Chris Rice
Encyclopedia
Chris Rice is an American songwriter who works in the contemporary Christian music
, contemporary folk, and adult contemporary genres with a style similar to David Wilcox
and James Taylor
. He became a recording artist as well in 1996 after signing a contract with Michael W. Smith
's record label and releasing his debut album, Deep Enough to Dream.
Having taken only three years of piano
lessons as a child, Rice did not aspire to a career in either music or student work. But frequent invitations to speak and lead music at his church's youth group events led to more such invitations throughout his college years at the University of Maryland
, Grace College
in Winona Lake, Indiana
, and Union University
in Jackson, Tennessee
. He holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology and Communication. While leading music and coaching high school soccer teams he began writing songs. What began as weekend and summer work with youth and college students soon turned into a full-time career during his twenties and thirties, and prompted Rice to write and perform mainly on the guitar.
For those two decades Rice spent his time as an itinerant speaker and songwriter/musician, playing for high school and college conferences and camps nationwide. This schedule prepared Chris for his career as a signed recording artist, touring the country with a full band.
and Terri Gibbs
. Rice's "Welcome To Our World," an original Christmas song since recorded by Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant
and John Tesh
, moved Smith to urge his new label, Rocketown Records
, to sign Rice as its first artist in 1996.
Rice's third album, Smell the Color 9, was issued in late 2000. This album was one of his most successful. It stretched his musical boundaries, by taking him from a folk
-leaning songwriter into a pop
-driven artist. Most of the tracks are less folk-influenced songs than previously. "The Face of Christ" is a shuffle-rock song about serving the less fortunate, based on Rice's encounters with the homeless. Rice talks about passing faith to the next generation in "Sailing With Russell", another song with a strong Bobby McFerrin
influence on it. Two ballad-kind songs appeared: "Belong", taps into the human desire to belong, and points the listener to consider how a connection to God can fulfill that, and "Home Tonight," which takes the prodigal son's point of view, remembering how good things were at home with his father. The album's cover art (a man on a unicycle
balancing on a high-wire) is a visual play on Rice's own balancing act, between being a well-known recording artist and an everyday person with an everyday life. The title track is an honest and thoughtful reference to the often difficult process of finding God.
In 2001, Rice surprised his fans with two piano
-only instrumental releases that showcased a different side of his musical and arranging talents, not to mention his fondness for old hymns and Christmas
songs. The names of the albums were The Living Room Sessions and The Living Room Sessions: Christmas. They were given these names because their songs were recorded on Rice's own living room grand piano.
With his sixth album, Run the Earth... Watch the Sky, released in March 2003, Chris again joined the production talents of his longtime friend and collaborator Monroe Jones, a partnership that has achieved more than 1 million unit sales. In this album, there were the modern folk leanings reminiscent of David Wilcox
and James Taylor
, but also Rice’s newfound admiration of earthy but radio-friendly pop in the vein of John Mayer
and Travis
. The album’s first single, "The Other Side of the Radio" featured sports driving guitar and percussion. "Me and Becky" recalled classic rock sounds from Chris’ own adolescence. "A lot of the record mentions my childhood or my teenage years so it fit to reach back into the earlier sounds from the ‘70s in some of the background vocals and string arrangements", he says about it.
These four studio releases (plus the two instrumental releases) fulfilled Rice's contractual commitment to Rocketown Records. Following his departure from the label, Rocketown released a couple of Chris Rice collections.
In June 2004, the hits collection Short Term Memories was released. This album chronicled his trajectory with most of Rice's hits ("Sometimes Love", "Deep Enough to Dream", "Smellin' Coffee", "The Other Side of the Radio" and others). There were also a few other minor hits ("Face of Christ", "Home Tonight"). New studio cuts included "Go Light Your World" (a Rice original first popularized by Kathy Troccoli
), a new acoustic mix of "Untitled Hymn" and "Mama Prays".
A second hits collection, Snapshots: Live and Fan Favorites followed in February 2005.
With his success on the AC radio format, Rice released a side project hearkening back to his roots, a vocal hymns album, Peace Like a River: The Hymns Project, in November 2006.
The year 2006 proved to be a turning point in Rice's emphasis, with most of his attention and radio station visits and interviews involving pop AC stations across the United States, rather than his former attention to CCM radio. Following the success on AC radio, Rice released in July 2007 "What A Heart Is Beating For" an album which further positioned him as a pop artist, a collection of 13 songs, with only two containing faith themes.
Contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music is a genre of modern popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith...
, contemporary folk, and adult contemporary genres with a style similar to David Wilcox
David Wilcox
David Wilcox may refer to:*David Wilcox , Canadian rock musician*David Wilcox , American folk musician*David Wilcox , member of band Triple 8...
and James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
. He became a recording artist as well in 1996 after signing a contract with Michael W. Smith
Michael W. Smith
Michael Whitaker Smith is a Billboard top ten Billboard Hot 100 recording artist and Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. He is one of the best-selling and most influential artists in Contemporary Christian music. Smith also has achieved a considerable amount of...
's record label and releasing his debut album, Deep Enough to Dream.
Early years
Chris Rice, a native of Clinton, Maryland, grew up as the second of four sons born to bookstore owners. His parents, and other adult mentors, influenced Rice's Christian faith and his early work with youth and college students.Having taken only three years of piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
lessons as a child, Rice did not aspire to a career in either music or student work. But frequent invitations to speak and lead music at his church's youth group events led to more such invitations throughout his college years at the University of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
, Grace College
Grace College
Grace College is an evangelical Christian college located in Winona Lake, Indiana. The college is associated with Grace Theological Seminary and the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.-Accreditation:...
in Winona Lake, Indiana
Winona Lake, Indiana
Winona Lake is a town in Wayne Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana, United States. The population was 4,908 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Winona Lake is located at...
, and Union University
Union University
Union University is a private, evangelical Christian, liberal arts university located in Jackson, Tennessee, with additional campuses in Germantown, Tennessee, and Hendersonville, Tennessee...
in Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 65,211 at the 2010 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...
. He holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology and Communication. While leading music and coaching high school soccer teams he began writing songs. What began as weekend and summer work with youth and college students soon turned into a full-time career during his twenties and thirties, and prompted Rice to write and perform mainly on the guitar.
For those two decades Rice spent his time as an itinerant speaker and songwriter/musician, playing for high school and college conferences and camps nationwide. This schedule prepared Chris for his career as a signed recording artist, touring the country with a full band.
Career as a songwriter
Rice's songwriting career began in the mid-1980s, after moving from his Washington, D.C., home to Nashville, Tenn. During that period several of Rice's songs were recorded by other artists, including Kathy TroccoliKathy Troccoli
Kathleen Colleen "Kathy" Troccoli is a contemporary Christian singer, author, and speaker.-Personal:Born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 24, 1958, Troccoli moved at age three and was raised in Islip Terrace, Long Island, New York, graduating from East Islip High School. At 15, she lost her father...
and Terri Gibbs
Terri Gibbs
Teresa Fay "Terri" Gibbs is an American country music artist who was born blind. Between 1980 and 1990, she recorded seven studio albums, including four for MCA Records and one for Warner Bros. Records...
. Rice's "Welcome To Our World," an original Christmas song since recorded by Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant
Amy Grant
Amy Lee Grant is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, media personality and actress, best known for her Christian music. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christian Pop"...
and John Tesh
John Tesh
John Frank Tesh is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. His 10-year-old 'Intelligence for Your Life Radio Show' reaches 14.2 Million listeners/week, and is syndicated by Teshmedia on 400 stations in US, Canada, and the UK...
, moved Smith to urge his new label, Rocketown Records
Rocketown Records
Rocketown Records was an independent record label which was started in 1996 by Michael W. Smith. The dream was to create a new, independent Christian record label that wouldn't follow the rules of the modern music business. In the fall of 1995, Michael W. Smith met with Don Donahue, who was, at...
, to sign Rice as its first artist in 1996.
Solo artist
With the help of Monroe Jones' production skills, Chris Rice recorded Deep Enough to Dream for a September 1997 release. Past the Edges followed a year later.Rice's third album, Smell the Color 9, was issued in late 2000. This album was one of his most successful. It stretched his musical boundaries, by taking him from a folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
-leaning songwriter into a pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
-driven artist. Most of the tracks are less folk-influenced songs than previously. "The Face of Christ" is a shuffle-rock song about serving the less fortunate, based on Rice's encounters with the homeless. Rice talks about passing faith to the next generation in "Sailing With Russell", another song with a strong Bobby McFerrin
Bobby McFerrin
Robert "Bobby" McFerrin, Jr. is an American vocalist and conductor. He is best known for his 1988 hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy". He is a ten-time Grammy Award winner.-Life:...
influence on it. Two ballad-kind songs appeared: "Belong", taps into the human desire to belong, and points the listener to consider how a connection to God can fulfill that, and "Home Tonight," which takes the prodigal son's point of view, remembering how good things were at home with his father. The album's cover art (a man on a unicycle
Unicycle
A unicycle is a human-powered, single-track vehicle with one wheel. Unicycles resemble bicycles, but are less complex.-History:One theory of the advent of the unicycle stems from the popularity of the penny-farthing during the late 19th century...
balancing on a high-wire) is a visual play on Rice's own balancing act, between being a well-known recording artist and an everyday person with an everyday life. The title track is an honest and thoughtful reference to the often difficult process of finding God.
In 2001, Rice surprised his fans with two piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
-only instrumental releases that showcased a different side of his musical and arranging talents, not to mention his fondness for old hymns and Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
songs. The names of the albums were The Living Room Sessions and The Living Room Sessions: Christmas. They were given these names because their songs were recorded on Rice's own living room grand piano.
With his sixth album, Run the Earth... Watch the Sky, released in March 2003, Chris again joined the production talents of his longtime friend and collaborator Monroe Jones, a partnership that has achieved more than 1 million unit sales. In this album, there were the modern folk leanings reminiscent of David Wilcox
David Wilcox
David Wilcox may refer to:*David Wilcox , Canadian rock musician*David Wilcox , American folk musician*David Wilcox , member of band Triple 8...
and James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
, but also Rice’s newfound admiration of earthy but radio-friendly pop in the vein of John Mayer
John Mayer (musician)
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
and Travis
Travis (band)
Travis are a post-Britpop band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy , Dougie Payne , Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose...
. The album’s first single, "The Other Side of the Radio" featured sports driving guitar and percussion. "Me and Becky" recalled classic rock sounds from Chris’ own adolescence. "A lot of the record mentions my childhood or my teenage years so it fit to reach back into the earlier sounds from the ‘70s in some of the background vocals and string arrangements", he says about it.
These four studio releases (plus the two instrumental releases) fulfilled Rice's contractual commitment to Rocketown Records. Following his departure from the label, Rocketown released a couple of Chris Rice collections.
In June 2004, the hits collection Short Term Memories was released. This album chronicled his trajectory with most of Rice's hits ("Sometimes Love", "Deep Enough to Dream", "Smellin' Coffee", "The Other Side of the Radio" and others). There were also a few other minor hits ("Face of Christ", "Home Tonight"). New studio cuts included "Go Light Your World" (a Rice original first popularized by Kathy Troccoli
Kathy Troccoli
Kathleen Colleen "Kathy" Troccoli is a contemporary Christian singer, author, and speaker.-Personal:Born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 24, 1958, Troccoli moved at age three and was raised in Islip Terrace, Long Island, New York, graduating from East Islip High School. At 15, she lost her father...
), a new acoustic mix of "Untitled Hymn" and "Mama Prays".
A second hits collection, Snapshots: Live and Fan Favorites followed in February 2005.
A new record label
The year 2005 (album Amusing released) marked a major turning point in Rice's artistry. Leaving Rocketown Records at the end of his contractual agreement, Rice signed with independent label Eb+Flo Records, and made a marketing and distribution agreement with INO Records. INO's distribution through Sony/Columbia afforded Rice a new direction for marketing and distribution, no longer limiting his music to Christian radio format. His fifth studio release CD Amusing, released in August 2005, included love songs and other life topics, as well as some songs about his faith. For the first time in his career, Rice released radio singles to AC and Light Rock stations around the country, the first single being a light romantic song entitled "When Did You Fall (In Love With Me?)" which reached #8 on the Pop AC radio format and enjoyed Top Ten status throughout the summer months of 2006, solidifying Rice's presence on AC radio. A second AC hit, "Lemonade," began climbing the AC chart during the spring and summer of 2007.With his success on the AC radio format, Rice released a side project hearkening back to his roots, a vocal hymns album, Peace Like a River: The Hymns Project, in November 2006.
The year 2006 proved to be a turning point in Rice's emphasis, with most of his attention and radio station visits and interviews involving pop AC stations across the United States, rather than his former attention to CCM radio. Following the success on AC radio, Rice released in July 2007 "What A Heart Is Beating For" an album which further positioned him as a pop artist, a collection of 13 songs, with only two containing faith themes.
Discography
- Live By Faith (1992)
- Deep Enough to Dream (1997)
- Past the Edges (1998)
- Smell the Color 9 (2000)
- The Living Room Sessions (Instrumental) (2001)
- The Living Room Sessions: Christmas (Instrumental) (2001)
- Run the Earth... Watch the Sky (2003)
- Short Term Memories (Greatest Hits) (2004)
- Snapshots: Live and Fan Favorites (2005)
- Amusing (2005) n
- Peace Like a River: The Hymns Project (2006)
- What a Heart is Beating For (2007)
EPs and Other Releases
- Merry Chris Rice (2005) (iTunesITunesiTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
release) - When Did You Fall (Cozy Version) (2007) (iTunes Release)
Singles
- "Christmas Party (Radio Single)
- "Deep Enough To Dream"
- "Smile"
- "Untitled Hymn (Come To Jesus)"
- "The Other Side of the Radio"
- "CartoonsCartoons (song)The Cartoon Song is a contemporary Christian song by Chris Rice, written in 1989 as a tongue-in-cheek skit for a church youth group of middle school students...
" - "Love Like Crazy"
- "When Did You Fall (In Love With Me)"
- "Lemonade"
- "Sad Song"
Awards
- 2002 – Dove Award nominee for Instrumental Album of the Year – Living Room Sessions: Hymns
- 2000 – Dove Award nominee for Recorded Music Packaging
- 1999 – Dove Award winner for Male Vocalist of the Year and for participation in Special Event Album of the Year – Exodus
- 1998 – Nominated for six Dove Awards, including New Artist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year
External links
- Chris Rice's personal website
- Thought Quotient - Interview with Chris Rice
- Rocketown Records' website
- Eb+Flo Records' website
- Promo: Free Chris Rice song "What a Heart is Beating For"
- CCMagazine.com's Live Chat Transcript with Chris
- Christianpost.com article titled, "Chris Rice Hits Mainstream Top 20"
- Christianpost.com article titled, "Chris Rice Seeks Broader Audience With 'Amusing'
- Lyrics to Songs by Chris Rice
- Growthtrac Music article titled, "Chris Rice: Straight from the Heart"
- Christianity Today's June 2005 Interview with Chris
- Living the Solutions Music Review of Run the Earth...Watch the Sky