Christopher Edmund Stevens (born November 29, 1967) is an American

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

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

Nashville, Tennessee 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 ...

Early and personal life

Stevens was born November 29, 1967, in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

. He graduated from North Eugene High School and studied electronics at Lane Community College. 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

Christopher Stevens has earned five

Grammy awards 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 ...

and thirteen

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

. He has produced and mixed

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 ...

artists

TobyMac Kevin Michael McKeehan (born October 22, 1964), better known by his stage name TobyMac (styled tobyMac), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. His road band is known as Diverse City. Widely regarded as one of the most ...

, and ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'' finalists

Mandisa Mandisa Lynn Hundley () (October 2, 1976 – April 18, 2024), known mononymously as Mandisa, was an American gospel and contemporary Christian recording artist. She began her solo career as a contestant in the fifth season of ''American Ido ...

and Colton Dixon, 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, country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin (Blake Shelton song), Austin" from his Blake Shelton (album), self ...

and

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005, returning as a judge beginning with the twenty-third season. Underwood's f ...

. In September 2013 Stevens traveled to Barcelona, Spain, to work with International pop star

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977) is a Colombian singer-songwriter. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Latin Music", she has had a Cultural impact of Shakira, significant impact on the ...

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 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 also collaborated with world-pop artist Michael Franti and Spearhead for his 2020 Album
"Work Hard and Be Nice."
Stevens has handled production, writing, and mixing for numerous artists under the EMI CMG,

Word Records Word Records is a Christian faith-based entertainment company based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Curb Records, and is a part of Word Entertainment. It is distributed by Warner Records (the former Warner Bros. Records). History In ...

, 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 (mythology), a queen of Thebes in Greek mythology * INO Records, an American Christian music label * Ino Yamanaka, a character in the ...

Gotee Records Gotee Records is a record label of Christian hip-hop, based in Franklin, Tennessee in the United States. History The label was founded in 1994 by TobyMac, Todd Collins and Joey Elwood. The first album produced is Out of Eden's '' Lovin' th ...

, and

Curb Records Curb Records (also known as Asylum-Curb and formerly known as MCG Curb) is an American record label started by Mike Curb, originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963. From 1969 to 1973, Curb merged with MGM Records where Curb served as President of M ...

labels. He is also credited with programming and keyboards on the Carrie Underwood single " Cowboy Casanova". In 2010 and 2012, Stevens was honored as BMI's Christian Songwriter of the Year. In 2013 he earned 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" was released as the first si ...

''. In 2014 Stevens took home two more Grammys for Contemporary Christian Album for

's '' Overcomer'' and Contemporary Christian Song for its

title song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

. 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 Gloria Fowles (born September 7, 1943), known professionally as Gloria Gaynor, is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), "I Have a Right, Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (1979), "I Am What I Am (Broadway mus ...

'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 Jason Aldine Williams (born February 28, 1977), known professionally as Jason Aldean, is an American country music singer. Since 2005, he has been signed to BBR Music Group, Broken Bow Records, a record label for which he has released eleven alb ...

Lindsay Ell Lindsay Elizabeth Ell (born 20 March 1989) is a Canadian-American country pop singer, songwriter, guitarist and television personality from Calgary, Alberta. Her music incorporates elements of rock and blues. Her debut extended play, ''Worth the ...

David Lee Murphy David Lee Murphy (born January 7, 1959) 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 ...

Kenny Chesney Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country singer. With 30 million albums sold worldwide, he released his debut, '' In My Wildest Dreams'', in 1994, and has since released 19 follow-ups. His albums spawned 27 singles tha ...

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 seven studio albums: his self titled debut in 2009, '' Outla ...

Morgan Wallen Morgan Cole Wallen (born May 13, 1993) is an American country pop singer from Sneedville, Tennessee. He competed in the The Voice (American season 6), sixth season of ''The Voice (American TV series), The Voice''. After being eliminated in the ...

, 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