Early life

Tomlin was born in Grand Saline, Texas in 1972 to Connie and Donna Tomlin. He has two younger brothers, Ryan and Cory. Chris Tomlin first learned how to play the guitar by playing along with Willie Nelson records.

Tomlin wrote his first worship song at age fourteen. He entered college planning to study physical therapy, but says he felt God's calling to something else. In the mid-1990s Tomlin was a worship leader at the Dawson McAllister Youth Conferences, as well as at various church camps in Texas.

Tomlin attended Tyler Junior College and Texas A&M University. After college, 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. In 1997, youth speaker Louie Giglio asked if he would be interested in working with the Passion Conferences. Tomlin has been in that movement ever since.

Career

His first nationally released solo project, titled The Noise We Make, was released in 2001, featuring the songs "Forever," "Be Glorified", and "Kindness", each of which made the top 200 in the CCLI 2005 top 500 worship songs. He released the live EP 545 in 2002, and the studio album Not to Us (2002).

Although he is a solo artist, Tomlin uses a consistent band lineup. He writes many of his songs with the band members. The band consists of Daniel Carson (electric guitar, backup vocals), Jesse Reeves (bass guitar, backup vocals), Travis Nunn (drums), and Matt Gilder (piano, keys). Tomlin plays guitar and piano.

According to Christian Copyright Licensing International's list of the top 25 worship songs in the US in August 2007, Tomlin held five spots with songs he has either written, co-written or performed: "How Great Is Our God" (No. 1), "Forever" (No. 5), "Holy Is the Lord" (No. 7), "We Fall Down" (No. 12), and "Indescribable" (No. 22) (Written by Laura Story). In 2008, Tomlin held 6 spots on 20 The Countdown Magazine's top 20 praise and worship songs: "We Fall Down" (No. 14), "Forever" (No. 10), "Holy is the Lord" (No. 8), "Indescribable" (No. 6), "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" (No. 3), and "How Great is our God" (No. 1).

Tomlin has toured with contemporary Christian music artists, such as Delirious? during his first tour, and as a supporting act of Steven Curtis Chapman during his All Things New Tour. Tomlin has headlined several tours, such as the Chris Tomlin Indescribable Tour, which featured 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 was in the Hello Love tour with Israel Houghton and New Breed. In summer of 2010, he was in the "Hello Tonight" tour with TobyMac.

Tomlin has been featured at conferences and music festivals. Among these, he played at Grand Saline's annual Salt Festival in Texas. 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. 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, Tomlin announced a move from The Austin Stone Community Church, to start a new church with Louie Giglio in Atlanta, Georgia. The Passion City Church held its first service on February 15, 2009, and features Tomlin as one of its worship leaders. 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 No. 9 on the Billboard 200 list and at No. 1 for Holiday albums.

According to Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), in 2012 his songs were performed more than 3 million times in churches around the world. His 2013 album Burning Lights debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, only the fourth Christian album ever to open at No. 1. He was also pronounced the most sung songwriter in the world in 2013.

Love Ran Red, released in late 2014, features "At the Cross (Love Ran Red)", "Greater", "Waterfall", and a reworking of "Jesus Loves Me". In 2015 he wrapped-up his Love Ran Red tour featuring Tenth Avenue North, as well as Rend Collective. Adore: Christmas Songs of Worship, a live Christmas album released on October 23, 2015, includes original songs and arrangements of traditional carols, performed by Tomlin and friends as well as fellow worship leaders including Lauren Daigle, Kristyn Getty and All Sons & Daughters. It was supported by the Adore Tour, launched in late November to December, with Crowder, and Lauren Daigle.

Personal life

Tomlin married Lauren Bricken, on November 9, 2010.

In May 2011, Tomlin announced that he and Lauren were expecting their first child. He announced on Twitter that the couple's daughter, Ashlyn Alexandra Tomlin, was born on September 22, 2011. The singer took to Twitter once again to introduce the couple's newest addition, a girl named Madison Amore Tomlin, born on October 7, 2014.

Discography

Main articles: Chris Tomlin discography and Passion Conferences § Albums

Studio albums

• Inside Your Love (1995)
• Authentic (1998)
• Too Much Free Time (1998) with Ross King
• The Noise We Make (2001)
• Not to Us (2002)
• Arriving (2004)
• See the Morning (2006)
• Hello Love (2008)
• And If Our God Is for Us... (2010)
• Burning Lights (2013)
• Love Ran Red (2014)
• Adore: Christmas Songs of Worship (2015)

Awards

Grammy Awards

Year	Award	Result
2009	Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album (Hello Love)	Nominated
2011	Best Gospel Song ("Our God")	Nominated
2012	Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance ("I Lift My Hands")	Nominated
	Best Contemporary Christian Music Song ("I Lift My Hands")	Nominated
	Best Contemporary Christian Music Album (And If Our God Is For Us...)	Won
2014	Best Contemporary Christian Music Song (Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies))	Nominated
	Best Contemporary Christian Music Album (Burning Lights)	Nominated

GMA Dove Awards

Throughout his career, Chris Tomlin has been nominated to 32 Dove Awards (6 of them, collaborative efforts) and won 19 of them.

Year	Award	Result
2005	Praise & Worship Album of the Year (Arriving)	Won
2006	Artist of the Year	Won
	Male Vocalist of the Year	Won
	Song of the Year ("Holy Is the Lord")	Nominated
	Song of the Year ("How Great Is Our God")	Won
	Worship Song of the Year ("Holy Is the Lord")	Nominated
	Worship Song of the Year ("How Great Is Our God")	Won
	Worship Song of the Year ("Indescribable")1	Nominated
	Special Event Album of the Year (Music Inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia)*	Won
	Special Event Album of the Year (Passion: How Great Is Our God)*	Nominated
	Special Event Album of the Year (WOW Christmas: Green)*	Nominated
2007	Artist of the Year	Won
	Male Vocalist of the Year	Won
	Song of the Year ("Made to Worship")	Nominated
	Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year ("Made to Worship")	Nominated
	Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year (See The Morning)	Won
	Worship Song of the Year ("Holy Is the Lord")	Won
	Worship Song of the Year ("Made to Worship")	Nominated
	Praise & Worship Album of the Year (See The Morning)	Won
	Special Event Album of the Year (Passion: Everything Glorious)*	Won
2008	Artist of the Year	Nominated
	Male Vocalist of the Year	Won
	Song of the Year ("Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)")	Nominated
	Worship Song of the Year ("Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)")	Nominated
	Worship Song of the Year ("How Great Is Our God")	Won
	Special Event Album of the Year (Music Inspired By the Motion Picture Amazing Grace)*	Nominated
2009	Artist of the Year	Nominated
	Male Vocalist of the Year	Nominated
	Song of the Year ("Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)")	Nominated
	Worship Song of the Year ("Jesus Messiah")	Nominated
	Praise & Worship Album of the Year (Hello Love)	Nominated
	Special Event Album of the Year (Passion: God of This City)*	Won
	Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year ("How Great Is Our God")2	Won
2010	Song of the Year ("I Will Rise")	Nominated
	Worship Song of the Year ("I Will Rise")	Nominated
	Praise & Worship Album of the Year (Hello Love)	Nominated
	Christmas Album of the Year (Glory in the Highest: Christmas Songs of Worship)	Nominated
2011	Artist of the Year	Nominated
	Male Vocalist of the Year	Nominated
	Song of the Year ("Our God")	Nominated
	Worship Song of the Year ("Our God")	Won
	Special Event Album of the Year (Passion: Awakening)*	Won
2012	Praise & Worship Album of the Year (And If Our God Is For Us...)	Won
2013	Song of the Year ("Whom Shall I Fear ")	Nominated
	Praise & Worship Album of the Year ("Burning Lights")	Won
	Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year ("Burning Lights")	Nominated
	Artist of the Year	Nominated
	Special Event Album of the Year (Passion: White Flag)*	Nominated
	Special Event Album of the Year (Passion: Let The Future Begin)*	Won
	Praise & Worship Album of the Year (Passion: White Flag)*	Nominated
	Praise & Worship Album of the Year (Passion: Let The Future Begin)*	Nominated
2014	Songwriter of the Year	Won

• *Denotes a collaborative effort or a song contribution to a "Various artists" album.
• 1 The song was performed by Tomlin, but written and produced by Laura Story.
• 2 The song was performed by LaRue Howard, but written by Tomlin.

Billboard Music Awards

Year	Award	Result
2011	Top Christian Artist	Won
	Top Christian Album (And If Our God Is for Us...)	Nominated
	Top Christian Song ("Our God")	Won

Others

Tomlin was nominated for two 2009 Visionary Award: Male Entertainer of the Year and Song of the Year for "Jesus Messiah".

Bibliography

• Chris Tomlin, The Way I Was Made: Words and Music for an Unusual Life, Multnomah, 2004. ISBN 978-1-59052-327-8

Filmography

Year	Film	Role
2013	Grace Unplugged	Himself

[ Source: Wikipedia ]