Christopher Stevens (born November 29, 1967), was an American

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, mix-engineer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

Early and personal life

Stevens was born Christopher Edmund Stevens, on November 29, 1967, in Eugene, Oregon. He graduated from North Eugene High School and studied electronics at

Lane Community College Lane Community College is a public community college in Eugene, Oregon, with additional facilities in downtown Eugene, Florence, Cottage Grove, and the Lane Aviation Academy at Eugene Airport. Lane serves more than 26,000 credit and non-credit ...

. After working as a composer for video games in the 1990s, Stevens eventually relocated to

to pursue songwriting and record production full-time.

Credits awards and accomplishments

Chris Stevens has produced and mixed contemporary Christian music artists TobyMac, and ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' finalists Mandisa and

Colton Dixon Michael Colton Dixon (born October 19, 1991) is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He placed seventh on the eleventh season of ''American Idol''. Early life Colton Dixon was born Michael Colton Dixon on Oct ...

, among others. Stevens has also worked on projects for country artists

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...

and Carrie Underwood. In September 2013 Stevens traveled to Barcelona, Spain, to work with International pop star Shakira on her 2014 studio album, lending his programming talents on several of her songs. He has also contributed his skills on two studio albums, '' Nothing Left to Lose'', and ''

Just Kids ''Just Kids'' is a memoir by Patti Smith, published on January 19, 2010, documenting her relationship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe. "I didn't write it to be cathartic," she noted. "I wrote it because Robert asked me to… Our relationship w ...

'', for fellow Oregonian and

Universal Republic Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...

recording artist

Mat Kearney Mathew William Kearney (; born December 1, 1978) is an American musician born in Eugene, Oregon, and based in Nashville, Tennessee. So far, he has a total of five top 20 hits on the Adult Top 40 Chart. '' Just Kids'' was released on February 2 ...

. Stevens has handled production, writing, and mixing for numerous artists under the EMI CMG, Word Records, Provident,

INO Records Ino or INO may refer to: Arts and music *I-No, a character in the ''Guilty Gear'' series of video games *Ino (Greek mythology), a queen of Thebes in Greek mythology * INO Records, an American Christian music label *Ino Yamanaka, a character in t ...

Gotee Records Gotee Records is a record label founded by Christian hip hop performer Toby McKeehan (known professionally as ''TobyMac''), Todd Collins, and Joey Elwood. The label began as a production company. At the time of the label's founding, McKeehan wa ...

, and Curb Records labels. Stevens is credited with programming and keyboards on the Carrie Underwood single "

Cowboy Casanova "Cowboy Casanova" is a song by American singer Carrie Underwood. It was written by Underwood, Mike Elizondo, Brett James. It was released on September 14, 2009, by Arista Nashville as the lead single from her third studio album, '' Play On''. The ...

". In 2010, Stevens produced two Grammy nominated albums, TobyMac's, ''Tonight'', and Sanctus Real's ''

Pieces of a Real Heart ''Pieces of a Real Heart'' is the fifth studio album from Christian rock band Sanctus Real. It was released on March 9, 2010 via Sparrow Records. The first single released was the song " Forgiven", which reached No. 6 on ''Billboards Christia ...

''. In 2011, Stevens received his first songwriting Grammy nomination for

Jamie Grace Jamie Grace Harper (born November 25, 1991) is an American contemporary Christian musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. In 2010, TobyMac found her songs on YouTube and signed her to his label Gotee Records for two alb ...

's '' Hold Me''. In 2010 and 2012, Stevens was honored as BMI's Christian Songwriter of the Year. In 2013 Stevens received his first Grammy as a producer and mixer on TobyMac's ''

Eye on It ''Eye on It'' is the sixth studio album by TobyMac, released on August 28, 2012. A deluxe version of the album was also released. The album experiments more with electronic music, primarily dubstep. "Me Without You (TobyMac song), Me Without You ...

''. In 2014 Stevens took home two more Grammys for Contemporary Christian Album for Mandisa's '' Overcomer'' and Contemporary Christian Song for its

title song A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

. In June 2015 he received his third BMI Christian songwriter of the year award. In February 2016, Stevens was awarded his fourth Grammy for production and engineering on Tobymac's '' This Is Not a Test''. In January 2020 Stevens earned his fifth Grammy award in the roots gospel category for production on Gloria Gaynor's album, ''Testimony''. Beginning in 2016 Stevens began focusing on songwriting in the pop and country genres and has had songs recorded by Jason Aldean, Lindsay Ell,

David Lee Murphy David Lee Murphy (born January 7, 1959) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is best known for his #1 country hits " Dust on the Bottle" and " Everything's Gonna Be Alright", as well as the hit songs " Party Crowd", " Out with ...

Kenny Chesney Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has recorded more than 20 albums and has produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the US ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs and Country ...

Justin Moore Justin Cole Moore (born March 30, 1984) is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Big Machine Records imprint Valory Music Group. For that label, he has released six studio albums: his self titled debut in 2009, '' Outlaws ...

, Morgan Wallen, Drew Baldridge, and Logan Mize. In June 2018, Stevens celebrated his first number one ''Billboard'' and Mediabase Country Song with

's " Everything's Gonna Be Alright", featuring

. Stevens co-wrote the song with Murphy and Jimmy Yeary, and produced the background track.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Chris 1967 births Living people American performers of Christian music Record producers from Oregon Record producers from Tennessee Songwriters from Oregon Songwriters from Tennessee Musicians from Eugene, Oregon Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee Businesspeople from Eugene, Oregon