PR: Chris Tomlin Named Artist of The Year
| CHRIS TOMLIN NAMED ARTIST OF THE YEAR FOR 2ND CONSECUTIVE YEAR!
Receives Six Dove Awards, Including Repeats for Male Vocalist, Worship Song of the Year |
| (Nashville, TN) April 26, 2007 – sixstepsrecords/Sparrow Records lead-worshiper Chris Tomlin was named the 2007 Gospel Music Association (GMA) Artist and Male Vocalist of the Year for the second consecutive year last night during the 38th Annual GMA Dove Awards held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.
Receiving nine nominations to lead the field of artist nominees for the second consecutive year, Tomlin became the evenings most honored recipient with six awards: Pop/Contemporary Album and Praise & Worship Album of the Year for his current acclaimed album See The Morning, Worship Song of the Year for “Holy is The Lord” from his RIAA Certified Gold album, Arriving, and Special Events Album of the Year for Passion: Everything Glorious. “It’s an incredible honor to receive these GMA Dove nominations and awards. What a humbling gift to be honored by friends and peers…thank you,” says Tomlin. “I pray I can remain focused on carrying the message of a huge and loving God and his unending fame to the ends of the earth. I want to join my voice to that end.” Tomlin, along with a gospel choir, also sang “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)” during the awards show, which is his adaptation of the famous hymn featured on See The Morning and penned in advance of the Amazing Grace feature film released in February by Samuel Goldwyn Films/Roadside Attractions/Bristol Bay Productions. Last night’s live rendition of the song will also begin airing in national television syndication in May as part of the GMA Dove Awards show. In a week filled with industry accolades, Tomlin also was named ASCAP’s Songwriter of the Year with “Made To Worship” and “How Great Is Our God” receiving Most Performed Songs of 2006 honors. “How Great Is Our God” has further been referenced by Time Magazine in an article that named Tomlin as perhaps “the most often sung artist anywhere.” Reinforcing that title, the song has now become Tomlin’s first No. 1 on the CCLI Top 25. The award winning song moved to No. 1 after becoming one of the fasting rising modern day hymns in CCLI chart history. In all, Tomlin has 17 Top 500 CCLI songs that are sung by millions around the world every week as people gather to worship. He has also penned five of the top 25 songs on the chart, with “Holy Is The Lord” and “Forever” landing in the top 10. CCLI serves over 150,000 churches in the US alone (www.ccli.com). As Tomlin’s songs are being sung in the church, they also continue to receive widespread radio airplay. In all, Tomlin currently claims 5 of the top 40 hits on the R&R AC Monitored Christian radio chart, including the current single from See The Morning, “How Can I Keep From Singing” (#4), and the former No. 1 songs, "Made To Worship" (#19), "How Great Is Our God" (#22), "Holy Is The Lord" (#23) and "Indescribable" (#31). The latter three songs from the RIAA Certified Gold album, Arriving, have remained on the illusive play list for an average of nearly two years! Taking his songs to the road, Tomlin’s winter/spring How Great Is Our God Tour, featuring Passion visionary leader and author, Louie Giglio, and sixstepsrecords/ Sparrow Records’ Matt Redman, logged 20 sold out events at venues such as the Dodge Theatre (Phoenix), Nokia Theatre (Dallas), Patriot Center (Fairfax, VA) and Continental Airlines Arena (East Rutherford, NJ) before wrapping up March 23. Leading worship in the local communities, numerous feature stories and reviews have been written about the tour in publications such as the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Grand Rapids Press, Colorado Springs Gazette and more, including: – Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, “Christian Songwriter Remains True to Calling,” www.fortwayne.com – The Christian Post, “Thousands packed the Patriot Center Friday night to sing what they sing every Sunday at church,” www.christianpost.com – Lancaster New Era, “Tomlin, Redman have crowd worshiping and rocking,” http://local.lancasteronline.com – Mobile Press Register, “Chris Tomlin is very clear on the balance of worship and entertainment,” www.al.com – The Daily Times, “Made to lead worship: Tomlin offers up presence, not show,” www.thedailytimes.com In addition to recent features, Tomlin was voted “Best Worship Artist” by Ignite Your Faith magazine readers in The 3rd Annual Golden Ear Awards. In fact, See The Morning, released Sept. 26, 2006, has been widely praised by such noteworthy publications as Billboard, CCM, All Music Guide, Worship Leader and more. The album garnered Tomlin his first and second GRAMMY nominations for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album and Best Gospel Performance for “Made to Worship.” The record also debuted at No. 1 on the SoundScan® compiled Christian retail charts, landed Tomlin his highest Billboard Top 200 position ever at No. 15 with 47,420 units sold in its first week, and was named iTunes’ 2006 “Best Christian Album” of the year. More information on Chris Tomlin and a complete list of tour dates can be found at www.ChrisTomlin.com, www.sixstepsrecords.com and www.emicmg.com. For more information, photos, interviews, etc., visit http://pressroom.emicmg.com or contact Rick Hoganson, Hoganson Media Relations, 615-459-9870, Hoganson@prodigy.net. |
