Tomlin Wins Big at GMAs
Worship music leads the way at awards show, where other big winners included Kirk Franklin, David Crowder Band and Steven Curtis Chapman.
by Andree Farias Photos by Andy Argyrakis | posted 4/06/2006
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NASHVILLE — Chris Tomlin nabbed five trophies and worship music won big Wednesday night at the 37th Annual GMA Music Awards, gospel and Christian music's version of the Grammys.
Hosted by gospel superstar Kirk Franklin and pop/rock singer Rebecca St. James, the ceremony celebrated the biggest artists, albums and songs in 42 categories, from pop and contemporary gospel to musicals and children's albums.
In what was nearly a clean sweep, worship leader Tomlin took five awards, including the night's biggest, for Artist of the Year. He also won awards for Male Vocalist of the Year, Song of the Year ("How Great Is Our God"), Worship Song of the Year ("How Great Is Our God"), and for Special Event Album (the multi-artist compilation, Music Inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe).
Kirk Franklin and Rebecca St. James hosted the show
"We just want to be the moon, and the moon has no light of itself, but it reflects the light of the sun on the earth," Tomlin said. "We have no light of our own; our light comes from God. … Hopefully we're bringing songs that are bigger than just an industry."
In other major categories, Natalie Grant won Female Vocalist of the Year, Casting Crowns won Group of the Year, The Afters won Best New Artist, and Ed Cash won Producer of the Year.
David Crowder Band picked up three awards, for Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year ("Here Is Our King"), for Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year (A Collision), and for the Narnia compilation.
And veteran Steven Curtis Chapman picked up his 50th—yes, that's fiftieth—GMA award in his storied career, for his role on the Narnia compilation.
"I'm really speechless this time," said Chapman, making a sly reference to his 1999 album.
Chapman has long held the record for the artist with the most statuettes, a milestone celebrated by a video retrospective of Chapman's career.
Mac Powell, David Crowder, Mark Hall and Jeremy Camp sang a medley of Chapman's tunes in honor of his 50th GMA Award
The video was capped off by a live acoustic performance by Mark Hall of Casting Crowns, Mac Powell of Third Day, David Crowder, and Jeremy Camp. The singers traded off vocals and verses of some of Chapman's most notable songs, including "For the Sake of the Call," "I Will Be Here," "Magnificent Obsession," and "Dive."
Tomlin, who was once told by a high school instructor that he wasn't good enough for a singing group, said, "I never felt like a great singer, but if God can use it to lead people to worship him, that's all that matters."
Tomlin actually had three entries in the running for Song of the Year, and all went up against monster hits by Third Day, Natalie Grant and Casting Crowns. But "How Great Is Our God" came out the winner.
Still, Tomlin did not win the coveted Songwriter of the Year statuette; the honor went to songwriter Christa Wells, who wrote Grant's multi-format hit, "Held."
"I had no clue the impact the song was going to have," said Wells. "I'm overwhelmed by the support."
After winning Female Vocalist of the Year, a visibly moved Grant said, "This is insane. [God] didn't call me to be famous. He didn't call me to have great notoriety. . . . He called me to be faithful."
Bart Millard of MercyMe and Amy Grant tied in the Inspirational Album categories for Hymned and Rock of Ages … Hymns & Faith, respectively.
"Bart couldn't be here because of the birth of his third baby and the opening week of Major League Baseball," quipped Millard's band mate Mike Scheuchzer, who accepted the award on his behalf.
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