see him as nothing more than a one-hit wonder with a mullet does Cyrus a great injustice.

You can contact me at LauraBelle@realityshack.com with comments.

For more information on Billy Ray Cyrus and Dancing With the Stars see SirLinksalot: Dancing With the Stars