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Campus Life, March/April 2001
Boy! Oh Boy
Plus One brings the good news of faith to boy band mania.
by Mark Moring
Ten months ago, they were still star-struck schoolboys, little more than mere fans in the audience at the Dove Awards show—Christian music's version of the Grammies.
The five wide-eyed guys, one of 'em still a high school senior, were giddy with giggles, barely believing they were even in the same building with some of the biggest names in the biz.
"Look!" one of the guys practically squealed. "There's dc Talk!!"
"And over there!" another said. "It's Rebecca!!"
"Hey!" added a third. "Isn't that Steven?"
It was all they could do to resist the urge to rush up to their heroes and ask for autographs and a quick snapshot for the scrapbook back at home.
Things'll be quite different at this year's Doves, coming up in April. This time around, all eyes will be on them instead.
"Hey," some fan will say, "isn't that Plus One?"
 Overnight Success
It's been a wild and crazy year for Plus One, Christian music's answer to the dizzying popularity of boy bands like 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys.
Since their debut disc, The Promise (143 Records/Atlantic), released last May, the quintet with the cover-boy good looks has:
• run away with Campus Life's Best New Artist award, thanks to your votes!
• gone gold with more than 500,000 album sales; The Promise was last year's top-selling single-artist CD in Christian stores.
• had two No. 1 Christian radio hits, "Written on My Heart" and "God Is in This Place." "Written" sat atop the charts for almost two months last summer.
• had a mainstream single, the love song "Last Flight Out," get lots of airtime on about 100 radio stations.
• opened for mega-star Jaci Velasquez on a 60-city tour last fall. They'll headline their own tour this spring, joined by pop princesses Rachael Lampa and Stacie Orrico.
• appeared on NBC's "Days of Our Lives" in front of about 3.5 million viewers.
• performed at the Democratic National Convention last summer, alongside such icons as Stevie Wonder and Mary Chapin Carpenter.
• been nominated for a Dove Award as New Artist of the Year.
• fended off countless screeching, squealing, smitten teen girls. … and even a few of their moms.
Moms?
"Yeah, moms," says Gabe Combs, 21, rolling his eyes. "It's happened at a few concerts. Girls are always coming up to us for autographs or to take pictures. And a few times, even their moms were pushing the limits, trying to hug us and stuff, flirting with us. It was crazy. We had to tell our road manager to get us out of there."
Yep, all the signs of a popular boy band. Maybe not quite the mass hysteria surrounding Backstreet or 'N Sync, but more than just a hint of it nonetheless.
Not that they're complaining.
"We're five guys who love girls," says Nathan Walters, 22. "That's why we've got love songs on our album. We're always going to sing about that."
But that's only a small part of what Plus One is all about.
"Our mission is to bring hope," says Jason Perry, 18. "We have a message that God loves you and cares for you. That's what our name means: It's us plus one, and the one is God."
Most of the band's early exposure was to Christian audiences, but they'd like to see some mainstream success too.
"We're totally a Christian group," says Nate Cole, 19. "But we don't want to stay in a Christian bubble. Yes, we want to encourage believers, but at the same time, we make the music so other people can find Jesus and discover who he is. That's our main mission, to go into the world. I don't know to what extent it'll happen, but we're totally believing and expecting it."
A God Thing
The title of Plus One's second single, "God Is in This Place," is a good way to describe the way the guys feel about the group. All five firmly believe God brought them together for big things.
A year and a half ago, none of these guys knew each other. Meanwhile, an executive at Atlantic Records said it was a "no-brainer" to put together a boy band in Christian music.
Calls were made. Auditions were held. And a band was born.
And God was clearly in the process. Just ask Jeremy Mhire, 20, who had slipped in his faith and was on the verge of flunking out of college when he got the call.
"I wasn't really trying academically," he says. "I wasn't motivated. And spiritually, I wasn't in a good place. I had turned my back on God.
"I reached a point where I looked in the mirror and said, 'What am I doing to myself? What am I doing to my life?' Then I said, 'God, I don't really have any place else to look except to you.'"
Two weeks later, Jeremy was awakened by a call from somebody he'd never heard of, some music industry guy who'd heard him sing a couple times. The guy offered to fly Jeremy to California for an audition. Jeremy blew him off. … but got his phone number, just in case.
"I couldn't go back to sleep," says Jeremy. "The Holy Spirit was speaking to me. This was an open door."
Jeremy called back and said OK. Two days later, he was on a plane to San Francisco, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The five guys hit it off right away, and today they consider one another the best of friends.
"We all grew up in Assembly of God churches," says Gabe. "And three of us (Gabe, Jason and Nate) are pastors' kids. We've had the same kind of backgrounds, so it was like getting together with guys from youth group. It just kind of clicked from the start."
And, clearly, it's still clicking just fine.
Meet the Guys
Nate Cole, 19
Hometown: Sacramento, CA
Favorite food: Chicken fingers
Favorite CD: dc Talk, Jesus Freak
Favorite verse: Proverbs 3:5-6
Factoid: Nate's grandfather, Ira Stamphill, wrote several famous hymns, including a couple recorded by Elvis Presley ("Mansion Over the Hilltop") and LeAnn Rimes ("I Know Who Holds Tomorrow").
Gabe Combs, 21
Hometown: Pittsburgh, CA
Favorite food: Anything but tomatoes
Favorite CD: dc Talk, Jesus Freak
Favorite verse: Philippians 4:13
Factoid: Gabe didn't have a slick 8x10 head shot to send the record company when he auditioned for Plus One. Instead, he sent his prom picture!
Jeremy Mhire, 20
Hometown: Springfield, MO
Favorite food: Italian
Favorite book: Anything by Dr. Seuss
Favorite CD: James Taylor's Greatest Hits
Favorite verse: Proverbs 18:12
Factoid: Jeremy is half Filipino and half Caucasian. "That's where I get my slight mocha tone."
Jason Perry, 18
Hometown: Madison, IN
Favorite food: Grilled chicken
Favorite CD: Fred Hammond, The Spirit of David
Favorite verse: Proverbs 3:5-6
Factoid: On their fall tour with Jaci Velasquez, Plus One opened by singing part of "It Is Well" a cappella while wearing choir robes, then ripped off the robes for their first number. At one concert, Jason accidentally ripped open his shirt, exposing his chest!
Nathan Walters, 22
Hometown: Lakeland, FL
Favorite food: Fettuccine Alfredo, shrimp
Favorite CD: Michael W. Smith, Change Your World
Favorite verse: Psalm 134
Factoid: Nathan used to take tae kwon do, and was one step away from earning a black belt.
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Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today International/Campus Life magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Campus Life.
March/April 2001, Vol. 59, No. 8, Page 22
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