''Heaven in the Real World'' is the sixth studio album by American

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 ...

singer and songwriter

Steven Curtis Chapman Steven Curtis Chapman (born November 21, 1962) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, author, and social activist. Chapman began his career in the late 1980s as a songwriter and performer of conte ...

released on July 5, 1994, by

Sparrow Records Sparrow Records is a Christian music record label and a division of Universal Music Group. History Sparrow Records was founded in 1976 by Billy Ray Hearn, then artists and repertoire (A&R) director at Myrrh Records. Purchased by Thorn EMI in ...

. It was

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the end of the year, nominated for a 1995

Grammy award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

, and went platinum on February 7, 1997. The title song received the 1995

Gospel Music Association The Gospel Music Association (GMA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 for the purpose of supporting and promoting the development of all forms of gospel music. As of 2011, there are about 4,000 members worldwide. The GMA's membership co ...

award for best Pop/Contemporary Song of the Year, and the album earned Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year, at the 25th GMA Dove Awards.

Track listing

All songs written by Steven Curtis Chapman, except where noted. # "Heaven in the Real World" – 4:50 # "King of the Jungle" – 4:55 # "Dancing with the Dinosaur" – 4:46 # "The Mountain" (Chapman,

Geoff Moore Geoff Moore (born February 22, 1961) is an American contemporary Christian music singer. He began recording as a solo artist in 1984. In 1987, he formed Geoff Moore and The Distance, his touring band, which released eight albums generating a st ...

) – 4:56 # "Treasure of You" (Chapman, Moore) – 4:41 # "Love and Learn" – 4:09 # "Burn the Ships" (Chapman, James Elliot) – 4:56 # "Remember Your Chains" – 5:22 # "Heartbeat of Heaven" – 5:07 # "Still Listening" – 4:32 # "Facts Are Facts" (Chapman, Moore) – 3:30 # "Miracle of Mercy" – 2:39 # "Heartbeat of Heaven" (reprise) – 0:57

Personnel

* Steven Curtis Chapman – lead vocals, backing vocals (1-5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13), acoustic guitars (1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10),

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

(2), electric guitars (10),

classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...

(12) * Phil Naish – keyboards *

Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004, and 2016 at the Co ...

– electric guitars (1-9, 11, 13), classical guitar solo (6, 9, 13), acoustic guitar solo (8), additional electric guitars (10), slide guitar solo (11) *

Dan Dugmore Dan Dugmore is an American session musician known primarily for playing the pedal steel guitar Born in 1949, Dugmore was raised in Pasadena, California. Influenced by the Flying Burrito Brothers, he learned to play steel guitar after Flying B ...

– dobro (4),

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

(6) *

Leland Sklar Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. Sklar rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coaleced into a group in its own right, The Section. This group of musicians so frequ ...

– bass (1–9, 11, 13) * Danny O'Lannerghty –

fretless bass A fretless bass is a bass guitar whose neck does not have any frets. While the instrument is played in all styles of music, it is most common in pop, rock, and jazz. It first saw widespread use during the 1970s, although some players used them befo ...

(12) * John Robinson – drums (1–9, 11, 13) * Mark Hammond – drum programming (2), percussion (3, 4) * Paulinho da Costa – percussion (9, 10, 12, 13) * Barry Green – trombone (2) * Chris McDonald – trombone (2), horn arrangements (2) * Jeff Bailey – trumpet (2) * Mike Haynes – trumpet (2) * Jeff Mac – wave sequencing (3) * David Naish – "pterodactyl" overdub (3) * Conni Ellisor – string arrangements and conductor (6, 9, 12, 13) * Carl Gorodetsky – concertmaster (6, 9, 13) *

The Nashville String Machine Nashville String Machine is a musical collective comprising session musicians, based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Members of the group have been credited on records dating from 1972 to the present, although the group was formally formed ...

– strings (6, 9, 13) * John Catchings – cello (12) * Anthony LaMarchina – cello (12) * Bob Mason – cello (12) *

Hezekiah Walker Bishop Hezekiah Walker (born December 24, 1962) is a popular American gospel music singer and artist and pastor of prominent Brooklyn New York Pentecostal megachurch, Love Fellowship Tabernacle. Walker has released several albums on Benson Recor ...

and The Love Fellowship Crusade Choir – choir (1, 2) * Michael Gleason – backing vocals (1–5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13) * Mark Heimermann – backing vocals (1, 2, 5, 7) * Michael Mellett – backing vocals (3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 13) Voice-overs on "Heaven in the Real World" * James Isaac Elliot, Steve LePard, Brad Winget and

Charles Colson Charles Wendell Colson (October 16, 1931 – April 21, 2012), generally referred to as Chuck Colson, was an American attorney and political advisor who served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970. Once known as Pr ...

Children's choir on "Still Listening" * Emily Chapman, Caleb Chapman and Will Franklin Chapman Shoutback on "Facts Are Facts" * Calvin Bottoms, Dan Brunelle, Steven Curtis Chapman, Dave Huffman, Dennis Kurtilla and Phil Naish

Production

* Phil Naish – producer * Steven Curtis Chapman – producer * Peter York – executive producer * Dan Raines – executive producer *

Ed Cherney Edward Cherney (1950 – October 22, 2019) was an American recording engineer and record producer, based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Over his career, he earned four Grammy awards, one Emmy Award, and five TEC Awards. Cherney was a ...

– instrumental track recording engineer * Schnee Studio (

North Hollywood, California North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North H ...

) – instrumental track recording location, additional recording location * John Hendrickson – assistant engineer, additional engineer, mix assistant * Ronnie Brookshire – overdub and vocal recording engineer * Studio at Mole End (

Franklin, Tennessee Franklin is a city in and county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020, its population was 83,454 ...

) – overdub and vocal recording location *

The Hit Factory The Hit Factory is a recording studio in New York City owned and operated by Troy Germano. History On March 6, 1975, Edward Germano, a singer, record producer, and one of the principal owners of the Record Plant Studios New York, purchased the ...

(

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) – additional recording location *

Capitol Studios Capitol Studios are recording studios located at the landmark Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, California. The studios, which opened in 1956, were initially the primary recording studios for the American record label Capitol Records. While t ...

(

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

) – additional recording location * Quad Studios (

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 ...

) – additional recording location * Mid-Town Tone and Volume (Nashville, Tennessee) – additional recording location * North Beach Studio (Franklin, Tennessee) – additional recording location * Dan Garcia – additional engineer * Jay Healy – additional engineer * Todd Robbins – additional engineer, assistant engineer * Jeremy Smith – additional engineer * Lars Aakre – assistant engineer * Dave Dillbeck – assistant engineer * Peter Doell – assistant engineer * Koji Egawa – assistant engineer *

Bill Schnee William S. Schnee (born July 4, 1947) is an American musician, music producer, and audio engineer. Schnee has been nominated 11 times for the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical Grammy Award and worked on a multitude of other Grammy nominated an ...

– mixing at Schnee Studio (North Hollywood, California) *

Doug Sax Doug Lionel Sax (April 26, 1936 – April 2, 2015) was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three of The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six of Pink Floyd's albums, including ''The Wall''; Ray Charles ...

– mastering at The Mastering Lab (

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

) * Bridgett Evans O'Lannerghty – production coordinator * Karen Philpott – creative design * East-West Design Group (Nashville, Tennessee) – design * Gerhart Yurkovic – cover photography * E.J. Carr – additional photos * John Guider – stock photos * Robert Glover – stock photos * Skip O'Rourke – stock photos * Johnny Villanueva – hair and make-up * Jeffrey Tay – stylist

References

{{Authority control Steven Curtis Chapman albums 1994 albums Sparrow Records albums