Christopher Dwayne Tomlin (born May 4, 1972) is an American

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

singer, songwriter, and

worship leader Contemporary worship is a form of Christian worship that emerged within Western evangelical Protestantism in the 20th century. It was originally confined to the charismatic movement, but is now found in a wide range of churches, including many ...

from

Grand Saline, Texas Grand Saline is a city in Van Zandt County, Texas, Van Zandt County, Texas, United States, located in East Texas. The population was 3,107 as of 2020, making Grand Saline the third-largest city in Van Zandt County. The city is located roughly 75 m ...

. He is signed to Universal's

Capitol Christian Music Group Capitol Christian Music Group (Capitol CMG) (formerly known as EMI Christian Music Group) is an American music group that, since 2013, is under the ownership of Universal Music Group. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, the label is in the Christian ...

. Some of his most well-known songs are "

How Great Is Our God "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 (magazine), Billboard'' Hot Christian Songs chart. It is also feat ...

", " Our God", " Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies)" and " Holy Forever". In 2006, according to Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), an organization that licenses music to churches, Tomlin was the most often sung contemporary artist in U.S. congregations. Tomlin has produced 21 number-one radio singles, 30 top-ten hits (more than any other Christian artist), and spent over 158 weeks at number-one during his career. He has sold more than 12 million albums with more than 7 Billion career global streams, won a

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

, three

Billboard Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by '' Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...

, 31

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 ceremonies presented annually and have been held in Nashville, Tennessee exce ...

s, is a two-time BMI Songwriter of the Year honoree, and is an

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

Songwriter of the Year. In 2016, he was named one of only four artists to ever receive the Sound Exchange Digital Radio Award for over 1 billion digital radio streams, alongside

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Prince of Pop", ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' honored him as the b ...

, Pitbull, and

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, ...

. Tomlin is also the first Christian artist to reach 1 billion streams on

Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...

and was presented with their BILLIONAIRE award. Regarded as one of the most successful Christian touring artists today, Tomlin has sold-out venues including

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

’s

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

, Nashville’s

Bridgestone Arena Bridgestone Arena (originally Nashville Arena, and formerly Gaylord Entertainment Center and Sommet Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Completed in 1996, it is the home of the Nashville Predat ...

, Denver's

Red Rocks Amphitheatre Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also known colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheater in the Western United States, western United States near Morrison, Colorado, approximately southwest of Denver. It is owned and operated by the c ...

, and LA’s Banc of California Stadium. His “Good Friday Nashville” concerts have frequently sold out. The event holds the record as the longest running annual charity related concert at Bridgestone Arena.

Early life

At the age of 13, Tomlin began singing at the Main Street

Baptist church Baptists are a denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers ( believer's baptism) and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches generally subscribe to the doctrines of ...

in Grand Saline. He wrote his first worship song at age fourteen. During high school, Tomlin learned to lead worship in his youth group. After graduating from Grand Saline High School in 1990, he entered Tyler Junior College (TJC) planning for a medical or

physical therapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

career. Tomlin graduated in 1992 and enrolled in

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

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 Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

. After college Tomlin participated as a worship leader at various camps in Texas, including Dawson McAllister Youth Conferences. While at Breakaway, Tomlin participated in a Bible study led by Choice Ministries founder Louie Giglio. 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'', was released in 2001, featuring the song "Forever". He released the live EP ''545'' and his second studio album '' Not to Us'' in 2002. 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 Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

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 cont ...

Michael W. Smith Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian music, contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when "Place in This Worl ...

, 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 ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, 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 Mission specialist (MS) is a term for a specific position held by astronauts who are tasked with conducting a range of scientific, medical, or engineering experiments during a spaceflight mission. These specialists were usually assigned to a s ...

Patrick Forrester on

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, 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. ...

mission

STS-117 STS-117 (ISS assembly sequence, ISS assembly flight 13A) was a Space Shuttle mission flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis, Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'', launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39, pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center on June ...

. Chris Tomlin left Sixstepsrecords in 2015 and signed to

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

CMG and River Music Holdings in 2016

Personal life

Tomlin married Lauren Bricken on November 9, 2010. Together they have three daughters, Ashlyn, Madison and Elle.

Discography

Independent releases *''Inside Your Love'' (1995) *''Authentic'' (1998) *''Too Much Free Time'' (1998) ith Ross King Commercial releases *'' The Noise We Make'' (2001) *'' Not to Us'' (2002) *'' Arriving'' (2004) *'' See the Morning'' (2006) *'' Hello Love'' (2008) *'' And If Our God Is for Us...'' (2010) *'' Burning Lights'' (2013) *'' Love Ran Red'' (2014) *'' Never Lose Sight'' (2016) *'' Holy Roar'' (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

for reaching a billion Pandora streams.

Grammy Awards

GMA Dove Awards

Throughout his career, Chris Tomlin has been nominated for more than 50 Dove Awards (at least 6 of them collaborative efforts) and won 23 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 male singers 20th-century American singer-songwriters 20th-century evangelicals 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century evangelicals American evangelicals American male singer-songwriters American performers of Christian music Christian music songwriters Composers of Christian music Grammy Award winners Musicians from Austin, Texas People from Grand Saline, Texas Performers of contemporary worship music Singer-songwriters from Texas Sixstepsrecords artists Sparrow Records artists Texas A&M University alumni Tyler Junior College alumni