Christopher Stevens (born November 29, 1967), was an American

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, mix-engineer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

Early and personal life

Stevens was born Christopher Edmund Stevens, on November 29, 1967, in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

. He graduated from

North Eugene High School North Eugene High School is a public high school in the River Road/Santa Clara neighborhoods of Eugene, Oregon, United States. History North Eugene High School was open to students on October 21, 1957. The opening was delayed nearly two months, ...

and studied electronics at

Lane Community College Lane Community College is a public community college in Eugene, Oregon, with additional facilities in downtown Eugene, Florence, Cottage Grove, and the Lane Aviation Academy at Eugene Airport. Lane serves more than 26,000 credit and non-credit ...

. After working as a composer for video games in the 1990s, Stevens eventually relocated to

to pursue songwriting and record production full-time.

Credits awards and accomplishments

Chris Stevens has produced and mixed

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

artists

TobyMac Toby McKeehan (born Kevin Michael McKeehan; October 22, 1964), better known by his stage name TobyMac (styled tobyMac or TOBYMAC), is an American contemporary Christian music singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He was first known f ...

, and ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' finalists

Mandisa Mandisa Lynn Hundley (born October 2, 1976), known professionally as Mandisa, is an American gospel and contemporary Christian recording artist. Her career began as a contestant in the fifth season of ''American Idol'', in which she finished in ...

and

Colton Dixon Michael Colton Dixon (born October 19, 1991) is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He placed seventh on the eleventh season of ''American Idol''. Early life Colton Dixon was born Michael Colton Dixon on Oct ...

, among others. Stevens has also worked on projects for country artists

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single " Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...

and

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bill ...

. In September 2013 Stevens traveled to Barcelona, Spain, to work with International pop star

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is ...

on her 2014 studio album, lending his programming talents on several of her songs. He has also contributed his skills on two studio albums, '' Nothing Left to Lose'', and ''

Just Kids ''Just Kids'' is a memoir by Patti Smith, published on January 19, 2010, documenting her relationship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe. "I didn't write it to be cathartic," she noted. "I wrote it because Robert asked me to… Our relationship w ...

'', for fellow Oregonian and

Universal Republic Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...

recording artist

Mat Kearney Mathew William Kearney (; born December 1, 1978) is an American musician born in Eugene, Oregon, and based in Nashville, Tennessee. So far, he has a total of five top 20 hits on the Adult Top 40 Chart. ''Just Kids'' was released on February 24 ...

. Stevens has handled production, writing, and mixing for numerous artists under the

EMI CMG Capitol Christian Music Group (Capitol CMG) (formerly known as EMI Christian Music Group) is an American music group that, since 2013, is under the ownership of Universal Music Group. It is based in Brentwood, Tennessee. Capitol CMG is in the C ...

Word Records Word Records is a Christian faith-based entertainment company based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Curb Records, and is a part of Word Entertainment. It is distributed by Warner Records (the former Warner Bros. Records). History In 1 ...

, Provident,

INO Records Ino or INO may refer to: Arts and music *I-No, a character in the ''Guilty Gear'' series of video games *Ino (Greek mythology), a queen of Thebes in Greek mythology * INO Records, an American Christian music label *Ino Yamanaka, a character in t ...

Gotee Records Gotee Records is a record label founded by Christian hip hop performer Toby McKeehan (known professionally as ''TobyMac''), Todd Collins, and Joey Elwood. The label began as a production company. At the time of the label's founding, McKeehan wa ...

, and

Curb Records Curb Records (also known as Asylum-Curb and formerly known as MCG Curb) is an American record label started by Mike Curb, originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963. From 1969 to 1973, Curb merged with MGM Records where Curb served as President of ...

labels. Stevens is credited with programming and

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

s on the Carrie Underwood single "

Cowboy Casanova "Cowboy Casanova" is a song by American singer Carrie Underwood. It was written by Underwood, Mike Elizondo, Brett James. It was released on September 14, 2009, by Arista Nashville as the lead single from her third studio album, '' Play On''. The ...

". In 2010, Stevens produced two Grammy nominated albums, TobyMac's, ''Tonight'', and Sanctus Real's ''

Pieces of a Real Heart ''Pieces of a Real Heart'' is the fifth studio album from Christian rock band Sanctus Real. It was released on March 9, 2010 via Sparrow Records. The first single released was the song " Forgiven", which reached No. 6 on ''Billboards Christia ...

''. In 2011, Stevens received his first songwriting Grammy nomination for

Jamie Grace Jamie Grace Harper (born November 25, 1991) is an American contemporary Christian musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. In 2010, TobyMac found her songs on YouTube and signed her to his label Gotee Records for two albu ...

's '' Hold Me''. In 2010 and 2012, Stevens was honored as BMI's Christian Songwriter of the Year. In 2013 Stevens received his first Grammy as a producer and mixer on TobyMac's ''

Eye on It ''Eye on It'' is the sixth studio album by TobyMac, released on August 28, 2012. A deluxe version of the album was also released. The album experiments more with electronic music, primarily dubstep. " Me Without You" was released as the first si ...

''. In 2014 Stevens took home two more Grammys for Contemporary Christian Album for

's '' Overcomer'' and Contemporary Christian Song for its

title song A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

. In June 2015 he received his third BMI Christian songwriter of the year award. In February 2016, Stevens was awarded his fourth Grammy for production and engineering on Tobymac's '' This Is Not a Test''. In January 2020 Stevens earned his fifth Grammy award in the roots gospel category for production on

Gloria Gaynor Gloria Gaynor ( née Fowles; born September 7, 1943) is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), " Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (1979), " I Am What I Am" (1983), and her version of "Never Can Say Goodbye" ( ...

's album, ''Testimony''. Beginning in 2016 Stevens began focusing on songwriting in the pop and country genres and has had songs recorded by

Jason Aldean Jason Aldean (born Jason Aldine Williams; February 28, 1977) is an American country music singer. Since 2005, he has been signed to BBR Music Group, Broken Bow Records, a record label for which he has released ten albums and 40 singles. His 2010 ...

Lindsay Ell Lindsay Elizabeth Ell (born 20 March 1989) is a Canadian-American country pop singer, songwriter, guitarist and television personality from Calgary, Alberta. Her music incorporates elements of rock and blues. She was signed to the US record labe ...

David Lee Murphy David Lee Murphy (born January 7, 1959) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is best known for his #1 country hits " Dust on the Bottle" and " Everything's Gonna Be Alright", as well as the hit songs " Party Crowd", "Out with ...

Kenny Chesney Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has recorded more than 20 albums and has produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the US ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Hot Coun ...

Justin Moore Justin Cole Moore (born March 30, 1984) is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Big Machine Records imprint Valory Music Group. For that label, he has released six studio albums: his Justin Moore (album), self titled debut ...

Morgan Wallen Morgan Cole Wallen (born May 13, 1993) is an American country singer and songwriter. He competed in the sixth season of ''The Voice'', originally as a member of Usher's team, but later as a member of Adam Levine's team. After being eliminated ...

, Drew Baldridge, and

Logan Mize Logan Mize is a country music artist/songwriter from Clearwater, Kansas signed to Big Yellow Dog Music. Music career In April 2010, Mize signed a publishing/record deal with Big Yellow Dog Music and a booking deal with William Morris Endeavor ...

. In June 2018, Stevens celebrated his first number one ''Billboard'' and Mediabase Country Song with

's " Everything's Gonna Be Alright", featuring

. Stevens co-wrote the song with Murphy and Jimmy Yeary, and produced the background track.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Chris 1967 births Living people American performers of Christian music Record producers from Oregon Record producers from Tennessee Songwriters from Oregon Songwriters from Tennessee Musicians from Eugene, Oregon Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee Businesspeople from Eugene, Oregon