Steven Chapman is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, author, and social activist.
BIOGRAPHY
Steven Curtis Chapman was born to Judy and Herb Chapman in Paducah, Kentucky, on November 21, 1962. Chapman’s father is a guitar teacher and owns a music store in Paducah; young Steven and older brother Herb Jr. grew up playing the guitar and singing.
Chapman is a renowned Christian music artist who has won over 25 Grammy Awards, 59 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, and seven “Artist of the Year” Dove Awards. He has sold more than 10 million albums and 10 RIAA-certified Gold or Platinum albums.
Chapman is an activist and charity advocate who has been involved in youth violence prevention efforts since the late 1990s. He has built Maria’s Big House of Hope, a medical care center in China, and promoted World Vision and Project Restore in the U.S. Gulf Coast region following Hurricane Katrina. He has also traveled to Uganda to help with street children and orphans and adoption organizations, and played at local churches, including KPC in Kampala.
In 2020, Chapman was a featured guest at Keith & Kristyn Getty’s Sing! Global 2020 Conference designed to train music leaders and instill the importance of solid doctrine and Gospel saturated lyrics in Christian music.
Age
Chapman was born on born November 21, 1962.
EDUCATION
Chapman was a pre-med student at Georgetown College in Kentucky, then transferred to Anderson College in Indiana and eventually went to Nashville to pursue a career in music.
On May 7, 2011, Chapman received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Anderson University and was the commencement speaker for the class of 2011
CAREER
Chapman composed “Built to Last” in the 1980s, which was recorded by the Imperials, a well-known gospel group. Because of the excellence of the song, he was signed to a songwriting agreement with Sparrow Records, where he came to fame. Sandi Patty, Billy Dean, Glen Campbell, the Cathedral Quartet, and Roger Whittaker had all recorded Chapman’s songs as of 2007.
Chapman released his first album, First Hand, in 1987. The song “Weak Days” from the album reached No. 2 on the Contemporary Christian Music chart. In 1988, he released his second album, Real Life Conversations, which yielded four more singles, including the number one single “His Eyes.” The song, co-written by James Isaac Elliott, won the Gospel Music Association’s Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year award in 1989. He also won a GMA Award for Songwriter of the Year that year.
With his album The Great Adventure in 1992, Chapman successfully transitioned into a more mainstream audience. Chapman won two more Grammys for the album and the title single video, both in the gospel category. After Sparrow Records was acquired by EMI/Liberty, they began marketing the album to a wider audience, propelling it to gold status in 1993. Due to the album’s success, Chapman decided to videotape one of his concerts and release it as The Live Adventure, both as a video and a CD. This continuation earned Chapman more GMA Awards, as well as a new American Songwriter magazine award for Songwriter and Artist of the Year.
In 2000, he provided the voice of Baloo in The Jungle Book Groove Party and reprised the role 22 years later in Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers. In 2001 with the release of Declaration, Chapman got more attention in the Billboard 200. That album, along with 2003’s All About Love, peaked in the Top 15. The follow-up, All Things New, peaked at No. 22.
Chapman has also released four Christmas albums, beginning with 1995’s The Music of Christmas. In 2003 he released Christmas Is All in the Heart exclusively through Hallmark Gold Crown Stores and in 2005, he released All I Really Want for Christmas and finally Joy was released in 2012.
In 2007 Chapman also released This Moment, which included the hit singles “Cinderella” and “Yours“, in October 2007. “Cinderella” was chosen for WOW Hits 2009. On April 20, 2008, Chapman was awarded a star on Nashville’s Walk of Fame for his contributions in Christian music. On November 3, 2009, Chapman released his seventeenth album Beauty Will Rise. Many of the songs from this album are inspired by the death of his daughter, Maria Sue. He claims that the songs on the album are his “personal psalms”. Chapman, his wife, and two sons have a tattoo of the flower that Maria drew before her untimely death.
In August 2012, Chapman announced his departure from Sparrow Records and his signature to Sony Music’s Provident Label Group. He released his fourth Christmas album, JOY, on October 16, 2012.
Chapman’s album Deep Roots was released through Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. in 2013, and his album The Glorious Unfolding was released by Reunion Records in September 2013. It received critical acclaim and peaked at No. 27 on the US Billboard 200.
From September 2014 through September 2017, Chapman organized the “Sam’s Place: Music for the Spirit” concert series at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, which featured concerts by MercyMe, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, and Third Day. He released “Warrior” as the official song for the War Room soundtrack in 2015. On October 6, 2015, “Amen” was broadcast on Christian AC radio. Deeper Roots: Where the Bluegrass Grows, Chapman’s follow-up to his Billboard Bluegrass #1 Album Deep Roots, was released in 2019 and similarly reached at #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass charts.
FAMILY LIFE
Chapman is married to Mary Beth Chapman (née Chapman). The pair met at Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana, in the early 1980s and married in the fall of 1984.
Emily Elizabeth, Caleb Stevenson, and Will Franklin are the couple’s three biological children, and they presently reside in Franklin, Tennessee. They also have three adopted daughters from China. Shaohannah Hope Yan, Stevey Joy Ru, and Maria Sue Chunxi are among the cast members. (Maria was killed in a sad accident in 2008.)
Chapman and his wife became grandparents for the first time on November 10, 2011, when a baby girl, Eiley Eliza Richards, was born in Ireland to Emily and her husband Tanner Richards. Chapman’s daughter-in-law is Jillian Edwards.
Since Maria’s untimely death, Mary Beth Chapman has written and published Choosing to SEE: A Journey of Struggle and Hope, a book about her daughter’s death. Steven and Mary Beth eventually paid tribute to Maria’s legacy by establishing Maria’s Big House of Hope.
The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) in Washington, D.C. presented Chapman and his wife with the Congressional Angels in Adoption award in September 2011. In addition, for their efforts with Show Hope, Chapman and his wife earned the Children’s Champion Award from the nonprofit organization Children’s Hunger Fund in 2009.
STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN NET WORTH
Steven Curtis Chapman is reported to have an estimated net worth of $25 million
Social Media
You can follow Chapman on the following social media platforms:
Facebook: @Steven Curtis Chapman
YouTube: @StevenCurtisChapmanOfficial