Sparrow Records is a

Christian music Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christianity, Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence and lament, and its f ...

record label and a division of

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

History

Sparrow Records was founded in 1976 by Billy Ray Hearn, then

artists and repertoire Artists and repertoire (or A&R for short) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for scouting, financing, and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters. It also acts as a l ...

(A&R) director at Myrrh Records.

Barry McGuire Barry McGuire (born October 15, 1935) is an American singer-songwriter primarily known for his 1965 hit " Eve of Destruction". He was later a singer and songwriter of contemporary Christian music. Early life McGuire was born in Oklahoma City; ...

was the first artist signed to the label, followed quickly by John Michael Talbot and his brother Terry, Janny Grein, and Annie Herring of 2nd Chapter of Acts; all of whom released albums with Sparrow in May of that year. Purchased by

Thorn EMI Thorn EMI was a major British company involved in consumer electronics, music, defence and retail. Created when Thorn Electrical Industries merged with EMI in October 1979, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituen ...

in 1992, Sparrow's parent underwent a

demerger A demerger is a form of corporate restructuring in which the entity's business operations are segregated into one or more components. It is the converse of a Mergers and acquisitions, merger or acquisition. A demerger can take place through a cor ...

four years later to become the EMI Group, and the label is now part of the

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 ...

. As of 2009, Sparrow's artists include

Britt Nicole Brittany Nicole Waddell (born August 2, 1984), better known by her stage name Britt Nicole, is an American singer and songwriter. She has mainly charted as a Christian pop artist, but in 2012 found her debut mainstream single, "Gold" and in 201 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Matt Redman Matthew James Redman (born 14 February 1974) is an English Christian worship leader, singer-songwriter and author. Redman has released 16 albums, written 8 books, and helped start three church-plants. He is best known for his two-time Grammy A ...

Matthew West Matthew Joseph West (born April 25, 1977) is an American contemporary Christian musician and singer-songwriter. He has released five studio albums and is known for his songs "More (Matthew West song), More", "You Are Everything (Matthew West so ...

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 ...

and

Switchfoot Switchfoot is an American rock music, rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drum kit, drums, percussion), and Jerome Fontamillas (g ...

. Since 1996, a popular production of Sparrow Records has been the annual '' WOW Hits''

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 ...

series. In 1998, the WOW franchise then added the annual '' WOW Gospel'' series of albums. The '' WOW Worship'' series was introduced in 1999.

Notable artists

:''Source:'
Artist List
*

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She began her music career in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the mid-1980s. Grant has been referred to as "Honorific ...

* Anne Wilson *

Bethel Music Bethel Music is an American Christian music label and publishing group. Beginning as a local music ministry, it became a global outreach collective of songwriters and musicians. History Between 2009 and 2013, Bethel Music developed a record la ...

* Blessing Offor * Brian Courtney Wilson * Brandon Lake * Brooke Ligertwood * Bryan & Katie Torwalt * Chris McClarney * Chris Quilala *

* Christine D'Clario * Cody Carnes * Crowder *

Dante Bowe Dante Bowe (born May 10, 1993) is an American contemporary music singer, and songwriter. He is known as a member of Maverick City Music and a former member of the Bethel Music collective. In 2017, Bowe released his debut single, "Potter and F ...

* Danny Gokey * Ellie Holcomb * Evvie McKinney * Hillsong United *

Hillsong Worship Hillsong Worship (formerly Hillsong Live) is a contemporary worship music, praise and worship collective from Sydney, Australia. They started making music in 1983 at Hillsong Church. Fifteen of their songs have appeared on the ''Billboard (magazi ...

* Hillsong Young & Free * HLE * Housefires *

Jeremy Camp Jeremy Thomas Camp (born January 12, 1978) is an American Contemporary Christian music, contemporary Christian singer and songwriter from Lafayette, Indiana. He has released eleven albums, four of them RIAA certification, RIAA-certified as Music ...

* Jeremy Rosado * Jesus Culture * Jon Foreman * Karen Clark Sheard * Kari Jobe * Kevin Curiel * Kevin Quinn * Kim Walker-Smith * Mac Powell * Mosaic MSC *

Newsboys Newsboys (sometimes stylised as newsboys) are a Christian rock band that has existed in various permutations since its founding in 1985 in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia, by Peter Furler and George Perdikis. Now based in Nashville, Tenness ...

* Passion * Pat Barrett * Rend Collective (with Rend Family Records) * Ricky Dillard * Riley Clemmons * Social Club Misfits * Stephen Stanley * Tasha Cobbs Leonard *

Tauren Wells Tauren Gabriel Wells (born April 7, 1986) is an American Contemporary Christian music singer and pastor from Houston, Texas. Wells was the frontman of former Christian band Royal Tailor. After the group's disbandment in 2015, he released ''Unde ...

* The Baylor Project *

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 ...

(also with

ForeFront Records ForeFront Records is a contemporary Christian music and Christian rock record label founded in 1987 by Dan R. Brock, Eddie DeGarmo, Dana Key, and Ron W. Griffin. It was purchased by EMI in 1996 from Dan R. Brock and Eddie DeGarmo, and is a divis ...

) * Twinkie Clark * Tye Tribbett *

We the Kingdom We the Kingdom is an American contemporary Christian music band signed to the Capitol Christian Music Group. The band consists of multiple generations of relatives: Andrew Bergthold, Ed Cash, Martin Cash, and Scott Cash. The band's name comes a ...

Former

* 2nd Chapter of Acts (disbanded) * Above the Golden State *

Susan Ashton Susan Ashton (born Susan Rae Hill; July 17, 1967) is an American contemporary Christian music and country music artist who topped the Christian charts throughout the 1990s. In 1991 she began using her mother's maiden name, Ashton, when she reco ...

(active, unsigned) *

Audrey Assad Audrey Nicole Assad (born July 1, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released six studio albums and four extended plays, EPs. Early life Audrey Assad's mother was from Virginia and her father is a Christian Syrian American, Syrian- ...

(active, independent) * Avalon (active, with Red Street Records) * Margaret Becker (active, with Kingsway Music) * Bellarive * Dan Bremnes * Steve Camp (active, unsigned) * Michael Card (active, unsigned) * Marcos Vidal (active, unsigned) * Carman (deceased) *

(active, with Reunion Records) * City Harbor * Daryl Coley (deceased) * David Crowder*Band (disbanded, had moved to sixstepsrecords) * Danyew * DC Talk (hiatus) * Delirious? (disbanded) * Bethany Dillon (active) * Dogs of Peace (active) * Earthsuit (disbanded) * The Elms (disbanded) *

Kirk Franklin Kirk Dewayne Franklin (born January 26, 1970) is an American Gospel music, gospel musician. One of the List of best-selling gospel music artists, best-selling gospel music artists, his accolades include 20 Grammy Awards. ''Variety (magazine), Var ...

(active, with GospoCentric Records) *

Peter Furler Peter Andrew Furler (born 8 September 1966) is an Australian musician, songwriter, producer and record executive, best known as the co-founder and lead vocalist of the Christian rock band Newsboys from 1986 to 2009. Biography Furler was born ...

(active, independent) * Keith Green (deceased) * Steve Green (active, unsigned) * Rickey Grundy, (active, independent) * Charlie Hall (active, with sixstepsrecords) * Matt Hammitt * Tramaine Hawkins * Tim Hughes (active, with

Survivor Records Survivor Records is a British Christian Music record label and is a sub-ministry of Kingsway Communications. The label launched in 1997 as a medium by which to publish music associated with the Soul Survivor events. One of the first artists s ...

) * Kari Jobe (active, with

) *

Jump5 Jump5 was an American contemporary Christian music, Christian teen pop group active from 1999 until 2007. The group was made up of five members from Nashville: Brandon and Brittany Hargest, Chris Fedun, Lesley Moore, and Libby Hodges. After Lib ...

(disbanded) *

Phil Keaggy Philip Tyler Keaggy (born March 23, 1951) is an American acoustic and electric guitarist and vocalist who has released more than 55 albums and contributed to many more recordings in both the contemporary Christian music and mainstream markets. H ...

(active) * Donald Lawrence * Luminate *

(deceased) *

(active, unsigned) * Geoff Moore and the Distance (disbanded) *

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 ...

(active, with Rocketown Records) * Needtobreathe (active, with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

) *

(active, with

Fair Trade Services Fair Trade Services, formerly known as INO Records, is an American record label based in Brentwood, Tennessee, specializing in Contemporary Christian music (CCM). History The label was founded in 1999 as INO Records, a division of M2 Communic ...

) * Christy Nockels (active, with sixstepsrecords) *

Out of the Grey Out of the Grey is a husband-and-wife Contemporary Christian music project consisting of Scott and Christine Denté. Christine provides lead vocals, while Scott plays guitars and sings background, along with the occasional lead vocals. They have ...

(on hiatus) * Twila Paris (active, with Koch Records) * Charlie Peacock (active, independent) * Marty Raybon *

(active, with Integrity Music) * Resurrection Band * Sanctus Real (active, with

) * Sarah Reeves * Samestate * Robbie Seay Band (active, unsigned) * Something Like Silas * Soulfire Revolution * Kristian Stanfill (active, with sixstepsrecords) * Starfield (active, independent) *

(active, with lowercase people records) (Switchfoot still has a distribution agreement with Sparrow Records) * Russ Taff (active, with Springhouse Records) * John Michael Talbot (active, with Troubadour for the Lord) * Steve Taylor *

(active, with sixstepsrecords) *

Michelle Tumes Michelle Louise Tumes (born 1971) is an Australian contemporary Christian musician from Adelaide. In 1993, she moved to the United States and has released four studio albums, ''Listen'' (1998), ''Center of My Universe'' (2000), ''Dream'' (2001) ...

(active, with EMI CMG) * The Waiting (active, independent) * Sheila Walsh (active) * Matthew Ward (active, independent) *

* Lisa Whelchel * White Heart * Josh Wilson (active on Black River Christian) *

Deniece Williams June Deniece Williams (née Chandler; born June 3, 1950) is an American singer. She has been described as "one of the great Soul music, soul voices" by the BBC. She is best known for the songs "Free (Deniece Williams song), Free", "Silly (song ...

(last worked, with

Shanachie Records Shanachie Records is an American, New Jersey–based record label, founded in 1975 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins. The label is named for the Gaelic word '' seanchaí'' (anglicised as shanachie), an Irish storyteller. It was previously distr ...

) * ZOEgirl (disbanded) * Danniebelle Hall (deceased) * West Angeles Church of God in Christ Mass Choir and Congregation ("Saints in Praise" series) * The Archers (musical group) *

Jimi Cravity Maurice Eugene Willis (born December 4, 1984), who goes by the stage name Jimi Cravity, is an American Christian musician, who primarily plays a style Christian pop, EDM, R&B, and hip hop music. He has released two musical works, both being e ...

* Kristene DiMarco * Colton Dixon (with

19 Recordings 19 Recordings Inc. (registered in the United Kingdom as 19 Recordings Ltd.) is a New York–based record label owned by 19 Entertainment. Founded in London by British entrepreneur Simon Fuller in 1999 as the music division of 19 Entertainment, th ...

) * Shawn McDonald * NF (with

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 ...

) *

(with

) * Christy Nockels * Nichole Nordeman * Kristian Stanfill *

The Young Escape The Young Escape (styled "THE YOUNG ESCAPE", "the young escape" , or TYE) is a Christian electronic pop band from Southern California, composed of siblings Ryan, McKenna, Kyrsten, and Luke Johns. The band signed to Capitol Christian Music Group ...

Compilations

* ''Firewind: A Contemporary Dramatic Musical'' (1976) * ''Christmas'' (1988) * '' Passion: Awakening'' (2010)

Sparrow projects

* WOW Worship Series

References

External links

Official site

EMI Christian Music Group
{{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 1976 Universal Music Group Gospel music record labels Evangelical Christian record labels 1976 establishments in Tennessee