About Casting Crowns
Casting Crowns is a contemporary Christian and Christian rock band which began in Daytona Beach, Florida. The band was formed in 1999 by lead vocalist Mark Hall. They moved to Stockbridge, Georgia, and more members joined. Some members of the band are currently ministers for Eagle's Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia. The band has won a Grammy and a Dove Award.
Casting Crowns was formed in 1999 at First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach. Led by Mark Hall, singer-songwriter and youth pastor, the group initially included guitarists Juan DeVevo and Hector Cervantes, violinist Melodee DeVevo, and drummer Rob Cervantes. They relocated to McDonough in 2001, adding Chris Huffman on bass, Megan Garrett on keyboards and accordion, and drummer Andy Williams.
The augmented version of Casting Crowns released two independent albums on CD, both of which were well received in the Atlanta area. Both independent albums were efforts on the part of Hall and the rest of the group as outreach projects for youth in the area. The group won the GMA regional songwriters competition at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida in both the "Best Song" and the "Best Artist" categories in 2004.
Although the group was not looking for a record label, one of the group's albums found its way into the hands of Mark Miller, the lead singer for country group Sawyer Brown, who was struck by Casting Crowns' driving pop/rock style and Hall's vocal delivery of hard-hitting but devout songs. Miller signed Casting Crowns to his fledgling Beach Street Records, a division of Reunion Records with distribution by the Provident Label Group, which made Casting Crowns the first artist signed to Beach Street Records.
Miller took the group to record with co-producer Steven Curtis Chapman, himself a popular artist on the CCM musical scene. Casting Crowns, that eponymous album was released in 2003 on the Beach Street imprint. The album quickly made them one of the fastest selling debut artists in Christian music history. The album's third single, "Voice of Truth", spent a record-breaking fourteen consecutive weeks at No. 1 beginning in 2003. "Voice of Truth" is also used in the trailer and the ending from the movie Facing the Giants. The album was certified platinum in 2005; in 2011, the group received their first gold certification for a single for the song "Who Am I" from their debut record.
Lifesong followed in 2005, debuting at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album had three singles: "Lifesong", "Praise You in this Storm", and "Does Anybody Hear Her?". "Lifesong" spent nine weeks in the top spot, with "Praise You in This Storm" remaining at No. 1 for seven weeks. Apart from being successful in the charts, Lifesong earned Casting Crowns their first Grammy Award for their work on the album in 2006.
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