Jason Gray (musician)

Jason Gray
Jason Gray in concert
Background information
Birth name	Jason Jeffrey Gay[1]
Born	(1972-01-18) January 18, 1972 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Origin	Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Genres	Contemporary Christian
Occupations	vocalist, singer, songwriter
Instruments	Tenor, Guitar
Years active	1990–present
Labels	EMI CMG, Centricity
Associated acts	Jeremy Camp Sheila Walsh
Website	www.jasongraymusic.com

Jason Jeffrey Gay (born January 18, 1972) is an American contemporary Christian singer-songwriter, who is better know by his stage name Jason Gray, he was born and raised in Minnesota and now lives near the Twin Cities area. He released a number of albums independently under his real name Jason Gay. Since 2006, he is signed to Centricity Music releasing more albums under the name Jason Gray with them.

Career

Gray grew up in Southwestern Minnesota and spent six years in youth ministry, before going into full time music ministry in 1999 as an independent artist. Gray has a speech disorder, as a person who stutters,^[2] his work emphasizes finding strength in weakness.^[3]

Gray released four independent records before signing with Centricity Music in 2006. Centricity released his first major label record, "All The Lovely Losers" in 2007. Centricity Music ChristianityToday.com calls Gray one of "Christian music's best kept secrets."^[4][5]

Gray has collaborated with artists such as Sara Groves, Andrew Peterson, Joel Hanson (frontman for 90s Christian rock band PFR), Andy Gullahorn, Randall Goodgame, Jason Ingram, Thad Cockrell, Andy Osenga (of Caedmon's Call) and others. He has toured with Jeremy Camp, Sanctus Real, Matthew West, Shawn McDonald, downhere, Big Daddy Weave, The Afters, Mark Schultz and others.^[6]

He garnered his first No. 1 single when "Nothing Is Wasted" reached the top spot on the Soft AC Chart in May 2013. ^[7] Also in May 2013, he was honored at ASCAP's 35th Annual Christian Music Awards with the "Most Performed Song Award" for his song "Good to Be Alive" co-written with Brandon Heath and Jason Ingram. The song was a Top 5 single on Christian radio and was released on Gray's album A Way to See in the Dark.^[8]

Charity

Gray was honored as one of "Ten Outstanding Young Minnesotans" in 2003 by the Minnesota Junior Chamber for his volunteerism, civic leadership, and humanitarian work with World Vision's "Hope Initiative", which addresses the needs of children orphaned by AIDS in Africa and other third-world countries. Gray has been to Africa in 2003 and 2006, and is known for his advocacy of AIDS orphans.^[9] His passion for understanding service to the poor as a form of worship is expressed in his song "Fade With Our Voices" from his 2009 release Everything Sad Is Coming Untrue. In 2010, Gray concluded the World Vision-sponsored tour "Make a Difference Tour 2010" with Third Day, Toby Mac, Michael W. Smith and Max Lucado.^[10]

Personal life

Jason Gray was born and raised in Minnesota. His mother used to make her living by performing in bar bands for a long time and touring. Gray lived in a broken family. Conceived out of wedlock, though his parents married later, disagreements continued leading to a bitter divorce and custody battle when Gray was just six. His mother remarried, but his step father became increasingly abusive and turned into drug dealing, and got involved in organized crime. They parted ways after he threatened his mother and her children after her conversion and her decision to quit singing in bars in favor of church music and revival recitals.^[11]

Gray himself converted when he was 15. He learned to the play guitar after graduating from high school. He suffers from stuttering, but this impediment does not affect him while he's singing. He claims he was greatly influenced by classical and folk music particularly lyric-driven singer-songwriters like Simon & Garfunkel, Gordon Lightfoot, Dan Fogleberg, Billy Joel, Duran Duran, U2, Peter Gabriel.^[11]

Gray was born Jason Gay, but added an "r" to his last name in 2006 "to improve his marketing".^[1]

He is married to Taya^[5][12][13] and has three sons, older twin sons, Kipper and Jacob, and a younger son Gus. Gray's album Christmas Stories: Repeat The Sounding Joy features Gray's two older boys providing background vocals and hand-claps on the album, but it's Gray's youngest son, Gus, who actually takes the lead vocal.^[14]

Discography

Albums

as Jason Gay

(*Appeared in the Heatseekers Albums Chart)

Singles

References

External links

• Official website
• Centricity Music: Jason Gray page

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