Since their debut in 2001, Grammy-nominated, American Music Award and multiple GMA Dove Award winners MercyMe have sold over 5 million units in CD and DVD sales, including “Almost There”, nearly triple platinum, “Spoken For,” which is approaching platinum sales, and the RIAA Gold certification for “Undone,” the MercyMe Live DVD, and “Coming Up to Breathe.” Their latest, “All That Is Within Me,” entered the Billboard Top 200 chart at No. 15 and sold an impressive 83,626 units, the most they’ve ever sold in a project’s first week. Recently, Billboard named MercyMe’s “Word Of God Speak” the No. 1 Song of The Decade and the group the No. 1 Christian Songs Artist of the Decade.
MercyMe is one of few Contemporary Christian music groups to have had all of their recordings certified Gold or Platinum, as well as garner 22 No.1 multi-format Christian radio singles, and four consecutive mainstream radio hits with “I Can Only Imagine,” (No. 4 AC/top 25 on Top 40/Hot AC), “Here With Me” (No. 4 AC), “Homesick” (top 10 AC), and “So Long Self.” In 2008 the band was named R&R’s Christian AC Artist of the Year, and as one of the industry’s most notable talents, MercyMe has sold out venues including Radio City Music Hall and has been seen on The Tonight Show, CNN, Fox New Channel’s Fox & Friends, ABC News, CBS’ Early Show, and on the pages of Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, USA Today, Billboard, and more.
www.mercyme.org
Church Music is the follow-up to David Crowder*Band’s 2007 release of Remedy. Along with the group’s 6 GMA Dove Awards and 17 nominations, David Crowder*Band has toured with Michael W. Smith, Third Day and Mercy Me including a headlining tour with Mute Math. The first Christian artist to be named MSN.com’s Artist of the Year in 2006 as well as foster a partnership with M-Audio/Propellerhead’s Reason software, Crowder is also the namesake behind premiere guitar maker Tom Anderson Guitarworks’s Crowdster Acoustic. They have received media coverage from such major news outlets as CNN, Fox and the New York Times. Despite the success, David Crowder*Band makes it a point to get back to University Baptist Church on most Sundays, a church they helped found on the campus of Baylor University in Waco, TX. The band is also featured at the enormously popular Passion gatherings. The group’s leader David Crowder is further an acclaimed author, having penned two books, including his acclaimed, highly personal, Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven, But Nobody Wants to Die.
www.davidcrowderband.com
Formerly known as The Brothers Olds, Family Force Five have been doing things their way since the band’s inception nearly 10 years ago. In follow-up to their debut album Business Up Front, Party In The Back (2006), FF5 released their sophomore release Dance or Die on their record label Transparent Media Group in 2008. Dance was a near-perfect amalgam of dense grooves (“Radiator”), synthesizer-driven funk (the title track), techno-pop nostalgia (“How In The World”) and inspired emo (“The First Time”) that seemingly erased the lines of demarcation between dirty rock clubs and cosmopolitan dancefloors.
Anyone familiar to their mythology knows, when Family Force 5 activate their collective booty-movin’ powers, there’s not a single rock club, dance floor or house party they cannot vanquish. Now, the band is writing new material for their third album, tentatively slated for release later in mid-2010.
www.myspace.com/familyforce5
This New York City-born singer and songwriter has been going non-stop since her debut project, My Paper Heart, released last summer on Fervent/Reprise Records, which boasts the #1 hit for multiple weeks, “Free to be Me.” The single reached an unheard of #1 on four radio charts, and is also the first #1 song from a female at AC radio since 2005. This ranks her as the most added female artist and new artist in Christian radio history. She was named one of iTunes’ best new artists of 2008 within the Christian/Gospel category and received accolades for her single “I’m Letting Go” as the #3 “Best iTunes Song” of the year.
Francesca Battistelli was nominated an astounding five times for the 2009 Dove Awards for Female Vocalist and New Artist of the Year, while “I’m Letting Go” received nominations for Song of the Year and Pop/Contemporary Song of the Year. My Paper Heart was nominated for Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year. Adding to her accolades, Battistelli’s music has been featured in feature films, on AOL Music’s homepage, in ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” NBC’s “Biggest Loser,” and The Style Network’s new reality show “Running In Heels.”
www.francescamusic.com
From national worship conferences to local youth group meetings, the GMA Dove nominated Fee has brought a new level of abandon and talent to rock worship, gifting today’s church with riveting songs of praise. The band has been associated with some of today’s most forthcoming faith-based events including Passion, 7:22 and Catalyst conferences. Hailing from Atlanta, GA, Steve Fee, Matt Adkins, Heath Balltzglier and Brandon Coker still lead worship at the North Point Community Church. Fee released their sophomore project Hope Rising in the fall of 2009. The newest album contains the successful digital and radio single “Glory to God Forever.”
www.feeband.com
There’s a passionate honesty to middle America – it’s deep-rooted and straightforward. Few places embody that better than Lincoln, Nebraska, home to Word/Warner Bros. newest rock outfit, Remedy Drive. A four-piece, four-brother band (David, Philip, Paul and Dan Zach), Remedy Drive has been cranking out their own brand of music as a full time indie for the past 5 years. The band’s debut release, “Daylight Is Coming” was produced by Ian Eskelin (All Star United).
With a message of hope for the searching and a desire to reach beyond a static life for something bigger, Remedy Drive combines a heart-on-a-sleeve sensibilities with their one-of-a-kind live show – the Midwest has never felt like this before!
www.remedydrive.com
As one of Christian music’s fastest rising new bands, Sidewalk Prophets highly anticipated debut record These Simple Truths scanned more than 25,000 copies since releasing in August 2009. Their first single, “The Words I Would Say” made a huge impact at radio holding the #1 at AC Indicator for 5 weeks in a row. Gaining their start leading chapel at Anderson University where founding members Dave Frey and Ben McDonald met, Sidewalk Prophets began playing anywhere they could get an audience. Moving to Nashville on a
wing and a prayer with nothing but an EP the band eventually signed with Fervent Records.
www.sidewalkprophets.com
