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All Music Guide:
The Christian music trio ZOEgirl were highly regarded for their sweet harmonies laced with dance inflections and charismatic performances. Alisa Girard, Chrissy Conway, and Kristin Swinford came together in the late '90s, when they received buzz from the press and began playing shows with Carman. Signed to Sparrow Records, Zoegirl released an eponymous debut in 2000. The next three albums arrived on Sparrow within two-year intervals -- Life in 2001, Different Kind of Free in 2003, and Room to Breathe in 2005 -- before the group's split in 2006.
Wikipedia:
ZOEgirl was an American Christian teen pop and pop rock band formed in 1999. The group comprised Chrissy Katina, Alisa Childers and Kristin Schweain. They were signed to Sparrow Records and released their debut single, "I Believe" in 2000. Their self-titled debut album, ZOEgirl, helped them become Sparrow's fastest selling artist of all time. To promote their upcoming Life album, the song With All Of My Heart was released to radio on October 8, 2001 as its lead single. The song earned them their only #1 Christian contemporary hit radio (CHR) single, and led to the group receiving a GMA Dove Award for New Artist of the Year in 2002. By the end of 2003, over one million albums from ZOEgirl were sold.
As a response to the musical trends of the time, ZOEgirl changed their format from teen pop to pop rock with the release of "You Get Me" on June 22, 2003. Released as the lead single for their third album, Different Kind of Free, this was their only #1 Christian adult contemporary (AC) single. It also peaked at #2 on CHR, making it the second-highest ZOEgirl song on that chart. The group's musical change and the growing digital piracy at the time, however, led to slower sales of ZOEgirl's music. Their fourth and final final studio album, Room to Breathe, was a highly anticipated release that earned the #1 spot on Billboard's Top Heatseekers Album charts. Despite this, it is the least successful of ZOEgirl's albums in terms of radio airplay.
More recently, they reunited for a two-hour interview on The Brian Mason Show.
Name meaning
The name ZOEgirl comes from the greek word zoe, which, in Greek, means life. Through their music, ZOEgirl talks about life in Christ.
History
Making the group (1999)
Norman Miller, an artist manager for groups such as Avalon, said one day: "I see a need for a girls pop group." He knew Alisa Childers since 1977, when she was two years old, and "decided to build the [girl] group around her." Together with Lynn Nichols, a writer and executive producer, they approached Kristin (Swinford) Schweain, who was then part of a jazz group. Nichols said: "She [Alisa] had a real writing sensitivity. Then we heard Kristin sing and play the piano. She had a pure pop voice, and it was a really interesting mix with Alisa’s more gritty style. Then we said, ‘Let’s just see what unfolds.’" Schweain felt that it was a difficult decision for her to choose between her jazz group and this new opportunity in a girl group: "I felt like I was betraying them [her previous group], but at the same time I felt a pull to ZOEgirl and felt led to meet Alisa." She ultimately decided to join the girl group.
They wanted a third member, so Kristin remembered that her friend had "a friend in Atlanta who was playing in a band and working with some musicians." Nichols recalls: "It sounded kind of flaky, but I told Kristin to give her a call." This girl from Atlanta was Chrissy (Conway) Katina, who "was on the verge of signing a major record deal." Katina said: "My lawyer thought I was crazy for wanting to join a Christian group. He told me I’d never make any money." Regardless, she chose to become the third member of the group, which has yet to be named.
ZOEgirl (2000)
The girl group signed to Sparrow Records but needed a name. Their original name was simply "ZOE", all in capital letters, their favourite from a list of possible names they have made. However, there was already a trademark for this name, so they added the suffix "girl" in minuscule letters to form the name "ZOEgirl."
ZOEgirl's first, self-titled release was released on August 15, 2000. While most of the songs talk about their relationship with God, "Give Me One Reason" is about refusing to choose someone else over God, and "Stop Right There" is written about walking away from Satan and to not be his property and instead walk towards Jesus.
"I Believe" and "Living For You" both obtained the #4 position on the Adult Contemporary (AC) chart, while "Anything Is Possible" obtained the #8 position on the contemporary hit radio (CHR) chart.
The album itself peaked at position #8 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart and sold over 350 000 copies by the end of 2003.
Life (2001-2002)
The release of Life on November 20, 2001 was better acclaimed than the self-titled album. Christian Music Today said that it "may well be the best Christian teen pop album released to date".
The single "With All Of My Heart" obtained the No. 1 position for 3 weeks on the CHR Charts, and the No. 3 position on the AC radio charts.
Over 120 000 copies of this album were sold during the first six weeks of its release, and nearly 370 000 copies were sold by the end of 2003.
Different Kind Of FREE (2003-2004)
After a drastic musical change from bubblegum pop to pop rock, Different Kind of FREE was released. This is the most critically acclaimed album from ZOEgirl, mainly due to its lead single "You Get Me" and the Radio Disney single "Feel Alright". Another factor leading to this album's success is the music video filmed for "You Get Me".
Room To Breathe and With All Of My Heart - The Greatest Hits (2005)
ZOEgirl released their final album, Room to Breathe, on January 1, 2005. The album peaked at position 108 for the Billboard 200, and at position No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, making this the most successful ZOEgirl album ever.
However, its two singles were not as successful as the group's past hits. "About You" peaked at position No. 5 on the CHR charts and at No. 4 on the AC chart. "Scream" peaked at No. 40 on the AC charts and at No. 14 on the CHR charts.
The group's first greatest hits album, With All of My Heart – The Greatest Hits, was released on December 26, 2005. Two new songs were added to the album: "Unchangeable" and "One Day". "Unchangeable" was released as the album's lead single, but performed poorly on radio, peaking at No. 20 on CHR and No. 27 on AC. "One Day" was not released as a single.
Disestablishment (2006)
On September 2006, by means of their now-defunct ZOEgirl fan club site, the group announced that they would quit writing and recording music as a group so that members could tend to their personal objectives.
Chrissy Katina had a baby girl, and was writing and recording for a solo album titled Beautiful Redemption, though this album was never released.Alisa Childers has released her own self-titled album on December 1, 2007.Kristin Schweain gave birth to her first daughter, Stella Rose Elizabeth Schweain, on February 13, 2007, and recorded her own album, "Days Of Eden".COLMANblue (2008-2010)
In 2008, Chrissy formed a new group, COLMANblue, with Kelli Trontel. On September 3, 2008, the group announced that a third member would be part of the band, without mentioning her name. Three days later, it was confirmed that Kristin Schweain was the third member.
They recorded a song called, "Hey (Not Worth The Worry)" and released it as a single in 2009. And they sang it which was filmed and published on Tangle. It is available for free download on 4shared.. They participated in a "Hope 4 Samoa" concert on October 8, 2009. They sang on The Katinas Friends and Family cruise to Mexico in 2010 before disbanding, probably because Kristin Schweain was expecting a child. On September 22, Kristin gave birth to her first son, Callum Ryan Moses Schweain.
"Aftermath"
• Chrissy Katina is currently taking a musical hiatus to be a photographer. She is married to James Katina (of the band The Katinas) and has two children named Haylee Raine Katina (b. 2006) and Rylie Siai Katina (b. 2009)
• Alisa Childers is currently in an independent Christian group named Girard with her sisters and nieces which got together in late 2009. They released their first self-titled album independently under Calvary Chapel Music on April 20, 2011. Alisa is married to Mike Childers and has two children named Dyllan Joi Childers (b. 2008) and Aaden (b. 2011).
• Kristin Schweain is currently taking a musical hiatus. She is married to Ryan Schweain and hase two children named Stella Rose Elizabeth Schweain (b. February 13, 2007) and Callum Ryan Moses Schweain (b. September 22, 2010).
Radio interview (2011)
After more than four years of inactivity and separation, ZOEgirl reunited on February 27, 2011 for an interview on The Brian Mason Show. The group made no plans to create music together, but says that it is still possible.
