Steven Curtis Chapman

Steven Curtis Chapman: From Christian Musician to the Master of the Mainstream

In 1992, Steven Curtis Chapman decided to expand from his label as a Christian musician into the mainstream markets. The mark of this transition was the success of his album The Great Adventure. The album won Chapman “two more Grammy awards, for the album and for the title track video, again in gospel categories.” Once Sparrow Records had been bought out by EMI/Liberty, they started to sell and advertise the album to a wider demographic, elevating it to gold status in the year after its release. The success of The Great Adventure encouraged Chapman to record a live performance and produce it into The Live Adventure, a live video of his concert as well as a CD. This decision was fruitful for Steven Curtis Chapman, and garnered the Christian musician more GMA Awards, as well as a new accolade with American Songwriter magazine for Songwriter and Artist of the Year.

International Success for Christian Musician Steven Curtis Chapman

In the mid 2000’s, Chapman embarked on a number of concert tours in Asia. According to stevencurtischapman.com, his performance for the U.S. troops serving in South Korea was “the first Christian concert ever performed for the troops in that country,”. In addition that, one of Chapman’s performances in Shanghai, China, was “the first public performance by a Gospel recording artist event in the city open to China passport holders”, also boasting being the third-most attended performance in Shanghai for that season. The Steven Curtis Chapman tour saw the Christian musician make his way to Australasia, playing at countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Singapore. It was around that time that his track “The Blessing” peaked at No. 1 on Thailand radio charts.

Other Success Around that Time

In 2007, Chapman headlined the Winter Jam tour from Newsong alongside fellow Christian musician Jeremy Camp. Chapman saw this as a unique opportunity to include his son’s band, Colony House, and got them to play as his backing band. “On April 20, 2008, Chapman was awarded a star on Nashville’s Walk of Fame” thanks to his involvement and commitment to the Christian music scene. Following this accolade, Chapman gave the world his seventeenth album Beauty Will Rise, in the following year. Several the tracks which feature on the album are inspired by the sudden death of his daughter, Maria Sue. In a statement regarding how he views the album, Chapman described it as being his own personal Psalms. Chapman, along with his wife and two sons, had a flower tattooed on their bodies to remember the flower that Maria had drawn moments before she died. The song most associated with her death is Chapman’s hit single Cinderella.

A Cinderella Story…without the happy ending

“Maria Sue Chunxi Chapman died from her injuries and blood loss in a driveway accident on May 21, 2008.” The terrible accident occurred just eight days after Maria celebrated her 5th birthday. Will Franklin, Chapman’s son was turning into their driveway following an audition for a school musical and Maria Sue dashed out to greet him, wanting to ask Will to lift her up onto the monkey bars. Tragically, the pair didn’t lock eyes in time and Will accidentally drove over Maria. Despite paramedics’ best efforts to save Maria as they travelled to the hospital, Maria couldn’t be saved. Chapman’s daughter was pronounced dead on arrival. In the memorial service held for Maria, the Chapman family remained grounded in their faith in God and united by their love for each other.

After 19 Studio Albums, 1 Live Album and 1 Christmas album, Steven Curtis Chapman remains a performing and producing Christian musician based in Franklin, Tennessee.