4 Runner (sometimes stylized as 4Runner) is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

vocal group founded in 1993 in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. The group initially consisted of Craig Morris (lead vocals, piano), Billy Crittenden (baritone vocals), Lee Hilliard (tenor vocals), and Jim Chapman (bass vocals). Signed to Polydor Records Nashville, the quartet released its

self-titled An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

debut album in 1995. It featured four charting singles on

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

, the most successful being "

Cain's Blood "Cain's Blood" is a song originally recorded by American country pop artist Michael Johnson (singer), Michael Johnson. He co-wrote the song with Jack Sundrud and recorded it on his 1995 album ''Departure''. It was recorded the same year by the cou ...

" at No. 26. Billy Simon took Crittenden's place just before a second album for

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

, which was not released despite producing a chart single, and the group broke up afterward. Morris, Chapman, and Hilliard reunited with third baritone singer Michael Lusk to release their next album, ''Getaway Car'', on the Fresh label before disbanding a second time. The group reunited a second time in 2023 with a lineup consisting of Morris, Chapman, Hilliard, and Morris's son Sam. Shortly after their reunion, Hilliard left as well, with Herbie Chapman taking his place.

Background

4 Runner was founded in Nashville in 1993 by Jim Chapman (bass vocals), Billy Crittenden (baritone vocals), Lee Hilliard (tenor vocals), and Craig Morris (lead vocals, piano). Crittenden was a former backing vocalist for

Tanya Tucker Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958) is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. During her career Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature into adulthood ...

, and Chapman is the brother-in-law of Christian singer

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 cont ...

. In 1994,

Diamond Rio Diamond Rio is an American country music band from Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Marty Roe (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy Olander (lead guitar, banjo), Dan Truman (keyboards), Dana Williams (bass guitar, vocals), Micah Schweinsberg ( ...

had a Top 5 country hit with " Love a Little Stronger", which Billy Crittenden co-wrote, while Morris co-wrote "If I Had Only Known", an album cut for

Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire ( ; born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music, country singer and actress. Dubbed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Sin ...

. The group recorded a demo tape which was given to songwriter Larry Shell, who then submitted it to

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

' Nashville branch. When that label chose to create a new division of

Polydor Records Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

for the country genre, 4 Runner was then signed to Polydor Nashville that year. Before releasing any material of their own, they sang backing vocals on then-labelmate Amie Comeaux's late-1994 debut album ''Moving Out''. "

", co-written by Michael Johnson and former

Poco In software engineering, a plain old CLR object, or plain old class object (POCO) is a simple object created in the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) that is unencumbered by inheritance or attributes. This is often used in opposition to the comp ...

and

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

member Jack Sundrud, was issued as the lead single in early 1995. It reached a peak of No. 26 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' country music charts and No. 14 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' country charts in Canada. The song also had a music video filmed at

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is a national park of the United States located in Hawaii on the island of Hawaii. The park encompasses two active volcanoes: Kīlauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, and Mauna Loa, the world's largest s ...

on the island of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

which was put into medium rotation on CMT. On the success of the single, the group's self-titled debut album was issued in May 1995. Four sides were cut for the album in September 1994, one of which was "Cain's Blood", and the rest of the album was then recorded between January and March 1995.

Buddy Cannon Buddy Cannon (born April 20, 1947 in Lexington, Tennessee) is an American country music songwriter and record producer active since the 1970s best known for his work with Kenny Chesney and Willie Nelson. Career Cannon began working in Nashvill ...

, who produced the album with Shell, noted that he did not attempt to change the "vocal blend" present on the group's demo tape, and thus spent more time focusing on the musical arrangements and song selection. He also noted that the use of four-part vocal harmony made it more difficult to find suitable songs, compared to other country music groups where the vocal harmony is not as prominent. Polydor promoted the group via a showcase in

Marina del Rey Marina del Rey ( Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The eponymous harbor is a major boating and water recreation destination of the Greater Los Angeles ar ...

which is next to

Venice, Los Angeles Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...

in which they and then-labelmates

Chely Wright Chely Wright (born Richell Rene Wright; October 25, 1970) is an American Activism, activist, author, and country music artist. She initially rose to fame as a commercial country recording artist with several charting singles, including the numb ...

and Shane Sutton, performed before 80 radio representatives and 100 representatives of PolyGram Distribution. Three more singles were issued from ''4 Runner'': "A Heart with 4 Wheel Drive", "Home Alone", and "Ripples". While none of these reached Top 40 on the U.S. country music charts, "A Heart with 4 Wheel Drive" made No. 18 on the ''

'' Country Tracks charts in Canada. Crittenden quit the group in October 1995 to focus more on a recording studio and publishing company which he owned at the time. He was replaced by Billy Simon, who made his debut at a concert in Pine Bluff southeast of

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

in the same month. Due to a restructuring of Polydor Nashville, 4Runner was transferred to

Nashville for what would have been its second album, ''One for the Ages''. The lead single was "That Was Him (This Is Now)", written by

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban ( né Urbahn; 26 October 1967) is an Australian and American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Recognised with four Grammy Awards, he has also received 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves Int ...

and Vernon Rust. Although this song entered the country charts, the album itself was not released due to the closure of Polydor/A&M's Nashville unit. 4Runner soon disbanded. During the group's hiatus, Chapman sang backing vocals on

Chad Brock Chad Brock (born July 31, 1963) is an American country music singer and disc jockey. Before beginning his musical career in the late 1990s, he was a professional wrestler in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), until an injury forced him to retire ...

's 1998 self-titled debut album.

Reunion, second disbanding, and second reunion

Chapman, Hilliard, and Morris re-established 4 Runner in 2003, with Michael Lusk becoming the group's third baritone vocalist. They released an

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

rendition of the Christmas song " What Child Is This?" late that year. A second album, ''Getaway Car'', was released in 2003, producing a No. 59 single on the country charts with "Forrest County Line". The title track was later released by both

The Jenkins The Jenkins were an American country music group comprising Nancy Jenkins and her daughters, Kacie and Brodie. The trio had two singles in the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts: "Blame It on Mama" at No. 34 and "Getaway Car" at No. ...

and

Hall & Oates Daryl Hall & John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, were an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1970. Daryl Hall was generally the lead vocalist, while John Oates primarily supplied electric guitar and ba ...

. 4 Runner also provided background vocals on

Craig Morgan Craig Morgan Greer (born July 17, 1964) is an American country music artist. Morgan began his musical career in 2000 on Atlantic Records, releasing his self-titled debut album for that label before the closure of its Nashville division in 20 ...

's 2003 single "God, Family, and Country", which they also recorded on ''Getaway Car''; also included on the album was their own version of "Love a Little Stronger". Shortly after ''Getaway Car'' was recorded, a single called "We Will Hope With You" was released although it was never put on an album. 4 Runner disbanded again after ''Getaway Car'', and all four members joined

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "Hey Loretta", "The Pill (song), The P ...

's road band. Crittenden married songwriter Pam "Sunny" Russ and worked as a real estate agent in

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five ...

. In 2023, 4 Runner reunited a second time with Morris, Hilliard, Chapman, and Morris' son, Sam. The quartet released a new album ''Back Runnin on March 31 of the same year through BFD/Audium Nashville. It includes re-recordings of "Cain's Blood" and "The House at the End of the Road", a track from their self-titled debut. Shortly after the album, Hilliard exited the group as well, with Jim Chapman's brother in law Herbie Chapman taking his place.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
1993 establishments in Tennessee A&M Records artists Country music groups from Tennessee Musical groups from Nashville, Tennessee Musical groups established in 1993 Musical groups reestablished in 2003 Musical groups disestablished in 2005 Musical groups reestablished in 2023 Polydor Records artists Vocal quartets