Eric Champion

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Eric Champion is one of the pioneers of mid 90's Christian pop and modern rock. In the beginning of his musicial career, he was a pop singer. His music had the flair of many of his Christian pop contempories but with more of a Michael Jackson/ Kenny Loggins vocal approach meets futuristic techno dance sounds. Although his first album was released when he was only 18 years old, one of Eric's biggest albums during his pop phase was Vertical Reality which went on to sell nearly 100,000 units.

In 1996, with the release of his Transformation album, Champion revealed his own transformation. He was tired of trying to fit the mold of a Christian pop singer. This unique album was a huge departure from his previous music. It introduced rock guitars, synthesizer loops, special effects, and crooning lyrics and voice overs. The album is still hailed by critics as being ahead of it's time and the musical change was compared by CCM to be as extreme as DC Talk's Jesus Freak from their earlier albums.

In addition to the abrupt change in his musical style, he also changed his appearance. Instead of dressing up nicely and looking like a nice boy on a prom date, he dyed his hair and got a new wave cut. He also began wearing clothes that looked more like his new, post-grunge counterparts than his previous pop singer ones.

In 1998, Champion was featured at the Atlanta Fest Christian music festival.

After the release of his 8th album Natural (his second for Brentwood Essential) Eric left the Nashville scene and moved with his new wife and child to Orlando,FL where he started working at the recording college Full Sail.

In 2005 Eric reappeared with 2 new projects, a new solo EP titled "Unexpected" and a brit pop rock project called Rook which also included former GS Megaphone drummer Randall Shreve.

[edit] Discography

Rook -Bad Memory EP, 2005
Unexpected EP, 2005
The Greatest Hits of Eric Champion, 2000
Natural, 1998
Transformation, 1996
Lover's Heart (Soft Hits), 1995
Vertical Reality, 1994
The B/W Project, 1993 (Along with Rodney "T" Thomas) Released through Warner Alliance.
Save The World, 1992
Hot Christmas, 1992
Revolution Time, 1991
Eric Champion, 1990