Michael W. Smith is an American singer-songwriter. He has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. Over the course of his career, he has sold more than 18 million albums.
Background
Michael Whitaker Smith was born October 7, 1957, to Paul and Barbara Smith, in Kenova, West Virginia. His father was an oil refinery worker and his mother was a caterer and church secretary. He has one sister, Kim.
As a child, Smith was active in church activities, baseball, and playing piano, writing his first song when he was five. When he was ten years old, he made the decision to give his life to Christ. An early dream was to play professional baseball. During his teens, he was surrounded by a solid support group of fellow believers who frequently gathered to play music.
Career
At first, Michael W. Smith's move was not all that he'd hoped. "I went off the deep end and got into drugs, which messed me up for a while," he confided to the Wall Street Journal. He was using marijuana, LSD, and cocaine until one day in 1979, when, he said, "I hit the floor in my apartment face down and cried like a baby for two hours. I got up, said a prayer to God to turn me around and its been different ever since. I regret that I did drugs, but it has helped me relate to others with similar problems due to drugs and low self-esteem."
Indeed, life turned around for Smith - personally and professionally. He met his future wife, Deborah, in Nashville and wrote several songs with her that were so successful that in 1981, Meadowgreen Music hired him as a staff writer. He then proceeded to write several big hits for gospel superstars Sandi Patti and Amy Grant, and in 1982, he began playing keyboards for Grant and touring in her band. After he released his first album, Michael W. Smith Project, in 1983, he started opening for Grant with his own act.
After his sophomore release, Smith began touring on his own, performing his own material. Although he enjoyed writing songs for and performing with Grant, his own career beckoned. To be sure, Smith's lyrics soon encompassed secular issues of concern to a younger audience. His third album, The Big Picture, included songs like "Wired for Sound," which discusses media brainwashing, "The Last Letter," about teen suicide, and "Old Enough to Know," a depiction of the sexual pressures facing teenagers. Smith's album i 2 (Eye) was noted by music critics as something new in gospel music. Smith also wrote his first book about teen pressures titled, like the song, Old Enough to Know. Billboard 's Darden expressed his belief that the record "may be the first inspirational album with a legitimate shot at capturing a mainstream audience." Darden's assessment proved prophetic, for this was Smith's first gold record.
Smith was undeniably interested in going mainstream, taking his message to a wider audience, but he knew he had a fine line to tread. "I can't imagine radio playing songs that overtly talk about 'Jesus is the answer,'" he allowed in the Los Angeles Times, "but on the other hand, I think there is room on pop radio for songs that are very spiritual." Smith's manager, Michael Blanton, agreed. "Listeners are tired of being hit over the head with dance and rap in recent years," he told the Wall Street Journal. "Now they're looking for melodies that they can sing to and [that] have meaning."
In 1991 Smith got help in his effort to go mainstream when his label, Reunion Records, signed a distribution deal with Geffen Records, one of the hottest rock labels in the business, featuring a roster that includes such supergroups as Guns N' Roses and Aerosmith. Once under Geffen's wing, Smith received dual marketing, with different strategies for the secular market and the more traditional Christian market. The approach worked; both of his Reunion/Geffen efforts, Go West Young Man and Change Your World, quickly went gold.
While he has been financially and artistically successful, Smith's courting of the pop market has been criticized by some fans as too secular. One fan who was quoted by the Wall Street Journal wrote Smith to complain of her worries "that he will throw away his message and lose his ministry to make it in the secular market." A few Christian book stores and radio stations have pulled his material. One bookstore owner told the Journal, "Mr. Smith may lose some Christian fans by going this route. He must be willing to pay that price."
Still, Smith does not feel that he has sacrificed his religious message, and he believes his music has something to offer everyone. As a mainstream pop artist, he told Billboard, "I've got an incredible platform - what a great opportunity to help somebody." Certainly, his songs maintain a strong Christian orientation. "When the Evil Goes East, Go West," for instance, from Go West Young Man, urges listeners to avoid the dangers of temptation, while "For You" sings the praises of friendship.
Smith told Billboard that he has made a conscious effort not to change his message just to appeal to more people. "I had to be careful that I not get swayed into thinking that 'I had a Top Five hit, now we've got to write a pop record….' I had to be careful that that didn't distract me from who I really am." He claims that Geffen did not want him to change his music either. "John Kalodner [of Geffen] just said 'Be yourself, man. Be who you are, continue to do what you do.'" But Smith also admitted to Billboard, "I don't feel that all of my songs have to be about God." After all, he told the Wall Street Journal, "I'm not an evangelist, I'm a singer."
Whatever the proportions, Smith's mix of the secular and the sacred has flourished. He has been cited by Keyboard magazine as a top rock keyboardist, has earned several Grammy nominations and Dove awards, and has hit the top of Billboard 's charts. Geffen's Robert Smith characterized Smith's appeal in Billboard in 1992, explaining, "With Michael it's really about an honesty of presentation, and he's a sincere, well-meaning, and gifted artist." The fans, an ever increasing number of which are coming from traditional rock and pop backgrounds, seem to agree.
In 1995, Smith released I'll Lead You Home. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album. Rocketown Records was founded in 1996 when Smith joined forced with Reunion Records executive Don Donahue. Their goal, according to Smith's website, was to be "part of a label where great songs were the focus, where artists, not acts, were developed." Their first signing was Chris Rice.
Smith worked on developing his writing career, and in 1997, released two books, called It's Time to Be Bold, and Friends Are Friends Forever. The following year, the book Your Place in this World was released.
Smith's 1999 album This is Your Time was born out of the tragedy that happened in Littleton, Colorado, when two students shot twelve students and a teacher at Columbine High School in 1999. The Governor of Colorado asked Smith to sing at the memorial service. Smith was very moved by the story of student Cassie Bernall, who had answered "Yes, I believe in God," right before she was shot and killed. Smith wrote the song "This is Your Time" about her. The album won multiple Dove awards.
In 2001, Smith hit a grand slam with his album, Worship. The album was advertised through Time-Life television commercials and became a huge hit. The followup album Worship Again soon followed in 2002, and the two were often sold as a set.
Smith was then approached about a new kind of project. He was asked to be the reader for an audio called The Gospels Come to Life. Smith was hesitant at first but was persuaded, and the CD box set narration of the four gospels was released in 2003.
Also, in 2003, Smith released The Second Decade: 1993-2003. The album showed the maturity and growth in his music since The First Decade. Smith explains the new depth in his music for Christianity Today, "Your priorities change when you get older and have kids. You find out what's important." He adds, "That album is my favorite thing I've ever done. I think it's the truest reflection of who I am as a musician."
Smith won the Male Vocalist of the Year award at the GMA Music Awards in 2003.
Smith wrote a song entitled "There She Stands", inspired by the September 11, 2001 attacks. He performed this song live for the 2004 Republican National Convention. In introducing the song before he performed it, he made remarks about meeting personally with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office in October 2001. Smith mentioned that Bush, a personal fan (as is George H.W. Bush) and family friend, had asked him to write a song about the attacks.
Smith is a good friend of U2 frontman Bono. The two have joined forces on a number of occasions for performances and in connection to Bono's DATA Organization. While U2 was recording its album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, Bono invited Smith to jam with them in the studio. The song that the group worked on with Smith, entitled "North Star," did not end up making it onto the record, but might surface in the future on another project.
Smith's album, Healing Rain, was released in 2004 and debuted at #11 on the Billboard Hot 200 Chart. The title track rose to #1 on the Radio & Records Charts and a music video for the song was released. The album nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album, combines the pop style of his previous recordings with the religious feel of his two releases in that genre. A new album, Stand, was released in November 2006.
Smith and his wife have written the theme songs for Kanakuk Kamps for the past two decades. The theme songs have birthed such hits as "Love Crusade", "Live the Life", and "Straight to the Heart".
At a concert in Wabash, Indiana on April 29, 2007, Smith announced that he was soon headed to London to begin recording his third Christmas album. It was reported in Christian Today that the new album would be a collection of all-original Christmas songs. The album, It’s A Wonderful Christmas, was released on October 16, 2007.
On June 20, 2008, Smith recorded his third live Christian-themed album at the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, to be titled A New Hallelujah. It was released on October 28, 2008.
On October 9, 2008, in Columbus, Ohio, he united with his friend and fellow Christian musician Steven Curtis Chapman, beginning a multi-city concert series called The United Tour.
Smith's third live worship album, A New Hallelujah, recorded at the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, was released in 2008, with another studio effort, Wonder, arriving two years later in 2010. The latter two both hit the Top 30 of the Billboard 200. The next year brought Glory, and he issued three albums in 2014: Hymns, Sovereign, and The Spirit of Christmas. Sovereign became his highest-charting album yet outside of the genre charts, hitting number ten. In 2015, he had a supporting role in the film 90 Minutes of Heaven, based on the book by Don Piper. He and his son Tyler Smith also wrote the music for the film. The Cracker Barrel release Hymns II: Shine on Us appeared early in 2016. In late 2017, Smith's single "Love Always Wins" was released in advance of the album A Million Lights. His first pop album since Wonder, A Million Lights appeared on February 16, 2018, followed a week later by the surprise live praise & worship album Surrounded. That same year, Smith launched a children's book series and accompanied it with his first children's album, Lullaby. The prolific artist returned in February 2019 with his next live album, Awaken: The Surrounded Experience.
Religion
Smith attended Belmont Church in Nashville, Tennessee and is mentored by its long-time pastor, Don Finto. Smith is also the founding pastor of New River Fellowship church in Franklin, Tennessee, where he was the lead pastor from 2006 to 2008. Smith and his wife remain involved members of the church.
Views
Smith traces his musical roots to country-and-western ballads and to gospel melodies. Blending these traditions, Smith has created his own brand of spiritual music of rock-and-roll style.
The secret of Smith’s success can be found in his original approach to the Christian pop scene. Unlike traditional artists in the genre, Smith has incorporated secular themes such as sexual pressure, teen suicide, and media manipulation into his songs. And with this subtle approach, Smith has amassed a large mainstream audience, which gives him an even wider platform from which to spread his words. His songs are spiritual without being preachy. He looks at the Bible and finds answers for the problems involved in growing up. He also includes some autobiographical information and letters that were sent to him, drawing on his past struggles and eventual triumph over them to try and inspire young people who might be going through the same things.
Though he is a successful musician in his own right, Smith also represents a new trend in the mainstream music market. Christian pop has grown hugely in popularity - taking many by surprise. The number of radio stations playing Christian pop has jumped from two hundred to five hundred, according to a Time magazine article, and concert tickets and record sales have generated between seven-hundred-and-fifty and nine-hundred million dollars in revenues.
Quotations:
"I think there is room on pop radio for songs that are very spiritual."
"I need accountability. When you have the after-concert parties and the babes are around, I’ll grab one of my managers and say, ‘You need to hang tight with me, because we’re going into the lion’s den.’"
"I've always wanted to stand in the gap when I see a hurting kid. I think I understand a little bit of how they feel."
"Life is short. It's like a flower. I want to live life to the fullest. I love being alive. I love getting up every day. I love being out here and raising my kids. But if it's not God-centered, it's all in vain."
Personality
Michael W. Smith's characteristic, trademark features are stubble, slightly raspy singing voice and softspokeness. He is known for his social activities. He founded a teen club in Nashville, Tennessee, named Rocketown.