Sep 14 2005
- Sparrow Records’ artist Steven Curtis Chapman recently won a GRAMMY Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album for his latest release, All Things New. I don’t know if you realize this, but Steven Curtis Chapman has sold over nine million records, including two RIAA certified platinum albums and seven RIAA certified gold albums. He’s also received five GRAMMY awards, an American Music Award, 47 Dove Awards (more than any other artist to date), and he has recorded 42 No. 1 radio hits as well as receiving numerous other honors. Wow! Meanwhile, the Chapman family has established Shaohannah’s Hope, a foundation providing information and assistance to families who desire to adopt. For more information, please visit www.ShaohannahsHope.org.
- Inpop punk/pop/rock band Superchic[k] offers a new project, Beauty From Pain, hitting stores March 29. “Pure,” the album’s first single, represents an in-depth look at Superchic[k]’s individual’s lives over the past year, as every band member faced the breakup of a serious relationship. And you know how hard that can be. “With each of us going through these painful experiences, we were able to expound on the emotions we were feeling and learn from the pain,” describes deejay/producer Max Hsu. Vocalist Tricia Brock adds, “This album is more about where we are at right now. It makes the music more powerful. We are singing from the heart, full of emotion, showing people that we relate to those times when you don’t understand God and life gets lonely.”
- Pictures on Mantles: The Best of Russ Lee, a compilation of the singer/songwriter’s career-spanning greatest hits, is now available from Lee’s Vertical Vibe Records. Lee co-wrote nine of the project’s 12 selections, including two new cuts, "Faithful Love" and "Sweetest Sound," co-penned with James Elliott. Besides recording, Lee has visited Iraq twice to perform a series of concerts and visit with U.S. military personnel stationed throughout the country. Kudos to him for that!
- Gospel singer LaShun Pace hasn’t recorded for four years, and during that time, she’s had a rough time: the loss of a daughter, a separation and divorce and a battle with her weight. But, God is a God of restoration, and though she was tested in the fire, she’s coming out gold on her EMI Gospel release, It’s My Time, in stores March 1.
- Christian music legend Sandi Patty (best known for her incredible voice and her divorce, which sent shockwaves thru the Christian music industry because it puts its stars on pedestals of perfection and once in a while gets quite judgmental and forgets that every one, saved or unsaved, is imperfectly human…) has written a book about her rise and fall and rise again in Christian music. It’s called Broken on the Back Row, and is available from Howard Publishing.
- Compelled to make a difference in third-world countries, rock band Jars of Clay founded the Blood:Water Mission. The first effort of this non-profit organization is the 1000 Wells Project, which officially launches in Spring 2005, with the goal of raising funds to build, rebuild and repair 1000 wells in urban and rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa. The band will have a new CD, Redemption Songs, a collection of soulful recordings crafted from ancient hymn texts and spiritual songs, available at retail on March 22.
- Australian Paul Colman is set to release his 11-song solo debut, Let It Go, for Inpop Records on March 1. You’ll hear his new song, “Gloria,” on the radio. Paul commented, “I wanted a song that called everyone to acknowledge the God of creation. ‘Gloria’ is a call to all humanity. We are all here together, and we were made by God, so let us come before Him and give Him glory.”
