4 Runner
Encyclopedia
4 Runner was an American country music
vocal group founded in the late 1980s by lead singer Craig Morris, baritone
Billy Crittenden, tenor
Lee Hilliard, and bass Jim Chapman. Signed to Polydor Records
Nashville, the quartet released its self-titled
debut album in 1995, led off by the single
"Cain's Blood." 4 Runner released three singles from this album, and recorded a second, unreleased album for A&M Records
before disbanding. Chapman, Hilliard and Morris reunited with new baritone singer Michael Lusk to release its next album, One for the Ages
, on the Fresh label.
and Marie Osmond
) met Billy Crittenden in Nashville, Tennessee
while both singers were working as songwriters. Later, Jim Chapman (the brother-in-law of contemporary Christian music
artist Steven Curtis Chapman
) and Lee Hilliard joined as well, forming the group. The group then toured throughout the 1990s with Kenny Rogers
. In 1994, Diamond Rio
had a Top 5 country hit with "Love a Little Stronger
", which Billy Crittenden co-wrote.
4 Runner was signed a record deal with Polydor Records
' Nashville division in 1995. The same year, their debut album was released, with the single "Cain's Blood" (which was co-written by country-pop artist Michael Johnson
and former Poco
member Jack Sundrud) serving as lead-off single. The single reached a peak of #26 on the Billboard
country music charts and #14 on the RPM
country charts in Canada. While the album's other three singles failed to make Top 40 on the country charts in the U.S., the second single ("A Heart with 4 Wheel Drive") was also a Top 20 hit in Canada, and the album sold more than 200,000 copies in the United States.
Due to a restructuring of Polydor, 4 Runner was transferred to A&M Records
for its second album, One for the Ages. Although its lead off single "That Was Him (This Is Now)" entered the country charts, the album itself was not released due to the closure of Polydor/A&M's Nashville unit in 1996 (the parent of both labels at the time, PolyGram
, decided to consolidate all Nashville operations under the Mercury Records
Nashville name). 4 Runner soon disbanded, and Chapman returned to working as an art teacher.
rendition of the Christmas song "What Child Is This" late that year. A second album, Getaway Car, was released in 2003, producing a #59 single in "Forrest County Line". The title track was later a Top 40 country hit for The Jenkins
in 2004, and a #21 Adult Contemporary hit for Hall & Oates
in 2005. 4 Runner also provided background vocals on Craig Morgan's 2003 single "God, Family and Country", which they also recorded on Getaway Car. This album included their own rendition of "Love a Little Stronger" as well. Shortly after Getaway Car was recorded, a single called "We Will Hope With You" was released although it was never put on an album. Craig Morris departed the group as well, with Chapman saying that the group was "in transition", and 4 Runner was disbanded once more.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
vocal group founded in the late 1980s by lead singer Craig Morris, baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Billy Crittenden, tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
Lee Hilliard, and bass Jim Chapman. Signed to Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
Nashville, the quartet released its self-titled
4 Runner (album)
-4 Runner:*Jim Chapman – bass vocals*Billy Crittenden – baritone vocals*Lee Hilliard – tenor vocals*Craig Morris – lead vocals-Additional musicians:*Glen Duncan – fiddle*Larry Franklin – fiddle...
debut album in 1995, led off by the single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Cain's Blood." 4 Runner released three singles from this album, and recorded a second, unreleased album for A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
before disbanding. Chapman, Hilliard and Morris reunited with new baritone singer Michael Lusk to release its next album, One for the Ages
One for the Ages
"One for the Ages" is a split single released by Dropkick Murphys and The Vandals in 2004 on through This record was limited to 1,000 copies and was given away free with Fat City Magazine #8. A few copies are still available from the magazine's website....
, on the Fresh label.
Biography
4 Runner began in the late 1980s, when lead singer Craig Morris (who had previously worked with Ronnie McDowellRonnie McDowell
Ronald Dean "Ronnie" McDowell is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1977 with the song "The King Is Gone", a tribute to Elvis Presley, who had died not long before the single's release. From that single onward, McDowell has charted more than thirty Top 40 hits on the Billboard...
and Marie Osmond
Marie Osmond
Olive Marie Osmond is an American singer, actress, doll designer, and a member of the show business family The Osmonds. Although she was never part of her family's singing group, she gained success as a solo country music artist in the 1970s and 1980s...
) met Billy Crittenden in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
while both singers were working as songwriters. Later, Jim Chapman (the brother-in-law of contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music is a genre of modern popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith...
artist Steven Curtis Chapman
Steven Curtis Chapman
Steven Curtis Chapman is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, actor, author, and social activist.After starting his career in the late 1980s as a singer/songwriter of contemporary Christian music, Chapman has since been recognized as one of the most prolific singers in the genre,...
) and Lee Hilliard joined as well, forming the group. The group then toured throughout the 1990s with Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
. In 1994, Diamond Rio
Diamond Rio
Diamond Rio is an American Country music/Christian music band formed in 1984 in Nashville, Tennessee. Since its foundation, the group has comprised the same six members: Gene Johnson , Jimmy Olander , Brian Prout , Marty Roe , Dan Truman , and Dana Williams...
had a Top 5 country hit with "Love a Little Stronger
Love a Little Stronger (song)
"Love a Little Stronger" is the title of a song co-written by Chuck Jones, Billy Crittenden and Gregory Swint and recorded by American country music group Diamond Rio...
", which Billy Crittenden co-wrote.
4 Runner was signed a record deal with Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
' Nashville division in 1995. The same year, their debut album was released, with the single "Cain's Blood" (which was co-written by country-pop artist Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson (singer)
Michael Johnson , is an American pop, country and folk singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his 1978 hit song "Bluer Than Blue". To date, he has charted four hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and nine more on the Hot Country Songs charts, including two Number One country hits...
and former Poco
Poco
Poco is an Southern California country rock band originally formed by Richie Furay and Jim Messina following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968. The title of their first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, is a reference to the break-up of Buffalo Springfield. Highly influential and creative,...
member Jack Sundrud) serving as lead-off single. The single reached a peak of #26 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
country music charts and #14 on the RPM
RPM (magazine)
RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...
country charts in Canada. While the album's other three singles failed to make Top 40 on the country charts in the U.S., the second single ("A Heart with 4 Wheel Drive") was also a Top 20 hit in Canada, and the album sold more than 200,000 copies in the United States.
Due to a restructuring of Polydor, 4 Runner was transferred to A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
for its second album, One for the Ages. Although its lead off single "That Was Him (This Is Now)" entered the country charts, the album itself was not released due to the closure of Polydor/A&M's Nashville unit in 1996 (the parent of both labels at the time, PolyGram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
, decided to consolidate all Nashville operations under the Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
Nashville name). 4 Runner soon disbanded, and Chapman returned to working as an art teacher.
Reunion
In 2002, three of the original members re-united, with Michael Lusk taking Crittenden's place as baritone vocalist. They released an a cappellaA cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
rendition of the Christmas song "What Child Is This" late that year. A second album, Getaway Car, was released in 2003, producing a #59 single in "Forrest County Line". The title track was later a Top 40 country hit for The Jenkins
The Jenkins
The Jenkins was an American country music group comprising Nancy Jenkins and her daughters, Kacie and Brodie. The trio had two singles in the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts: "Blame It on Mama" at #34 and "Getaway Car" at #38. The latter was later a single for Hall & Oates...
in 2004, and a #21 Adult Contemporary hit for Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates are an American musical duo composed of Daryl Hall and John Oates. They achieved their greatest fame in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. Both sing and play instruments. They specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles, which they dubbed "rock and soul."...
in 2005. 4 Runner also provided background vocals on Craig Morgan's 2003 single "God, Family and Country", which they also recorded on Getaway Car. This album included their own rendition of "Love a Little Stronger" as well. Shortly after Getaway Car was recorded, a single called "We Will Hope With You" was released although it was never put on an album. Craig Morris departed the group as well, with Chapman saying that the group was "in transition", and 4 Runner was disbanded once more.
Albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
US Heat Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
CAN Country RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
||
| 4 Runner 4 Runner (album) -4 Runner:*Jim Chapman – bass vocals*Billy Crittenden – baritone vocals*Lee Hilliard – tenor vocals*Craig Morris – lead vocals-Additional musicians:*Glen Duncan – fiddle*Larry Franklin – fiddle... |
|
27 | 144 | 3 | 7 |
| Getaway Car Getaway Car Getaway Car is a studio album by American country music group 4 Runner, released in 2003 on the independent Fresh label. It was the group's third studio album to be recorded, but only the second to be released, as their second album was not released due to the closure of A&M Records, their label... |
|
— | — | — | — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
CAN Country RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
|||
| 1995 | "Cain's Blood" | 26 | 118 | 14 | 4 Runner |
| "A Heart with 4 Wheel Drive" | 51 | — | 18 | ||
| "Home Alone" | 65 | — | 83 | ||
| 1996 | "Ripples" | 57 | — | 82 | |
| "That Was Him (This Is Now)" | 54 | — | — | One for the Ages (unreleased) | |
| 2002 | "What Child Is This? What Child Is This? "What Child Is This?" is a popular Christmas carol written in 1865. At the age of twenty-nine, English writer William Chatterton Dix was struck with a sudden near-fatal illness and confined to bedrest for several months, during which he went into a deep depression... " |
— | — | * | Single only |
| 2003 | "Getaway Car Getaway Car (song) "Getaway Car" is the title of a song written by songwriters Gary Haase and Billy Mann. The song was first recorded in 1999 by Susan Ashton, an American country and Christian singer, on her album Closer, although it was not released as a single.... " |
— | — | * | Getaway Car |
| "Forrest County Line" | 59 | — | * | ||
| 2004 | "Ragged Angel" | — | — | * | |
| 2005 | "We Will Hope with You" | — | — | * | Single only |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart * denotes unknown peak positions |
|||||
Music videos
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1995 | "Cain's Blood" |
| "A Heart with 4 Wheel Drive" | |
| "Home Alone" | |
| 1996 | "Ripples" |
| 2002 | "What Child Is This" |
| 2003 | "Getaway Car" |
| "Forrest County Line" | |
| 2004 | "One Ragged Angel" |