Christian music news: Here I am To Worship, Michael W. Smith

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Christian music news: michael w smith - ( Draw me close )

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Christian music news: Michael W Smith - Awesome God

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Christian music news: Christian Artist: Michael W. Smith

Latest christian music: Michael Whitaker Smith was born in Kenova, West Virginia, on October 7, 1957, the son of an oil refinery worker and a caterer. At age 5 he wrote his first song. At age ten he gave his life to Christ and he spent the remainder of his youth with a group of strong Christian friends. However, once he was in college he found a new group of friends and started experimenting with alcohol, drugs and partying.
In 1978 he moved to Nashville to work as a songwriter and he quickly started playing music with a local band. A year later he hit bottom and recommitted his life to Christ.In 1981, he signed to Meadowgreen Music as a staff writer. He joined Amy Grant's band as a keyboardist in '82 and the following year released his first album. Michael wrote all the music and his wife Debbie wrote the lyrics. The release garnered him a GRAMMY nomination for Best Gospel Performance.
25+ years later he has become one of the best-known names in Christian music. Smitty has won several Dove and GRAMMY Awards, has topped Billboard charts and has sold over 13 million CDs. He has founded a teen club as well as a record label and written several books. In 2009 he was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

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Christian music news: Spoken Like a True Veteran

Latest christian music: After twenty years as a Christian recording artist, it seems like Michael W. Smith has done it all—pop music, an orchestral album, film scoring, and two highly successful worship albums, not to mention authoring a handful of books. But this past spring, Michael tried his hand at something new once again: spoken word. The Gospels Come to Life company tapped Michael to read for their first edition of audio Gospels on CD and cassette. We talked with Michael W. Smith, as well as Michael Ring (general & managing partner of The Gospels Come to Life) about the challenges and goals of the project. In addition, we got a glimpse of what fans can expect musically from Smitty over the next year.

What was your initial reaction when you were asked to be a part of The Gospels Come To Life project?

Michael W. Smith: My first response was, "You know, I'm not really sure I'm the guy to do this." When you think of a spoken word project, you think of Charlton Heston or radio guys—people who have great speaking voices. I, on the other hand, have a bit of a southern accent. Would that be offensive or not as powerful? I didn't know. I remember telling Chaz, my manager, "I think it'd be a great project, but I don't think I'm the guy." I guess I got talked into it and we decided to give it a whirl.

It was a lot harder to stay focused than I anticipated. My brain would get depleted of oxygen from reading so much, so I'd have to take breaks, walk outside, and take a big deep breath or two. My part took about two weeks to record because I was really only good for about four hours a day. After that, I was spent, but I was also glad I did it.

How did Smitty become a choice for the voice of this project?

Michael Ring: When Michael became a choice, that's when he became the choice. The search was over once he was a true option for us.

I know a few people who happen to know Michael's management team. We were having a discussion about the narrator in late September of last year and Michael's name came up. That was on a Friday, Michael was asked about it that next Monday, and by Tuesday he had committed to do it. It was that fast.

In what kind of settings do you picture people listening to this project?

Michael Ring: Anywhere there's a CD player. I picture people sitting at home listening to it or driving in their cars. It's my dream to pull up to a red light hearing Smitty coming out of the speakers talking about Jesus versus some kind of pumping music.

How did you approach the speaking aspect? What did you find yourself keeping in mind throughout the recording sessions?

Michael W. Smith: I didn't want to be overdramatic with it. It was the first time I'd ever done something like this, so I really learned a lot. I had a concept of what was going to happen, but the reality was completely different.

A big issue was how much it would wear me out. You'd think that's not a big deal, but it takes constant concentration on the words and tone in order to sound powerful but not overly dramatic. It's not like reading the paper—a few hours of that kind of focus and concentration made me feel like I had been run over by a truck.

At first, I wasn't looking forward to listening to it. But I played the CD a few weeks ago and thought, "You know, that's really okay. I could probably listen to that." I feel I sounded better than I thought I would, and that's very rewarding to me.

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