Laura Mixon Story Elvington 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. ''Billboard'' ranked her as the 40th Top Christian Artist of the 2010s. She has 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 ...

and six

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. Her second studio album, ''Blessings'', reached No. 1 on

Top Christian Albums Top Christian Albums is a weekly chart published in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the best-performing Christian albums in the United States. Like the ''Billboard'' 200, the data is compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly ...

Americana/Folk Albums Americana/Folk Albums (formerly Folk Albums) is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine which ranks the top selling "current releases by traditional folk artists, as well as appropriate titles by acoustic-based singer-songwriters ...

(where it spent three weeks atop the charts), and peaked at No. 30 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

. It also achieved

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Gold status. The title track off the album '' Blessings'' became her first No. 1 hit 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 ...

Christian Songs Hot Christian Songs is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It ranks the popularity of Christian songs using the same methodology developed for the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the magazine's flagship songs c ...

chart. The single eventually went on to win the 2012

Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Song The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Song 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 songs in the Contemporary ...

and achieved Platinum status in the United States.

Education

Story originally attended the University of South Carolina, majoring in music, before transferring to

Columbia International University Columbia International University (CIU) is a private Christian university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. It was founded in 1923. Academics CIU has six colleges: College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, Cook School of Bus ...

. Story received a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Columbia International University in 2003. She received a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from

Covenant Theological Seminary Covenant Theological Seminary, informally called Covenant Seminary, is the denominational seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Located in Creve Coeur, Missouri, it trains people to work as leaders in church positions and elsewh ...

. She earned a Doctor of Worship Studies from The Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies in 2019, with a thesis titled "Developing Worship Leaders On Approaching God With Reverence, Johns Creek, Georgia."

Career

Story began her career in 1996 when she met Shane Williams, from the band Silers Bald, at

. Williams asked Story to join the band and she became their bass player. Story released four independent albums with the band. When the band was about to sign a deal with Essential Records, Story's manager suggested she record a solo album. In 2002, Story left Silers Bald and began working on her first album, ''Indescribable'', released independently that same year. In 2004, the title track of her album was recorded by

Chris Tomlin Christopher Dwayne Tomlin (born May 4, 1972) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, and worship leader from Grand Saline, Texas. He is signed to Universal Music Group, Universal's Capitol Christian Music Group. Some of h ...

on his album '' Arriving''. Tomlin's version peaked at No. 2 on ''

Hot Christian Songs Hot Christian Songs is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It ranks the popularity of Christian songs using the same methodology developed for the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the magazine's flagship songs c ...

and was included in the compilation album ''Passion: How Great Is Our God''. The band

Avalon Avalon () is an island featured in the Arthurian legend. It first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' as a place of magic where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was made and later where Arthur was taken to recove ...

also recorded a version of the song for the '' WOW Worship 2006'' album. Story released her second independent album in 2005, titled ''There Is Nothing''. The album was produced by

Ed Cash Edmond Martin Cash (born August 6, 1971) is an American record producer, songwriter, audio engineer, and multi-instrumentalist. AllMusic/ref> He has produced or written for artists including Steven Curtis Chapman, Dolly Parton, and Chris Tomli ...

and Mitch Dane. During that year, she also married Martin Elvington, and moved to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia, to become an associate

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 ...

at Perimeter Church. In 2006, Story signed a recording contract with

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 ...

and two years later released her third album, '' Great God Who Saves''. The album also was produced by Ed Cash. In 2010, she was nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year at the

41st GMA Dove Awards The 41st Annual GMA Dove Awards presentation was held on April 21, 2010 recognizing accomplishments of musicians for the year 2009. The show was held at The Opry Entertainment Complex in Nashville, Tennessee, and was hosted by Bart Millard. Nom ...

. Story released the album ''Blessings'', in 2011, and another album, ''God of Every Story'', on September 30, 2013.

''Blessings''

In May 2011 Story released her fourth album, '' Blessings''. To date, the album ranks as her biggest commercial success, having debuted at No. 2 on ''

Christian Albums Top Christian Albums is a weekly chart published in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the best-performing Christian albums in the United States. Like the ''Billboard'' 200, the data is compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly ...

, giving Story her highest placement ever on the album chart. In June 2011, the first single off the album, also titled " Blessings", reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard''

chart, giving Story her first number one hit. In an interview, Story explains, "''Blessings'' is just a bunch of songs about worshiping when life is hard". After her husband Martin Elvington was diagnosed with a brain tumor, she asked, "Why didn't you just fix it, God? You're all powerful and all loving… just fix it." Later, after Story mentioned her desire to return to a normal life, her sister responded, "You know, I think the detour is actually the road." Story realized, "Spending time with Martin obviously makes me happy, but it makes me a better person. That's the blessing of it." After the success of Story's Grammy-winning song "Blessings", a 30-day devotional book was released entitled ''What If Your Blessings Come Through Raindrops?'' ( Worthy Publishing, 2012 ). Each chapter contains thoughts, prayers and quotes along with a journaling page for readers to recall blessings they have seen in their own lives.

Discography

Solo albums

With Silers Bald

Singles

*''"Blessings"'' also charted on the ''Billboard'' Heatseekers Song chart peaking at No. 18.

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

GMA Dove Awards

Bibliography

* ''What If Your Blessings Come Through Raindrops?'', Worthy Publishing, 2012 * ''When God Doesn't Fix It'', Worthy Publishing, 2015

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Story, Laura Living people American women singer-songwriters Christian music songwriters American performers of Christian music Performers of contemporary worship music Fair Trade Services artists Grammy Award winners 1978 births 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American women singers