TobyMac

Toby Mckeehan
TobyMac at Winter Wonder Slam in 2005
Background information
Birth name	Kevin Michael McKeehan
Born	October 22, 1964 (1964-10-22) (age 45) Fairfax, Virginia
Genres	Christian hip hop, Christian rock
Occupations	Rapper, Singer, Songwriter, Author, Dancer
Years active	1987–present[1]
Labels	ForeFront Records EMI CMG
Associated acts	DC Talk, DJ Maj, Kevin Max, Michael Tait, The Gotee Brothers, Newsboys, Randall Crawford, John Reuben, Carman, Grits
Website	tobyMac.com

Kevin Michael "Toby" McKeehan (born October 22, 1964 in Fairfax, Virginia), professionally known as TobyMac, is a popular Grammy Award winning artist, producer, and songwriter. TobyMac is one of the very first Christian Rappers. He was first known for being a member of the Christian trio DC Talk, staying with them from 1989 until their announced hiatus in 2000. He has since continued a successful solo career with the release of three studio albums: Momentum (2001), Welcome to Diverse City (2004), and Portable Sounds (2007), as well as two remixed albums of the first two albums titled Re:Mix Momentum and Renovating Diverse City, respectively. TobyMac has had six #1 hit CHR singles^[2] including, "Made to Love," and, "Lose My Soul." His live concert CD+DVD combo album, Alive and Transported, was released in 2008 and received the Grammy Award for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album at the 51st Grammy Awards in 2009.^[3]

Musical career

DC Talk

The trio formed the band DC Talk in 1987.^[4] DC Talk's original sound was Christian hip-hop, but in 1995 they reinvented themselves with the release of the guitar-heavy Jesus Freak. Although they'd already won a Grammy for their earlier work, this album was a significant milestone, selling over two million copies, making it a double platinum record.

DC Talk's latest album was released in 2001. The album Intermission: the Greatest Hits was a dc Talk compilation put together when the group members started their "intermission." The members were pursuing individual careers then, and at the time assured fans that DC Talk had not split up, but rather they were simply taking "an intermission." More recently though, comments from the band members, most notably from Kevin Max, have implied that dc Talk will not regroup. Kevin Max writes on his official website's message board, "DC Talk is something of the past. In order for DC Talk to be anything of the future, it will be up to each individual member to come together to create something that is lasting and substantial. There is an audience out there interested in seeing DC Talk back together as a group and as an entertaining and creative force, but I feel that the spirit of the thing is dead. I appreciated the time that we had together those many years, and I thank God many times over for allowing me to be a part of something that was so far reaching and helped so many people, but to be honest, just doing a show to do a show is not interesting to me. It must be thought out, creative and passionate."

DC Talk reunited to perform a song on the album Let's Roll about the events on September 11, 2001, on TobyMac's second album Welcome to Diverse City (They appeared on the song "Atmosphere (Remix)"), and also on Kevin Max's album The Blood in the song "The Cross".

Solo career

TobyMac's solo music differs from DC Talk's rock-based musical style, leaning toward a more urban, hip hop sound. His sound is much more reminiscent of what was heard when dc Talk originally started out, on the albums, DC Talk, Nu Thang and Free At Last.

McKeehan composed and recorded the song "Extreme Days" for the 2001 Truth Builder Productions film Extreme Days. The song was subsequently featured on the 2001 debut TobyMac album Momentum and was used in the movie, Hangman's Curse, based on the popular book by Frank Peretti. McKeehan also composed and performed the song "New World" for the album Music Inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. His song "The Slam" was featured in the film Never Back Down, advertisements for the films Transporter 2, Aeon Flux, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, as well as advertisements for the television show Prison Break. The song was also featured in car commercials, men's NCAA clips, NBA Finals (Miami Heat, 2006), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programming, NFL Football commercials, and "The Ultimate Highlight" on Sportscenter. "Diverse City" was featured in the Veronica Mars episode, The Wrath of Con. Ohio Valley Wrestling performer Matt Cappotelli (who currently is unable to perform due to a brain tumor) uses "The Slam" as his entrance theme. Many more of Toby's songs have also been used in commercials. "Atmosphere" was used in a Volvo car commercial, "Burn For You" was used for cinnamon gum commercials (as well as on a Dr. Phil advertisement), "Ignition" is being used by ABC/ESPN to promote its coverage of NASCAR, and "Boomin'" has also been used to promote a new crime-drama, The Women's Murder Club, on ABC, as well as others. His song "Get This Party Started" was featured on an episode of the TV show Roswell. His songs "Yours", "Extreme Days", "Get This Party Started", and "Momentum" were all recently featured in the Xbox 360 video game Crackdown. In September 2007, his song "Feelin' So Fly" appeared in the film The Game Plan starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. In the recent movie Never Back Down Toby's song "The Slam" is featured in the main fight scene. Tampa Bay Rays player Ben Zobrist used "Ignition" as his entrance song when he came up to bat for the 2008 season and the first few games of the 2009 season (he has since switched it to a song by his wife). Recently, "Ignition" received worldwide exposure when it was used as the Arizona Cardinals entrance music during the pre-game of Super Bowl XLIII.

Portable Sounds sold 50,645 copies in its first week, debuting at #10 on the Billboard 200, and at #1 on the SoundScan Contemporary Christian Overall chart.^[5] The album also received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album.^[6] The songs "Made to Love" and "I'm For You" both hit #1 and were the second and third most played songs on Christian Hit Radio stations in 2007.^[7]

Tonight: fourth studio release

Toby's fourth studio release is expected to be released February 9, 2010. The album's first single, "City on Our Knees", was released on August 14. The song reached #1 on Billboard's Hot Christian Songs and #1 on both Christian AC and CHR. Christopher Stevens and Dave Wyatt will join McKeehan in producing the album, as with the production of his 2007 release, Portable Sounds. Truett, aka TruDog, Toby's oldest son, will once again be featured on at least one song like the previous albums. The album is expected to be a mix of pop, rock, hip-hop, and funk, similar to his album Portable Sounds. The name of the new album, "Tonight"^[8], was released on November 9th, as well as the cover art for the new CD.

New Known Tracks

• Showstopper
• Tonight
• Break On
• Get Back Up
• Captured
• City on Our Knees
• Hey Devil
• Hold On
• Wonderin'
• Changed

Other work

TobyMac has written two books with Michael Tait and Kevin Max entitled, Jesus Freaks: DC Talk and The Voice of the Martyrs - Stories of Those Who Stood for Jesus, the Ultimate Jesus Freaks,^[9] and, Jesus Freaks: Revolutionaries: Stories of Revolutionaries Who Changed Their World: Fearing God, Not Man (Jesus Freaks).^[10]. These books are mainly focused on Christian martyrs. Toby Mac has also written two more books with Michael Tait, one titled, "Under God,"^[11] containing stories of America's spiritual battles, and another book called, "Living Under God: Discovering Your Part In God's Plan."^[12]

TobyMac is also the president of the record label Gotee Records. Gotee features artists such as DJ Maj, Relient K and John Reuben. However, as a recording artist, TobyMac is under contract with ForeFront Records.

Diverse City Band

Personal life

McKeehan and his wife Amanda (Mandy) were married in 1994.^[13] Amanda, who comes from Jamaica, is the daughter of Judy and Robert Levy (of Jamaica Broilers fame).Being married to a Jamaican, and with regular visits to the island, TobyMac is well immersed in Jamaican music, language and other aspects of local culture.^[14] Toby and Mandy live in Nashville, Tennessee.

They have five children: Truett, born September 4, 1998; twins Moses and Marlee were adopted in 2002; Leo, born on November 2, 2004 ^[1] and Judah, born March 24, 2006.^[1]

Truett has appeared on the albums Momentum, Re:Mix Momentum, This Christmas, Welcome to Diverse City, Renovating Diverse City and Portable Sounds as the artist "TruDog".

Discography

Studio albums

• Momentum (2001)
• Welcome to Diverse City (2004)
• Portable Sounds (2007)
• Tonight (2010)

Remix albums

• Re:Mix Momentum (2002)
• Renovating Diverse City (2005)

Live albums

• Alive and Transported (2008)

Singles

• "Get This Party Started"
• "Irene"
• "Somebody's Watching"
• "This Christmas"
• "Burn For You"
• "Gone"
• "Phenomenon"
• "Diverse City"
• "Burn For You (Shortwave Radio Mix)"
• "Made to Love"
• "Ignition"
• "No Ordinary Love"
• "One World"
• "Boomin"
• "I'm for You"
• "Lose My Soul"
• "City on Our Knees"

WoW Hits

• 2002: Somebody's Watching
• 2003: Irene
• 2004: Phenomenon
• 2005: Gone
• 2006: Atmosphere (Remix) with DC Talk
• 2007: Burn for You (Shortwave Remix)
• 2008: Made to Love
• 2009: Lose My Soul
• 2010: City on Our Knees

Videography

• "Momentum DVD"
• "Portable Sights"
• "Alive and Transported"

Awards

Grammy Award nominations

• 2003: Best Rock Gospel Album – Momentum
• 2005: Best Rock Gospel Album – Welcome to Diverse City
• 2008: Best Gospel Song – "Made to Love"
• 2008: Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album – Portable Sounds
• 2009: Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album (Alive and Transported) – won

GMA Dove Award nominations

• 2002: Rap/Hip Hop Album (Momentum)
• 2002: Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song ("Somebody's Watching Me")
• 2003: Short Form Music Video ("Irene")
• 2005: Rap/Hip Hop Album (Welcome to Diverse City)
• 2006: Rock Recorded Song ("The Slam")
• 2006: Special Event Album of the Year (Music Inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)
• 2008: Artist of the Year
• 2008: Short Form Music Video of the Year ("Boomin'")
• 2009: Long Form Music Video of the Year (Alive and Transported)

Music videos

• "Get this Party Started" (Momentum)
• "Irene" (Momentum)
• "Extreme Days" (Momentum)
• "Gone" (Welcome to Diverse City)
• "Boomin'" (Portable Sounds)
• Feelin' So Fly (Portable Sounds)
• Lose My Soul (Portable Sounds)

Guest appearances

• "Let it Go" by Kirk Franklin
• "Let it Glow" by Kirk Franklin
• "I Am God" by Kirk Franklin
• "Throw Yo Hands Up" by Kirk Franklin
• "Addicted to Jesus" by Carman
• "AKA Public School" by Audio Adrenaline [video]
• "Name Droppin' " by T-Bone [video]
• "Got to B Tru" by Steven Curtis Chapman
• "Thank You" by Rebecca St. James
• "God Is Not A Secret (ReMix)" by Newsboys
• "Love Somebody" by Mandisa
• "God Is Love" by John Reuben
• "Day Like Today" by Out Of Eden
• "What it To" by The OC Supertones
• "Ohh, Ahh" by GRITS
• "Can't Take it Away" by DJ Maj
• "The Cross" by Kevin Max
• "I Wanna Tell the World" by Michael W. Smith
• "You Found Me" by Israel Houghton
• "Party (Citizens Come Out)" by Diverse Citizens
• "Solid Rock" by Delirious?
• "West coast Kid" by Paul Wright
• "Eggshells" by Hawk Nelson

Filmography

• "Alive and Transported"
• "Welcome to the Freak Show"
• "Free at Last: the Movie"

See also

• DC Talk
• Michael Tait
• Kevin Max

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: TobyMac

• Official site
• tobyMac at the Internet Movie Database