Last month, I did a list of American Idol finalists (and winners) that either have a career or were influenced by Christian/Gospel music. Now, let's expand on this idea: there are more artists outside of AI that are Christian or have Christian/Gospel hits. Even I was surprised with some of these! Here are 10 artists (again, in no particular order).
1. Owl City (aka Adam Young)
What He's Known For: the catchy single "Fireflies"
What He Says About His Faith and Career: " I guess my whole message or goal of this whole operation is to bring glory to Jesus Christ by all that I do and say, not just as it relates to Owl City, but in all areas of my life." --Christianity Today Magazine interview (April 20, 2010)
2. Mat Kearney
What He's Known For: You might have heard his music on the likes of "Grey's Anatomy" and other TV shows.
What He Says About His faith and Career: "[The song "Undeniable" is] a song about God and people and love—it’s about life,” he says. “It’s totally vertical and all of that at the same time. I wouldn’t pin it down and say it’s just about a girl; it’s definitely about my faith." --CCM Magazine Interview (2007)
3. Switchfoot
What They're Known For: Gaining success with the "Walk to Remember" soundtrack and "The Beautiful Letdown."
What They Said About Their Faith and Career: "I must start by saying that what I do is an incredible gift, and I am very thankful to be playing music for people who want to listen. But every job has it's difficulties. One hard thing is that we seldom get to attend our home churches because we are normally out of town on the weekends. The travelling can be very detrimental to relationships. But probably the strangest thing is the contradiction of being on stage and trying to be the least. The tendency in today's culture is to want to be a 'star,' but I want to be a servant." --Jesus Freak Hideout Interview (2000)
4. Relient K
What They're Known For: the albums "Mmhmm" and "Five Score and Seven Years Ago"
What They Said About Their Faith and Career: "We would just like to be able to play more with bands that aren’t just in the Christian market and to play shows in front of people who aren’t all Christians. It’s where we feel we have the most impact." --CCM Magazine (January 2004)
5. P.O.D.
What They're Known For: "WE ARE WE ARE...THE YOUTH OF THE NATION!"
What They Said About Their Faith and Career: "The most important thing, man, is my love and respect for God and what I believe to be true, you know what I’m saying? My love and my respect for my wife and my family and the fact that P.O.D. is even out here is a privilege. All that keeps me straight." --CCM Magazine
6. Sixpence None The Richer
What They're Known For: The song "Kiss Me," and their covers of "There She Goes" and "Don't Dream It's Over" pretty much ruling the 90s.
What They Said About Their Faith and Career: "We have often been frustrated by being labeled a Christian band and have explained why countless times. I am a big fat Christian and do not care who knows that. When it comes to our music we'd just like it to be taken for it's musical value and not lobbed onto a big bandwagon. I'm not concerned with answering to anyone or pleasing anyone but God, so I'm much less affected these days by the negativity that is sometimes directed towards us for being either too Christian or not Christian enough."--Jesus Freak Hideout interview (June 30, 2003)
7. Stacie Orrico
What She's Known For: Remember when MTV still played music? Because her 1st single "Stuck" was all over TRL!
What She Said About Her Faith and Career: "A lot of artists feel called to reach Christians and encourage them. But I’ve always seen myself reaching kids who aren’t necessarily going to go to a Christian concert. When my booking agent called to ask if I wanted to do some Destiny’s Child dates, I immediately thought, ‘This is where I’m supposed to be.’"---CCM Magazine (December 2001)
8. Jaci Velasquez
What She's Known For: Being a success on the Christian and Latin charts (although you wouldn't know it if you saw the movie "Chasing Papi")
What She Said About Her Faith and Career: "Sometimes Christian music can be a little bit like 'Let me just tell you the good stuff, let me tell you the promises, and we'll leave out the other stuff.' But the realistic thing about Christianity is that's not realistic. It's not like that by becoming a believer suddenly means your life is gonna work and everything's gonna work and everything's gonna be perfect. In fact, you're gonna get hit much harder than you would if you weren't a believer. I feel like with this record [Love Out Loud] I wanted to let people know that they're not alone."--Jesus Freak Hideout interview (April 22, 2008)
9. Lifehouse
What They're Known For: Having a string of hits beginning with "Hanging By A Moment" in 2001.Their song "Everything" is immortalized in a Christian YouTube video skit.
What They Said About Their Faith and Career: "My music is spiritually based, but we don't want to be labeled as a 'Christian band,' because all of a sudden people's walls come up and they won't listen to your music and what you have to say." --Rolling Stone
10. The Fray
What They're Known For: Hits like "How to Save a Life" and "You Found Me"
What They Said About Their Faith and Career: "We don't call ourselves a Christian band. Because when you get into marketing, 'Christian' means that you have everything together, and you're always happy, and you want everybody to start going to your church. The common denominators in the music I've liked is the honesty of not having answers and the passion to find them. I think that's what spiritual music has, whether it's Christian or pop or new age. If we have an agenda, it's to make art that is honest and represents what we believe in." ---USA Today (July 12, 2006)
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