Alisa Childers

Alisa Childers (born Alisa Noelle Girard, April 17, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter. She is known for being in the all female group ZOEgirl. She has had a string of top ten radio singles, four studio releases, and received the Dove Award from being with ZOEgirl.^[1]

History

Early years

Born Alisa Noelle Girard to Karen and Christian music pioneer, Chuck Girard of Lovesong, she grew up in San Fernando Valley, California. She studied gymnastics and piano at a young age. Childers was very athletic, and was the captain of her high school cheerleading squad and softball team. At the age of 21, she moved to New York and ran a youth center in southeast Manhattan.^[2]

ZOEgirl

Alisa left New York and moved back to California, where she was contacted by a family friend about starting a group upon return. After a few months, Alisa agreed to pursue the idea. She was introduced to Kristin Swinford-Schweain and the two began composing songs. A few months later, Chrissy Conway-Katina joined the group.^[1] In 1999, ZOEgirl was signed to Sparrow Records and became one of the fastest-selling debut artist in the record label’s history. While with ZOEgirl, Alisa wrote the singles "I Believe", "Unchangeable", and "Scream". She toured with many artists including Newsboys, TobyMac, Avalon, Jump5, and Natalie Grant.^[1] In 2002, ZOEgirl won the New Artist of the Year award at the GMA Dove Awards. In 2011, she joined former bandmates Schweain and Katina for a ZOEgirl reunion interview on the Brian Mason Show in Nashville.

Solo career

ZOEgirl stayed together for seven years.^[2] Their split was completely amicable and resulted in an ongoing friendship with group members Chrissy Conway-Katina and Kristin Swinford-Schweain.^[3] At the end of 2006, Alisa started a solo career.^[4] Her self-titled album was released on December 1, 2007 under Vintage Street Music. She has finished writing and recording her sophomore effort, Plastic Guns, as of 2009 but has never released the project. Four songs from the record, "All Because You Love Me So", "Go Down Fighting", "From California", and "Plastic Guns" are available on her website as free downloads.

Girard

Alisa started a band with two of her sisters Kristin and Nikki and Kristin's daughters Lauren and Kaitlyn in late 2009 called Girard and they released their self-titled debut album together on April 20, 2011. They released this album independently under Calvary Chapel Music. They did this as a tribute to their father/grandfather Chuck Girard who committed his life to Jesus at Calvary Chapel in 1969. Girard is currently inactive.

Personal life

Alisa is married to Mike Childers, who played drums for the now-disbanded ZOEgirl.^[1] The couples romantic interest sparked in 2003.^[5] On October 9, 2008 Alisa and Mike had their first child together Dyllan Joi Childers.^[6] Mike has two children from a previous marriage. Alisa gave birth to a second child, a boy she named Ayden, in August 2011.^[7]

References