Chris Tomlin | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Christopher Dwayne Tomlin |
Born | May 4, 1972 |
Origin | Grand Saline, Texas, U.S. |
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Years active | 1993–present |
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Website | christomlin |
Christopher Dwayne Tomlin (born May 4, 1972) [1] is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, and worship leader from Grand Saline, Texas, who has sold over 7 million records. [2] He is a member of Passion Conferences and is signed to EMI's sixstepsrecords. Some of his most well-known songs are "How Great Is Our God", "Our God", "Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies)" and "Holy Forever".
Tomlin has been received 23 GMA Dove Awards, a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for his 2012 album And If Our God Is for Us... , and two RIAA certified platinum albums. Because of his songs' popularity in many contemporary churches, Time magazine stated he may be the "most often sung artist anywhere". [3] Tomlin's 2013 album Burning Lights debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming the fourth CCM album in history to do so. [4]
Tomlin was born in Grand Saline, Texas in 1972 to Donna and Connie Tomlin. [5] He has two younger brothers, Ryan and Cory. Tomlin was given his first guitar by his father and learned how to play along with Willie Nelson records. [6] [7]
At the age of 13, he began singing at the Main Street Baptist church in Grand Saline. [8] Tomlin wrote his first worship song at age fourteen. During high school, he learned to lead worship in his youth group. [6] After graduating from Grand Saline High School in 1990, he entered Tyler Junior College (TJC) planning for a medical or physical therapy career. [9] Tomlin graduated in 1992 [10] and enrolled in Texas A&M University to study medicine. [11] He grew active in a campus Christian group called Breakaway, where he became the worship leader. [11] In 1994, Tomlin graduated from Texas A&M with a bachelor's degree in psychology. [10] [12] After college Tomlin participated as a worship leader at various camps in Texas, including Dawson McAllister Youth Conferences. [13] While at Breakaway, Tomlin participated in a Bible study led by Choice Ministries founder Louie Giglio. [11] In 1997, Tomlin partnered with Giglio to found Passion Conferences. [14] [15]
In 1995, Tomlin released Inside Your Love, which was released independently. [16] In 1998, he released Authentic on Sparrow Records. [17]
In 2000, Tomlin signed onto newly founded sixstepsrecords, a subsidiary of Passion Conferences. [18] His first nationally released solo project, titled The Noise We Make , was released in 2001, featuring the song "Forever". He released the live EP 545 and his second studio album Not to Us in 2002. [19]
Since his signing onto sixstepsrecords, Tomlin has released nine full-length studio albums. 2004's Arriving was the first to chart on Billboard's Hot Christian Albums chart and the Billboard 200. Tomlin has topped the Hot Christian Albums chart six times, and his 2013 album Burning Lights topped the Billboard 200, making the album only the fourth contemporary Christian album to do so.
Tomlin has also released one live album, recorded in Austin Music Hall, and two Christmas albums (2009, 2015), [20] both of which topped the Holiday albums chart on Billboard. [21]
Tomlin has toured with many contemporary Christian artists, such as Delirious?, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, and MercyMe. [22] [23] Tomlin has headlined several tours, and has also joined Passion Conferences for national and global tours and events. [24] Tomlin has also participated in various other conferences festivals including Grand Saline's annual Salt Festival in Texas, [25] Hillsong's 2007 conference, [26] and the SoCal Harvest in Anaheim. [27]
On June 14, 2007, Tomlin's version of the song "Indescribable" was used as the official wake-up call for Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester on Space Shuttle mission STS-117. [28] Chris Tomlin left Sixstepsrecords in 2015 and quickly signed to Capitol Records CMG and River Music Holdings in 2016 [29]
Tomlin is one of the members of CompassionArt, a charity and songwriting team that released an album in 2008. [30] In 2014, he became a member on the board of directors of CURE International, a nonprofit organization that provides medical care to children in the developing world. [31]
In May 2008, Tomlin announced a move from the Austin Stone Community Church, to start a new church with Louie Giglio in Atlanta, Georgia. [32] [33] The Passion City Church held its first service on February 15, 2009, and features Tomlin as one of its worship leaders. [34]
The Holy Forever world tour was announced on January 19, 2024 by Tomlin on his Instagram [35] The Holy Forever world tour is scheduled to start in April 2024 after Tomlin's Good Friday Nashville concert at Bridgestone Arena every year.
Tomlin married Lauren Bricken [36] on November 9, 2010. [37] [38] [39] Together they have three daughters, Ashlyn, Madison and Elle. [40] They live on a 25-acre (10 ha) estate on the outskirts of Franklin, Tennessee, which they have named Peacefield. [41]
Independent releases
Commercial releases
According to Christian Copyright Licensing International's list of the top 25 worship songs in the US in August 2007, Tomlin held five spots with songs he has either written, co-written or performed: "How Great Is Our God" (No. 1), "Forever" (No. 5), "Holy Is the Lord" (No. 7), "We Fall Down" (No. 12), and "Indescribable" (No. 22) (written by Laura Story [43] ). In 2008, Tomlin held 6 spots on 20 The Countdown Magazine's top 20 praise and worship songs: "We Fall Down" (No. 14), "Forever" (No. 10), "Holy is the Lord" (No. 8), "Indescribable" (No. 6), [43] "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" (No. 3), and "How Great is our God" (No. 1). [44] In 2012, CCLI reported that his songs were performed more than 3 million times in churches around the world. [45] Time magazine has called him "most often sung artist anywhere" in 2006, [3] and in 2013, he was also pronounced the most sung songwriter in the world. [46] In 2017, he became only the fourth artist to receive the Sound Exchange Digital Radio Award for surpassing a billion digital radio streams, [47] and in 2018, he became the first Christian artist to receive the Billionaire award from Pandora for reaching a billion Pandora streams. [48]
Year | Award | Result |
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2007 | Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album ( See the Morning ) | Nominated |
2009 | Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album ( Hello Love ) | Nominated |
2011 | Best Gospel Song ("Our God") | Nominated |
2012 | Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance ("I Lift My Hands") | Nominated |
Best Contemporary Christian Music Song ("I Lift My Hands") | Nominated | |
Best Contemporary Christian Music Album ( And If Our God Is For Us... ) | Won [49] | |
2014 | Best Contemporary Christian Music Song ( Whom Shall I Fear ) [50] | Nominated |
Best Contemporary Christian Music Album ( Burning Lights ) [50] | Nominated | |
2016 | Best Contemporary Christian Music Album ( Love Ran Red ) | Nominated [51] |
2023 | Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song ("Holy Forever") | Nominated |
Best Contemporary Christian Music Album ( Always ) | Nominated |
Throughout his career, Chris Tomlin has been nominated for 32 Dove Awards (6 of them collaborative efforts) and won 19 of them.
Year | Award | Result |
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2005 | Praise & Worship Album of the Year ( Arriving ) | Won [52] |
2006 | Artist of the Year | Won [53] |
Male Vocalist of the Year | Won [53] | |
Song of the Year ("Holy Is the Lord") | Nominated [53] | |
Song of the Year ("How Great Is Our God") | Won [53] | |
Worship Song of the Year ("Holy Is the Lord") | Nominated [53] | |
Worship Song of the Year ("How Great Is Our God") | Won [53] | |
Worship Song of the Year ("Indescribable")1 | Nominated [53] | |
Special Event Album of the Year ( Music Inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia )* | Won [53] | |
Special Event Album of the Year ( Passion: How Great Is Our God )* | Nominated [53] | |
Special Event Album of the Year ( WOW Christmas: Green )* | Nominated [53] | |
2007 | Artist of the Year | Won [54] |
Male Vocalist of the Year | Won [54] | |
Song of the Year ("Made to Worship") | Nominated [54] | |
Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year ("Made to Worship") | Nominated [54] | |
Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year ( See The Morning ) | Won [54] | |
Worship Song of the Year ("Holy Is the Lord") | Won [54] | |
Worship Song of the Year ("Made to Worship") | Nominated [54] | |
Praise & Worship Album of the Year (See The Morning) | Won [54] | |
Special Event Album of the Year ( Passion: Everything Glorious )* | Won [54] | |
2008 | Artist of the Year | Nominated |
Male Vocalist of the Year | Won | |
Song of the Year ("Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)") | Nominated | |
Worship Song of the Year ("Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)") | Nominated | |
Worship Song of the Year ("How Great Is Our God") | Won | |
Special Event Album of the Year ( Music Inspired By the Motion Picture Amazing Grace )* | Nominated | |
2009 | Artist of the Year | Nominated |
Male Vocalist of the Year | Nominated | |
Song of the Year ("Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)") | Nominated | |
Worship Song of the Year ("Jesus Messiah") | Nominated | |
Praise & Worship Album of the Year ( Hello Love ) | Nominated | |
Special Event Album of the Year ( Passion: God of This City )* | Won | |
Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year ("How Great Is Our God")2 | Won | |
2010 | Song of the Year ("I Will Rise") | Nominated |
Worship Song of the Year ("I Will Rise") | Nominated | |
Praise & Worship Album of the Year ( Hello Love ) | Nominated | |
Christmas Album of the Year ( Glory in the Highest: Christmas Songs of Worship ) | Nominated | |
2011 | Artist of the Year | Nominated |
Male Vocalist of the Year | Nominated | |
Song of the Year ("Our God") | Nominated | |
Worship Song of the Year ("Our God") | Won | |
Special Event Album of the Year ( Passion: Awakening )* | Won | |
2012 | Praise & Worship Album of the Year ( And If Our God Is For Us... ) | Won [55] |
2013 | Song of the Year ("Whom Shall I Fear [God of Angel Armies]") | Nominated [56] |
Praise & Worship Album of the Year ("Burning Lights") | Won [56] | |
Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year ("Burning Lights") | Nominated [56] | |
Artist of the Year | Nominated [56] | |
Special Event Album of the Year ( Passion: White Flag )* | Nominated [56] | |
Special Event Album of the Year ( Passion: Let The Future Begin )* | Won [56] | |
Praise & Worship Album of the Year ( Passion: White Flag )* | Nominated [56] | |
Praise & Worship Album of the Year ( Passion: Let The Future Begin )* | Nominated [56] | |
2014 | Songwriter of the Year | Won [57] |
2015 | Praise & Worship Album of the Year ( Love Ran Red ) | Nominated |
2016 | Songwriter of the Year | Nominated [58] |
2017 | Artist of the Year | Nominated |
Songwriter of the Year | Nominated | |
Worship Album of the Year ("Never Lose Sight") | Won | |
Short Form Video of the Year ("Jesus") | Nominated | |
2018 | Worship Recorded Song of the Year ("Resurrection Power") | Nominated |
2019 | Worship Album of the Year ( Holy Roar ) | Nominated |
Long Form Video of the Year (Holy Roar: Live from Church) | Nominated |
Year | Award | Result [59] |
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2011 | Top Christian Artist | Won |
Top Christian Album ( And If Our God Is for Us... ) | Nominated | |
Top Christian Song ("Our God") | Won |
Tomlin was nominated for two 2009 Visionary Award: Male Entertainer of the Year and Song of the Year for "Jesus Messiah". [60]
Year | Film | Role |
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2013 | Grace Unplugged | Himself |
Matthew James Redman is an English Christian worship leader, singer-songwriter and author. Redman has released 16 albums, written 8 books, and helped start three church-plants. He is best known for his two-time Grammy Award-winning single, "10,000 Reasons ". Co-written with Jonas Myrin, the single reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Christian Songs chart in 2012.
The Noise We Make is the first commercial solo release by American contemporary Christian music singer Chris Tomlin through sixstepsrecords in 2001.
Philip David Wickham is an American contemporary Christian singer, musician and songwriter from San Diego, California. He has released ten worship albums: Give You My World in 2003, a self-titled album in 2006, Cannons in 2007, Singalong in 2008, Heaven & Earth in 2009, Response in 2011, Singalong 2 in 2012, The Ascension in 2013, Singalong 3 in 2015, Children of God in 2016, Living Hope in 2018, Hymn of Heaven in 2021, and I Believe in 2023. He has also led worship at Soul Survivor. His single "This is Amazing Grace" has been certified Platinum by the RIAA and it topped the 2014 year-end Christian Airplay chart.
See the Morning is the fourth studio album by Chris Tomlin released on September 26, 2006. The title comes from that idea that "our God is as faithful as the rising sun" and is the "Light of the World". The album was originally released in two versions: one with 11 tracks, the other with 4 alternate versions of his songs and a special behind-the-scenes look at the recording of the album. Since then, another version, the tour edition, has been released, which features the standard version, along with music/live videos, along with a sermon by Louie Giglio titled "How Great Is Our God". The first single from the album was "Made to Worship", which was first heard as an iTunes bonus track for the Passion album Everything Glorious.
The 37th Annual GMA Dove Awards, also called the 37th Annual GMA Music Awards, were held on April 5, 2006 recognizing accomplishments of Christian musicians for the year 2005. The show was held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, and was hosted by Rebecca St. James and Kirk Franklin. This was the last year in which the awards were called the "GMA Music Awards", since they will change their names to "GMA Dove Awards".
Passion Conferences is a Christian organization founded by Louie Giglio in 1997. The organization is known for its annual gatherings of young adults between the ages of 18 and 25, more specifically college students.
Jonas Myrin is a Swedish singer, songwriter and producer based in Los Angeles, California. His solo career began in 2012 with the gold-certified song, "Day of the Battle" in Germany. Myrin won two Grammy Awards for the song "10,000 Reasons ", which he wrote for Matt Redman. He also won both Billboard and multiple Dove Awards, as well as many nominations for those awards. He has written songs for artists such as Barbra Streisand, Idina Menzel, Andrea Bocelli, Lauren Daigle, Nicole Scherzinger, and others, and has often produced the works.
Hello Love is the fifth studio album by Chris Tomlin, released on September 2, 2008. It debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 with 52,000 units, his best sales and charting week to date. The album also debuted at No. 2 on the Christian album charts. It was Grammy-nominated for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album at the 51st Grammy Awards in 2009. It was certified Gold by the RIAA in September 2010.
Kari Brooke Jobe is an American contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter. Since her first album in 2009, she has received two Grammy Award nominations and ten Dove Award nominations, six of which she won.
Edmond Martin Cash is a producer, songwriter, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist. He has produced or written for artists including Steven Curtis Chapman, Dolly Parton, and Chris Tomlin. Between 2004 and 2007, Cash was awarded Producer of the Year at the GMA Dove Awards. He has also received several Grammy nominations and BMI awards.
And If Our God Is For Us... is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Chris Tomlin, released on November 16, 2010, through Sixstepsrecords It is also available as a CD/DVD Limited Edition featuring four acoustic tracks and a Behind the Scenes video. The album won the Best Contemporary Christian Music Album at 54th Grammy Awards, and the Worship Album of the Year at the 43rd Dove Awards.
Burning Lights is the seventh studio album by Chris Tomlin. It was released on January 8, 2013. The album includes studio renditions of songs previously recorded live on the Passion: White Flag album, including "Lay Me Down", "White Flag" and "Jesus, Son of God". The lead single, "Whom Shall I Fear ", was released on November 9, 2012.
Love Ran Red is the tenth studio album from contemporary Christian musician and worship leader Chris Tomlin. Released on October 27, 2014 through sixstepsrecords the album was preceded by two singles, "Waterfall" and "Jesus Loves Me" and was produced by Ed Cash.
American contemporary Christian music (CCM) artist Chris Tomlin has released eight studio albums, two independent albums, two live albums, one compilation album, and twenty-one singles.
Adore: Christmas Songs of Worship is the second Christmas album from Chris Tomlin. sixstepsrecords alongside Sparrow Records released the album on October 23, 2015. He worked with Ed Cash, in the production of this album which was recorded at Ocean Way Nashville with a live singing audience.
"How Great Is Our God" is a song written by Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves and Ed Cash. It was originally featured on Tomlin's album Arriving, that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart. It is also featured live on Tomlin's Live from Austin Music Hall album. As of November 2014, it was the fifth most popular worship song, according to CCLI's top 25 worship songs chart. It also reached No. 1 on Christian Music Weekly's 20 The Countdown Magazine's Top 20 Worship Songs Chart. The song won Song of the Year and Worship Song of the Year at the 2006 GMA Dove Awards, and Worship Song of the Year again at the 2008 GMA Dove Awards.
Jennifer Louise Johnson is an American Christian worship singer, songwriter and worship pastor. She is a co-founding member of Bethel Music, and is one-half of the husband-and-wife worship duo, Brian and Jenn Johnson. She is also a senior worship pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California, and a Senior Overseer of WorshipU, an online school of worship sponsored by Bethel.
Passion is a contemporary worship music band, a central part of Passion Conferences in Atlanta, Georgia. Passion band have released 28 albums over the span of two decades under the name Passion. Most of the Passion albums are live albums, recorded during performances in conferences or tours. Passion Conferences also owns sixstepsrecords, a record label that includes Crowder and Passion. Sixstepsrecords artists form the core group of artists performing at the Passion Gatherings, including Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Charlie Hall, Matt Redman, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill, Melodie Malone, Brett Younker, and Jimi Cravity. Other artists that have performed at Passion Gatherings include Lecrae, Hillsong United, Jesus Culture, Kari Jobe, Tenth Avenue North, Shane and Shane, SonicFlood, Gungor, Rend Collective, and Sean Curran of Bellarive.
Always is the fourteenth solo studio album by American contemporary Christian singer Chris Tomlin. It was released on September 9, 2022, through Sparrow Records and Capitol CMG. The album features guest appearances by Elevation Worship, Steffany Gretzinger, and Brandon Lake. The album was produced by Ben Glover, Jeff Sojka, Ed Cash, Jonathan Smith, Dave Haywood, Ben West, and Bryan Fowler.
"Holy Forever" is a song by American contemporary Christian musician Chris Tomlin. It impacted Christian radio in the United States on March 10, 2023, as the fourth single from Tomlin's fourteenth studio album, Always (2022). Tomlin co-wrote the song with Brian Johnson, Jason Ingram, Jenn Johnson, and Phil Wickham. Jonathan Smith handled the production of the single.
CURE International, the largest provider of reconstructive surgery to disabled children in the emerging world, announced this week the addition of Chris Tomlin to its Board of Directors.