TJ McCloud (born August 26, 1980) is an American indie and folk singer-songwriter and

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

Early career

Born in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 1980, he lived in

Perry, Oklahoma Perry is a city in, and county seat of, Noble County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 5,126, a 2.0 percent decrease from the figure of 5,230 in 2000. The city is home of Ditch Witch construction equipment. ...

until 1990, then moved with his family to

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, where he finished high school. In 1999, he co-founded the group Doubting Thomas with

Jenks High School Jenks High School is a secondary school located within Tulsa County in Jenks, Oklahoma, United States. It serves students from the town of Jenks and students from the south side of the city of Tulsa. The high school has over 2,800 students in grad ...

buddies Ab Colby and Rockwell Ryan Ripperger. While a student at

Abilene Christian University Abilene Christian University (ACU) is a Private university, private Churches of Christ, Christian university in Abilene, Texas. It was founded in 1906 as ''Childers Classical Institute''. ACU is one of the largest private universities in the Sout ...

Abilene, Texas Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor and Jones Counties in Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the state of Texas. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan statis ...

, McCloud and Ripperger later morphed into the successful indie group Stephen Speaks. The band's first full-length album ''No More Doubt'', released in September 2001, did well, spreading through college campuses and the newly formed Internet sharing service,

Napster Napster was a peer-to-peer file sharing application. It originally launched on June 1, 1999, with an emphasis on digital audio file distribution. Audio songs shared on the service were typically encoded in the MP3 format. It was founded by Shawn ...

. Through word of mouth, the singles "Out of My League" and "Passenger Seat" were picked up internationally and both songs went to No. 1 on

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

radio stations throughout the Spring of 2003, breaking all previous pop music records for that country. The album, then signed and distributed through

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

, went certified platinum for that market. A music video for "Passenger Seat" was also produced and went to No. 1 on MTV Asia. For the Filipino tour, the McCloud/Ripperger duo was expanded to include Ripperger's brother Dain Samuelson (percussion), Amber Sturges (vocals), Blake Howard (bass), and Blake Farmer (drums). After the surprise radio and music video success in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, Ripperger and McCloud disbanded Stephen Speaks, and McCloud relocated to Nashville, TN to pursue a solo career as an indie singer and songwriter. Ripperger (who then became known as Rockwell Ryan) began performing once again under the Stephen Speaks name in 2004, releasing several albums to date.

Solo work

McCloud released a limited edition of untitled acoustic demos in 2002, one of which ("Miles Between Us" (''aka The Airplane Song'')) was featured in 2004's indie film ''Decoys'' which aired internationally on the SciFi channel. McCloud's first solo album ''Kind of Life'' was produced in 2004 by Nashville indie producer Donnie Boutwell. TJ's solo debut, ''Kind of Life'' was released in 2004. His latest release was 2008's ''Long Live Love-EP'', a collection of love songs that includes a version of the popular indie hit "Out of My League" in its original arrangement, which has been used in several highly viewed user-made romantic mash-up videos on YouTube – most notably with Jim and Pam from NBC's ''The Office''.

Children's music

In 2006 McCloud wrote and sang an album of children's music called All God's Animals, in association with Eric Wyse and Brandon Scott Thomas (the ZOE group), which he has described as "kids' songs that moms won't hate". It was re-released in 2009, and due to its success, was nominated by the GMA for a Dove Award in the category of "Best Children's Collection". A follow-up collection was released, called "Sailing in the Ocean (in the belly of a fish)". In 2008, a Christmas collection was released, called ''What I Love About Christmas''.

Worship music

In 2009, McCloud co-wrote the modern worship song, "Rooftops", with Steven Patterson of the worship band Branch. The song was included on the 2009 album ''Nothing to Lose-Live EP''.

Mission work and Ministry

In 2006, TJ and his wife, Holly, moved to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

to start a Christian youth outreach center in the town of Rio San Juan. They worked there with Manna Global Ministries until September 2008, when they moved back to Nashville to continue writing music and working in ministry. He is currently serving as the Director of Missions at Lipscomb University.

Discography

* ''Doubting Thomas'' – 1999 * ''No More Doubt'' (w/ Stephen Speaks) – 2001 * ''Kind of Life'' – 2003 * ''Playground – A Place I Know'' – 2006 * ''Playground – I Want to Shine'' – 2007 * ''All God's Animals'' – 2008 (reissue of 2006 Playground collection) * ''Long Live Love – EP'' – 2008 * ''Sailing in the Ocean'' – 2008 (reissue of 2007 Playground collection) * ''What I Love About Christmas'' – (2008) * ''The Perfect Crime – EP'' (2012)

External links

TJ's music websiteTJ's online distributorTJ and Holly's work in DRTJ's former band
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCloud, TJ 1980 births Abilene Christian University alumni American performers of Christian music Singers from Nashville, Tennessee Living people Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma Singer-songwriters from Tennessee 21st-century American singer-songwriters