Christopher Dwayne Tomlin (born May 4, 1972) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, and worship leader from

Grand Saline, Texas Grand Saline is a city in Van Zandt County, Texas, United States, located in East Texas. The population was 3,136 as of 2010. Grand Saline is the third largest city in Van Zandt County and is located roughly 75 miles (120 km) east of Dallas an ...

, United States, who has sold over 7 million records. He is a member of Passion Conferences and is signed to

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

sixstepsrecords Passion Conferences (also referred to as Passion and the 268 Generation, originally named Choice Ministries) is a Christian organization founded by Louie Giglio in 1997. The organization is known for its annual gatherings of young adults betwee ...

. Some of his most well-known songs are " How Great Is Our God", " Our God", " Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies)" and his cover of " Good Good Father". Tomlin has been awarded 23

GMA Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...

s, a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for

Best Contemporary Christian Music Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the Contempor ...

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 Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine stated he may be the "most often sung artist anywhere". Tomlin's 2013 album ''

Burning Lights ''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 ...

'' debuted at No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, becoming the fourth CCM album in history to do so.

Early life

Tomlin was born in

in 1972 to Donna and Connie Tomlin. 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 Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...

records. Tomlin wrote his first worship song at age fourteen. During high school, he learned to lead worship in his youth group. After graduating from

Grand Saline High School Grand Saline High School is a public high school located in Grand Saline, Texas ( USA) and classified as a 3A school by the UIL. It is part of the Grand Saline Independent School District located in northeast Van Zandt County. In 2015, the sc ...

in 1990, he entered Tyler Junior College (TJC) planning for a medical or physical therapy career. Tomlin graduated in 1992 and enrolled in

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

to study medicine. He grew active in a campus Christian group called Breakaway, where he became the worship leader. In 1994, Tomlin graduated from Texas A&M with a bachelor's degree in psychology. After college Tomlin participated as a worship leader at various camps in Texas, including

Dawson McAllister Dawson McAllister (November 14, 1946 – December 17, 2020) was an American speaker, radio host, and author. He was the host of the radio program ''Dawson McAllister Live'' on Sunday nights from 10:00pm–2:00 am ET, which had an average audienc ...

Youth Conferences. While at Breakaway, Tomlin participated in a Bible study led by then Choice Ministries founder

Louie Giglio Louie Giglio (pronounced GIG-leo; born June 30, 1958) is an American Christian pastor. He is the leader of Passion City Church, located in Atlanta, Georgia. The founder of the Passion Movement, he is an author and public speaker. Biography Gigl ...

. In 1997, Tomlin partnered with Giglio to found Passion Conferences.

Career

In 1995, Tomlin released ''Inside Your Love'', which was released independently. In 1998, he released ''Authentic'' on Sparrow Records. In 2000, Tomlin signed onto newly founded sixstepsrecords, a subsidiary of Passion Conferences. His first nationally released solo project, titled ''

The Noise We Make ''The Noise We Make'' is the first commercial solo release by Chris Tomlin through sixstepsrecords in 2001. Critical reception ''The Noise We Make'' was generally well received by four music critics. At ''Christianity Today'', Russ Breimeier ...

'', was released in 2001, featuring the song "Forever". He released the live EP ''545'' and his second studio album ''

Not to Us ''Not to Us'' is the second studio album by Chris Tomlin, released in 2002. Track listing Personnel * Chris Tomlin – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, backing vocals (1) * Daniel Carson – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals (3) ...

'' in 2002.

Since his signing onto sixstepsrecords, Tomlin has released nine full-length studio albums. 2004's ''

Arriving Arriving is a studio album released in 2004 by Chris Tomlin. The album has received RIAA "Platinum" status and peaked at No. 3 on ''Billboard''s Top Christian Albums chart. As of October 2008, "How Great Is Our God" is No. 1 and "Holy Is the L ...

'' 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 ''

'' topped the ''Billboard'' 200, making the album only the fourth

contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

album to do so. Tomlin has also released one live album, recorded in Austin Music Hall, and two Christmas albums (2009, 2015), both of which topped the Holiday albums chart on ''Billboard''. Tomlin has toured with many contemporary Christian artists, such as Delirious?,

Steven Curtis Chapman Steven Curtis Chapman (born November 21, 1962) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, author, and social activist. Chapman began his career in the late 1980s as a songwriter and performer of conte ...

Michael W. Smith Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when " Place in This World" hit No. 6 on the '' ...

, and

MercyMe MercyMe is an American contemporary Christian music band founded in Edmond, Oklahoma. The band consists of lead vocalist Bart Millard, percussionist Robby Shaffer, bassist Nathan Cochran and guitarists Michael Scheuchzer and Barry Graul. The b ...

. Tomlin has headlined several tours, and has also joined Passion Conferences for national and global tours and events. Tomlin has also participated in various other conferences festivals including Grand Saline's annual Salt Festival in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, Hillsong's 2007 conference, and the SoCal Harvest in Anaheim. 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 The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

mission

STS-117 STS-117 ( ISS assembly flight 13A) was a Space Shuttle mission flown by Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'', launched from pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center on 8 June 2007. ''Atlantis'' lifted off from the launch pad at 19:38 EDT. Damage from a hail ...

Other ventures

Tomlin is one of the members of CompassionArt, a charity and songwriting team that released an album in 2008. In 2014, he became a member on the board of directors of CURE International, a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

that provides medical care to children in the developing world. In May 2008, Tomlin announced a move from the Austin Stone Community Church, to start a new church with

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

. The Passion City Church held its first service on February 15, 2009, and features Tomlin as one of its worship leaders. In April 2019, Tomlin and his wife Lauren started Angel Armies, a nonprofit organization that works to bring people and ministry organizations together to attempt to solve issues related to vulnerable youth in the United States.

Personal life

Tomlin married Lauren Bricken on November 9, 2010. Together they have three daughters, Ashlyn, Madison and Elle. They live on a estate on the outskirts of

Franklin, Tennessee Franklin is a city in and county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020, its population was 83,454 ...

which they have nicknamed "Peacefield".

Discography

Independent releases *''Inside Your Love'' (1995) *''Authentic'' (1998) *''Too Much Free Time'' (1998)

ith Ross King The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

Commercial releases *''

'' (2001) *''

'' (2002) *''

'' (2004) *''

See the Morning ''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 t ...

'' (2006) *'' Hello Love'' (2008) *'' And If Our God Is for Us...'' (2010) *''

'' (2013) *''

Love Ran Red ''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 ...

'' (2014) *'' Never Lose Sight'' (2016) *''

Holy Roar Holy Roar Records was an independent record label run by Alex Fitzpatrick. The label began in January 2006 and put out its first release in June 2006, the Phoenix Bodies album, ''Raise the Bullshit flag''. Fitzpatrick originally joked that the ...

'' (2018) *'' Chris Tomlin & Friends'' (2020) *'' Always'' (2022)

Awards and achievements

According to

Christian Copyright Licensing International Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) is a privately owned company that was founded in the US in 1988 by Howard Rachinski. CCLI was launched after being developed by Rachinski for 3½ years while he was a music minister at a large ch ...

'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). In 2008, Tomlin held 6 spots on ''20 The Countdown Magazine'' top 20 praise and worship songs: "We Fall Down" (No. 14), "Forever" (No. 10), "Holy is the Lord" (No. 8), "Indescribable" (No. 6), "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" (No. 3), and "How Great is our God" (No. 1). In 2012, CCLI reported that his songs were performed more than 3 million times in churches around the world. ''Time'' magazine has called him "most often sung artist anywhere" in 2006, and in 2013, he was also pronounced the most sung songwriter in the world. In 2017, he became only the fourth artist to receive the Sound Exchange Digital Radio Award for surpassing a billion digital radio streams, and in 2018, he became the first Christian artist to receive the Billionaire award from Pandora for reaching a billion Pandora streams.

Grammy Awards

GMA Dove Awards

Throughout his career, Chris Tomlin has been nominated to 32

Dove Awards A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Award ...

(6 of them collaborative efforts) and won 19 of them. * *Denotes a collaborative effort or a song contribution to a "Various artists" album. * ¹ The song was performed by Tomlin, but written and produced by Laura Story. * ² The song was performed by LaRue Howard, but written by Tomlin.

''Billboard'' Music Awards

Others

Tomlin was nominated for two 2009 Visionary Award: Male Entertainer of the Year and Song of the Year for "Jesus Messiah".

Bibliography

*Chris Tomlin, ''The Way I Was Made: Words and Music for an Unusual Life'', Multnomah, 2004.

Filmography

References

External links

* * Luscombe, Belinda (November 19, 2006)
"Hip Hymns Are Him"
''Time''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tomlin, Chris 1972 births Living people 20th-century American singers 20th-century Christians 21st-century American singers 21st-century Christians American Christians American male singer-songwriters American performers of Christian music Composers of Christian music Christian music songwriters Grammy Award winners Musicians from Austin, Texas Performers of contemporary worship music Singer-songwriters from Texas Sixstepsrecords artists Sparrow Records artists Texas A&M University alumni Tyler Junior College alumni People from Grand Saline, Texas 20th-century American male singers 21st-century American male singers