Chris Tomlin

Birth Name:	Christopher Dwayne Tomlin
Born:	May 4, 1972
Origin:	Grand Saline, Texas U.S.
Years active:	1998–present
Labels:	sixstepsrecords/Sparrow Records

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Halfway to Hazard was an American country music duo composed of singer-songwriters David Tolliver and Chad Warrix. Though Tolliver and Warrix grew up in different towns in southeastern Kentucky, their band's origins are in Hazard, Kentucky, which was halfway between their hometowns.

Their debut single, "Daisy", was a Top 40 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in 2007. The song was also featured as iTunes' single of the week on August 6, 2007. In addition, they toured as Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's opening act on their Soul2Soul 2007 Tour. McGraw helped to produce the album.[1]

On October 14, 2007, the duo performed the national anthem prior to the Green Bay Packers' home game against the Washington Redskins.[2] Later that season they performed again at Lambeau Field for the Packers NFC Championship game against the New York Giants.[1]

In May 2008, they were nominated by the Academy of Country music for their "Duo of the Year," award. Halfway to Hazard toured again on the Live Your Voice tour with Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean.

A single from their second album, "I Know Where Heaven Is," was released on July 20, 2009. The album, Come on Time, was released on October 19, 2009. Neither charted.

On January 20, 2010, Tolliver announced he was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the duo via their website. All future tour dates were indefinitely postponed. The future of the act is unknown.

Christopher Dwayne "Chris" Tomlin (born May 4, 1972) is an American Christian Contemporary Music artist, worship leader, and songwriter from Grand Saline, Texas, United States. He is a former staff member at Austin Stone Community Church and is signed to EMI's sixstepsrecords. Tomlin also leads worship at many Passion events. Some of his most well-known songs are "How Great Is Our God", "Jesus Messiah", "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)", and the recent song "Our God" which he co-wrote with Matt Redman, Jesse Reeves and Jonas Myrin. He is currently a lead worshipper at Passion City Church in Atlanta, Georgia with Louie Giglio and Christy Nockels.

He was awarded Male Vocalist at the 2006, 2007, and 2008 GMA Dove Awards. He was also named Artist of the Year in 2007. Tomlin released his seventh studio album, And If Our God Is for Us..., on November 16, 2010. He is one of the members of Compassionart, a charity founded by Martin Smith (and Smith's wife, Anna) of the band Delirious?.

His first nationally released solo project, titled The Noise We Make, was released in 2001, featuring the songs "Forever," "Be Glorified", and "Kindness", all of which made the top 200 in the CCLI 2005 top 500 worship songs. He also released the live EP 545 in 2002, and the studio album Not to Us (2002). His 2004 album Arriving is considered his breakout album as it produced the #1 hits "Indescribable" (written by Laura Story), "Holy Is the Lord", "How Great Is Our God", and "The Way I Was Made". Two other tracks from the album–"On Our Side" and "Mighty is the Power of the Cross", written with Shawn Craig of Phillips, Craig, and Dean–landed in the 2005 top 500 worship songs according to Christian Copyright Licensing International. Arriving was certified platinum by the RIAA in 2008.

A year after Arriving, Tomlin released his first solo live album, titled Live From Austin Music Hall, and in 2006, his fourth studio album, See the Morning, which was nominated for two Grammy Awards, been certified Gold by the RIAA, and has helped him win 6 Dove Awards in 2007, including a second consecutive "Artist of the Year" win. The three singles off this album have all been top #5 songs on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs Chart, and have all reached the number one position on the R&R' Christian AC Chart.

Although he is a solo artist, Tomlin travels around with a consistent band lineup. He also writes many of his songs with the members of his band. His band, in which he performs vocals, acoustic guitar, and piano, consists of Daniel Carson (electric guitar, backup vocals), Jesse Reeves (bass guitar, backup vocals), Travis Nunn (drums), and Matt Gilder (piano, keys). Tomlin and the band developed while working with the Harvest Ministry at The Woodlands United Methodist Church in The Woodlands, Texas in the late 1990s.

According to Christian Copyright Licensing International's list of the top 25 worship songs in the US in August 2007, Tomlin held 5 spots with songs he has either written or co-written with other songwriters: "How Great Is Our God" (#1), "Forever" (#5), "Holy Is the Lord" (#7), "We Fall Down" (#12), and "Indescribable" (#22). In 2008, Tomlin held 6 spots on 20 The Countdown Magazine's top 20 praise and worship songs: "We Fall Down" (#14), "Forever" (#10), "Holy is the Lord" (#8), "Indescribable" (#6), "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" (#3), and "How Great is our God" (#1).

Tomlin has toured with several prominent contemporary Christian music artists, such as opening for Delirious? during his first ever tour, and as a supporting act of Steven Curtis Chapman during his All Things New Tour. Tomlin has also headlined several tours, such as headlining the Chris Tomlin Indescribable Tour, which featured world renowned worship artist Matt Redman, and speaker Louie Giglio, and headlining the See the Morning Tour. From April to October 2007, Tomlin toured with Louie Giglio and Matt Redman on his "How Great Is Our God" tour. In 2008, Tomlin toured with Passion Conferences on its world tour. In early 2009, he headlined the Hello Love tour with Israel Houghton and New Breed. In summer of 2010, he co-headlined the "Hello Tonight" tour with TobyMac.

Tomlin has also been featured at many conferences and music festivals. Among these, he has played at Grand Saline's annual Salt Festival. Hillsong's 2007 conference, and the 2008 Compassionart International Songwriting retreat, which was dedicated to writing songs whose revenue would support charities serving the poorest of the world's poor. Other prominent songwriters included were Matt Redman, Martin Smith, Stuart Garrard, and Steven Curtis Chapman. In 2009, Tomlin played at the Harvest Crusade at Anaheim Angels Stadium.

At the end of 2006, Tomlin launched an online music website resource called Frequency which Tomlin described as "a place to serve God and his people in worship." In 2007, he partnered with Larry Tardy to create a new site under a similar name, Frequency Worship. The original site featured chord charts for some of Chris' songs, some instructional videos for those songs, and a message board meant for worship leaders. Since the updated launch in August 2008, Frequency has included chord charts for many popular worship songs, instructional videos, planning software for worship leaders, articles written by other artists, and more, branching out into all of worship music.

On June 14, 2007, Tomlin's version of the song "Indescribable" was used as the official wake-up call for Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester on Space Shuttle mission STS-117.

In May 2008, it was announced that Tomlin and his band would move from The Austin Stone Community Church, the church he helped plant with senior pastor Matt Carter in Austin, Texas to start a new church with Louie Giglio in Atlanta, Georgia.

In 2009, Tomlin released a Christmas album, Glory in the Highest: Christmas Songs of Worship. It includes three original Christmas songs and features duets with Matt Redman, Christy Nockels, and Audrey Assad. The album peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200 list and at #1 for Holiday albums.

In March 2010, Tomlin and his band announced through their Twitter accounts the recording of a new studio album slated for a November 2010 release. On August 30, Tomlin announced on his Twitter that the title would be And If Our God Is for Us... The first single "I Will Follow" was released to radio on August 23.