Chris Christian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Chris Christian | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | Abilene, Texas |
| Genre(s) | Christian |
| Occupation(s) | songwriter, record producer record label executive |
Chris Christian (born as Lon Christian Smith in Abilene, Texas) is a songwriter, record producer, and a record label executive. His songs have been recorded by Elvis Presley, Olivia Newton-John, Sheena Easton, Dionne Warwick, The Carpenters, Amy Grant, The Imperials, Sandi Patty and others.
He started Amy Grant's music career in 1976 by playing a demo of one of her songs over the telephone to executives at Myrrh Records after she had gotten a job working Saturdays at his recording studio. He produced her first album and acted as executive producer for her second, handing over production duties to his college friend Brown Bannister.
He has produced for The Pointer Sisters, Patti Austin, Al Jarreau, Natalie Cole, Ali Lohan, as well as his Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten song, "I Want You, I Need You".
Christian has produced albums that have been nominated for nine and won four Grammy Awards. He has also been nominated for seven Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, winning five. He has also released sixteen albums of his own.
He previously recorded as a member of the trio of Cotton, Lloyd & Christian. Christian also played guitar in the Chet Atkins band.
In 1981, Chris launched his own label Home Sweet Home Records. On that label he produced albums for White Heart, Steve Archer, Mark Heard and many others.
Christian is currently CEO of World Digital Media Group, a joint venture by Radio Shack, Dish Network, Sirius Radio, and CC Entertainment. WDMG owns YMC Records, and CC Enterainment owns Home Sweet Home Records.
Honors
Inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
References
- Entry about Chris Christian on Answers.com [1]
- "YMC Records To Make First Appearance At The National Association of Recording Merchandisers Convention" at TheFreeLibrary.com [2]
- "WDMG Gets Sirius With Universal Music Enterprises" on Satellite Standard Group's Blogspot page [3]
- "Dallas Exec Matches Up Retailers and Big-Time Recording Artists" column by Cheryl Hall from The Dallas Morning News [4]
