Chris Tomlin

Overstating Chris Tomlin’s impact on praise & worship is, quite frankly, impossible. Each and every Sunday, millions of churchgoers around the globe sing his songs “How Great Is Our God” and “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)”, two of the most popular pieces in the history of church music, period. Born in Grand Saline, Texas, in 1972, Tomlin revealed his gift for making music early in life, and he was composing and leading worship in a youth group before graduating from secondary school. It’s precisely this artistic growth, swift and expansive, that has fuelled his success. Starting with the 2004 breakthrough Arriving and on through massive releases like 2006’s See the Morning and 2013’s Burning Lights, the singer/songwriter has poured the religious stateliness of traditional hymns into the kind of effortlessly catchy songcraft associated with Paul McCartney and Elton John. Because he knows a good pop-rock hook when he hears one, Tomlin has been a driving force behind praise & worship’s rise to prominence on both Christian radio stations and record sales charts that, until the early 21st century, were dominated by CCM. As if this weren’t enough to secure Tomlin’s legacy, his longtime work as worship leader and performer with Passion is a big reason their annual gatherings for university students have achieved international success. In turn, the organisation’s string of wildly popular live albums have served as a key platform for Tomlin to share his compositions with young Christians.