Michael Gungor
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Michael Gungor (born September 14, 1980) also known as Vishnu Dass, is an American singer-songwriter, producer, music editor, author, and podcast host. He led the
musical collective Musical collective is a phrase used to describe a Musical ensemble, group of musicians in which membership is flexible and creative control is shared.Liisa Ladouceur"Collective Souls" ''This Magazine'', November/December 2004. The concept is dist ...
Gungor, which received multiple Grammy nominations. The group's music has been compared to that of
Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released ten solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomina ...
,
Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon (vocals, guit ...
, and
Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara. The band's touring line-up includes former core ...
. Aside from his work with the band, Michael Gungor has written and produced music for several other artists, and is a co-founder of the art collective The Liturgists.


Music career


Early career

As early as 2002, Gungor began producing albums with his church, Resurrection Life Church in Grandville, near
Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...
. The albums garnered the attention of Integrity Music, who signed Gungor for a solo album. In 2003, he released "Bigger Than My Imagination" under Integrity Media. The album included the single "Friend of God", a
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 ...
-nominated song which Gungor wrote with gospel artist
Israel Houghton Israel Houghton (; born May 19, 1971) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, producer, and worship leader. His worship team is credited as Israel & New Breed. Musical career Houghton produced an album by Michael Gungo ...
. The album enjoyed some radio play. In 2005, Gungor toured with Teen Mania's Acquire the Fire traveling youth rally event. In the same year, he and his wife Lisa released a live album titled ''Battle Cry: Worship from the Frontlines'', through Integrity Media. Michael later retired most of the songs on this album, tweeting a link to his blog which is no longer online. The blog said that he no longer preferred to associate military imagery with Christian belief.


The Michael Gungor Band

In 2006, Michael Gungor parted ways with Integrity Music, seeking more creative control over his music. He then formed the Michael Gungor Band, consisting of himself on guitar and vocals, his wife Lisa on vocals, his brother David Gungor on bass, John Arndt on piano, Josh Eatmon on drums, and former Desperation Band member Michael Rossback as a guitarist and producer. Michael Gungor rented a house down the road from his church in Grandville and turned it into a recording studio. It was there that Gungor and Rossback produced their 2007 release, ''All I Need is Here''. It was Gungor's first independent project and was a great departure from the predictable CCM box of his two releases with Integrity. In 2008, the Michael Gungor Band signed with Brash Records. The label re-released their album in 2008 as ''Ancient Skies'', omitting two songs and adding the upbeat rock opener "Say So", as well as a song sung by Lisa, "You Are The Light".


Gungor

After touring with his sophomore release, Michael Gungor renamed the group from "The Michael Gungor Band" to simply "Gungor" (styled as güngör). It reflected another change, both in the direction of his music and in the evolving number of band members. The first album release under the new name was ''Beautiful Things'' in 2010. The album was yet another departure from Gungor's old style, involving indie-folk instrumentation reminiscent of
Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released ten solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomina ...
and ambient soundscapes. The album featured a short gospel-blues jam featuring
Israel Houghton Israel Houghton (; born May 19, 1971) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, producer, and worship leader. His worship team is credited as Israel & New Breed. Musical career Houghton produced an album by Michael Gungo ...
titled "Heaven". In 2011, the album and its title track, "Beautiful Things", were nominated in the
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 ...
categories Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album and Best Gospel Song, respectively. In 2011, Gungor released ''Ghosts Upon the Earth'' and followed it with a live album, ''A Creation Liturgy'' in 2012. The band's third studio album, ''I Am Mountain'', was released on September 24, 2013. On October 24, 2013, the band began a 60-city headline tour across the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Though Gungor's music is filled with
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
themes and language and is spiritual in nature, the collective has attempted to distance itself from being labeled simply a "Christian" band due to the problematic way the term is often used. Michael Gungor refers to Gungor as a collective because at any given time the group is composed of 3–10 members. He and his wife believe that their music transcends any one genre. Michael writes songs that are a mix of indie rock, post rock, prog, soft rock and more. When asked, he describes his style as "alternative, folk, textured and experimental." The group performed at
SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
2014. Gungor announced the end of their journey as a band in early 2019. The "End of the World" tour became their farewell tour.


The Liturgists

In 2014, Gungor, together with Michael's wife and sister, began collaborating with other artists and releasing music as "The Liturgists", which he calls "an experimental art collective". It is also the title of their podcast, which discusses topics through the lenses of science, art, and faith.


Writing

Michael Gungor published his first book ''The Crowd, the Critic and the Muse'' in 2012. In April 2019, he published his second book ''This''. He is the host of a podcast which shares the name with a book, Loving This, exploring the spiritual themes of clinging and suffering.


Personal life

Michael Gungor grew up in Marshfield southeast of
Eau Claire, Wisconsin Eau Claire ( ; lit. "clear water") is a city in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, Eau Claire and Chippewa County, Wisconsin, Chippewa counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the county seat, seat of Eau Claire County. It is the List of citie ...
. He is the son of pastor and author Ed Gungor. Michael began writing and playing music at a young age. He studied jazz guitar at both
Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a Public university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. B ...
in
Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...
and the
University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...
in Denton while also touring and working as a multi-instrumentalist musician. He met his wife Lisa at
Oral Roberts University Oral Roberts University (ORU) is a Private university, private Evangelicalism, evangelical university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Founded in 1963, the university is named after its founder, Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christian preacher Oral ...
in
Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...
during their first year of college. She later became his music partner and is the other primary vocalist and songwriter for Gungor. Michael and Lisa live in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
with their two daughters, Amelie and Lucette. They wrote the song "Light" for their youngest daughter, born in May 2014, who has Down syndrome. In 2007, Michael and Lisa Gungor founded a non-denominational church community called Bloom, but have since dissociated themselves from the church.


Discography


Michael Gungor

*'' Bigger Than My Imagination'' (November 11, 2003) *''Battle Cry: Worship from the Frontlines'' (October 4, 2005)


Michael Gungor Band

*''Ancient Skies'' EP (March 24, 2006) *''All I Need Is Here'' (October 9, 2007) *''Ancient Skies'' (September 9, 2008)


Gungor

*''Beautiful Things'' (February 16, 2010) *'' Ghosts Upon the Earth'' (September 20, 2011) *''A Creation Liturgy'' (October 9, 2012) *''I Am Mountain'' (September 24, 2013) *'' One Wild Life: Soul'' (August 7, 2015) *''O Christmas EP '' (November 27, 2015) *'' One Wild Life: Spirit'' (March 25, 2016) *''One Wild Life: Body'' (September 30, 2016)


The Liturgists

*''Vapor'' EP (February 28, 2014) *''Garden'' EP (April 8, 2014) *''God Our Mother'' EP (May 6, 2014) *''Pentecost'' EP (June 6, 2014) *''Oh Light'' (December 20, 2015) *''Holy Week'' (March 2016)


Awards

*
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 ...
2008: "Say So" – Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year * Independent Music Awards 2013: ''A Creation Liturgy (Live)'' – Best Live Performance Album"12th Annual Independent Music Awards Winners Announced!"
Independent Music Awards, June 11, 2013. Retrieved on September 4, 2013.


Publications

* ''The Crowd, the Critic, and the Muse: A Book for Creators'' – (2012) * ''This: Becoming Free'' – (2019)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gungor, Michael Living people Oral Roberts University alumni Western Michigan University alumni University of North Texas College of Music alumni 1980 births American spiritual writers