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All Music Guide:
Texas Christian songwriter and singer Chris August grew up around music, particularly the secular sounds of the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Chuck Berry, and Stevie Wonder. August's dad built a small home-recording studio, and August often fooled around with the guitars, keyboards, drum machine, and four-track tape recorder his dad assembled. He began to take the whole music thing seriously when he turned 15 -- in that same year he became a Christian and began to write, play, and record music in the home studio with purpose, adding whatever gear he needed to achieve his goals. He finished and released a self-produced and recorded independent album at the age of 22, and a copy of it reached Ryan Cabrera, who connected August with manager Joe Simpson and a contract with Geffen Records soon followed. August moved to Los Angeles in 2005 to work on an album for the label, also working as a producer and as a keyboardist in Ashlee Simpson's touring band. His deal with Geffen fell through after a restructuring at the label, and August returned home to Garland, TX. Once home, he made the decision to stop concentrating on secular songs and began writing and tracking more directly Christian material like Starry Night, a demo recording of which garnered him a deal with Word Records. Working with producer Ed Cash, August released the No Far Away album for the label in 2010.
Wikipedia:
Christopher August Megert (born March 20, 1982) is an American Contemporary Christian musician who performs under the stage name Chris August. He began recording as a secular musician before switching to Christian music. His song "Starry Night" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Christian Songs chart in 2010/2011. He was nominated at the 2011 Dove Awards in five categories, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year.
Music career [edit]
August began recording music in his early teens after his father built a studio in their home in Garland, Texas. He became a Christian when he turned 15 years old and began to record music.
August continued to practice and release his first self-produced album A Beautiful Thing as a 22 year old under the name Chris Megert and the Love Jones. The album was found by Ryan Cabrera who guided August to a new manager, Jessica Simpson's father Joe Simpson. August landed a contract with Geffen Records and he moved to Los Angeles in 2005. He helped with producing records for Brian McKnight and Jessica Simpson as well as playing keyboards on Ashlee Simpson's tour; he also played as the opening act on Ashlee Simpson's tour. August's contract with Geffen fell through while they were renegotiating his contract so he went back home to Texas.
While at home, he decided to stop working on secular projects and began to work solely on Christian music. August wrote the song "Starry Night" as a demo and he received a contract from Word Records. He recorded the album No Far Away in 2010 and the song was released as a single that year. The album peaked at No. 15 on the Christian Albums charts and No. 9 on the Heatseeker Albums. The single hit No. 1 on the Billboard Christian Songs chart and it reached No. 21 on Billboard's Heatseeker Songs. When the song topped the Christian AC Monitored chart, it was the first debut single to reach No. 1 in over three years. His second single was "7x70" which is a song about forgiveness following his parents' divorce when he was a fifth grade student.
August toured to support the album, first opening for Point of Grace for a twelve-night tour. He joined the Winter Jam 2011 national tour along with Newsboys and Francesca Battistelli in 45 cities.
August received five Dove Award nominations in 2011: New Artist Of The Year, Male Vocalist Of The Year, Pop/Contemporary Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song Of The Year, subsequently winning New Artist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year and Pop/Contemporary Recorded Album of the Year
