FAITH

Christian music superstar doesn't covet secular genres

Steven Curtis Chapman, who's had dozens of hit singles, says his relationship with God keeps him from crossing over

There aren't too many careers like Steven Curtis Chapman in popular music of any kind, let alone contemporary Christian pop.

Five Grammys. Sixteen studio albums over a 22-year career. Forty-four No. 1 songs on the Christian charts. Ten million albums sold.

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Steven Curtis Chapman, who's had dozens of hit singles on the Christian charts, says his relationship with God keeps him from crossing over to the mainstream. He performs Friday in Austin.

Steven Curtis Chapman

When: 6:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Shoreline Christian Center, 15201 Burnet Road
Cost: $25-$30
Information: (512) 310-2244

He's an adoption activist who has raised millions to cover the costs of adoption for people who can't afford the initial outlay of funds, which can be as much as the down payment on a house. His 2007 album "This Moment" debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Christian Music chart.

The 45-year old singer-songwriter is Christian music's Michael Jordan, its George Strait.

Indeed, Chapman, who plays Friday at Shoreline Christian Center, has been around long enough to see the Christian music market transform from a cultural backwater of bland soft rock to a parallel pop economy encompassing every sound from hard rock and country to boy-band pop, R&B and hip-hop.

"Seeing Christian music develop has been like seeing my teenage son grow up," Chapman said. "In the early days, lyrics that focused on faith seemed like a real deterrent to a song making it beyond the confines of Christian radio. Now bands like Jars of Clay, Switchfoot and Mercy Me are having mainstream radio success in amazing ways."

Chapman notes this growth was helped by two not-particularly spiritual things: better recording budgets and the involvement of major labels.

"When I was starting, it was very hard to make music that would stand up with mainstream sonically," Chapman said. "It's much easier now. We have the money for better and better studios."

In sharp contrast to secular music — where corporate interference is always a concern — major labels that bought Christian indie labels often left the faith-based companies alone.

"When Sparrow, the label I was on, was purchased by EMI in the early 1990s, the folks at EMI were able to say, "We don't even pretend to understand fully how this music works, but people are connecting with it and we respect you,' " Chapman said. "But they gave us the resources to make the music sound better."

Though Chapman has done some mainstream writing here and there, and seems perfectly capable of making a move into secular music if he wanted to, he seems more than content to dance with the ones that brung him.

"Guys like James Taylor and Jim Croce inspired me as a kid, but the music that came out of me naturally had woven into it the deepest thing in my life: my relationship with God," Chapman said.

"I remember hearing something very cool, (a) quote from Toby Mack from (Christian rap superstars) DC Talk," he said. "Someone asked him, 'Don't you ever feel confined by the fact that you can only write about your Christian faith?' He said, 'No, I feel the exact opposite.' I know exactly how he feels. These experiences with God are where I come alive as a songwriter."

Occasionally, the songs take on a life of their own, completely outside the world of Christian music. For example, Philippine superstar Gary Valenciano turned Chapman's song "I Will Be Here" into a crossover pop hit in 2002. One Filipino blog described it as "every Pinoy's (Filipino's) favorite wedding song."

You can almost hear Chapman shake his head in disbelief over the phone: "That guy is the Justin Timberlake of the Philippines."

For Chapman, the danger as a songwriter comes when he loses sight of his primary purpose as an artist. "I certainly have times when I think, 'Are they going to love my song?' 'Is radio going to play it?' "

These aren't insignificant concerns for an artist with a 20-year career. Chapman might be the guy contemporary Christian artists look up to, but that doesn't mean a hit is guaranteed.

"But when you remember that you're creating music for an audience of one," he said, "for his glory, that takes a lot of that pressure off."

jgross@statesman.com; 912-5926