Chris Christian

Chris Christian (born on February 7, 1955 in Abilene, Texas) is a songwriter, record producer, and a record label executive. His songs have been recorded by Elvis Presley, Olivia Newton-John, Natalie Cole, Sheena Easton, The Pointer Sisters, Al Jarreau,The Carpenters, Patti Austin, Dionne Warwick, Amy Grant, The Imperials, Sandi Patty, Ali Lohan, and others.

He started Amy Grant's music career in 1976 by playing a demo of one of her songs over the telephone to Stan Moser at Myrrh Records after she got 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. His company continued to publish and own her songs until 1997 when he sold them to Gaylord Entertainment.

He has produced for The Pointer Sisters, Patti Austin, Al Jarreau, Natalie Cole, Ali Lohan, as well as the song "I Want You, I Need You," which peaked at #37 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1981. Cheryl Ladd sings back-up on the song.

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 which had two top 40 Billboard Hits on 20th Century Records. 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.

In 1992 he founded HSH Educational Media and Executive Produced and wrote the music for the popular Children's series "Gerbert" which aired on PBS and Family Channel for 10 years. "Gerbert" won an ACE award for best Pre-School Show.

Christian was CEO of World Digital Media Group, a joint venture by Radio Shack, Dish Network, Sirius Radio, and CC Entertainment until May 2007.

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]

External links

• CC Entertainment (Official Site)
• YMC Records (Official Site)
• YMCtv (Official Site)
• World Digital Media Group (Official Site)