As you can see, I have 5 demos up. As I've been on the AI Top 10 tour, I've been working on demos for my upcoming album. I've been surpised and excited to see how they have turned out...I started off making a mainstream record and ended up with a very "Christian" record. Anyway, the demos were recorded in dressing rooms and hotel rooms on tour...so please don't judge the quality. But at least you can hear where the songs are taking me.
Born in Madison, TN with a large cranium and a full head of hair, I started life naked and screaming. Thankfully, I've put some clothes on since then, but not much else has changed. I still have a big head, a full head of hair and I make a living screaming all over the nation on some of the nation's biggest stages...some may call it singing, but I have a pretty good understanding of the vocal mechanism...I'll call it screaming.
I was born into a very conservative Christian family where the evils of rock and roll were taught to me on a regular basis. At one point, I could give you a five point outline with a poem and a prayer telling you why rock and roll was wrong. Thus, how ironic that the life fate chose for me included rock and roll and me performing it instead of preaching against it. But all of it proves God has a sense of humor.
I really wasn't interested in music as a kid. In high school, (though my generous, shapely figure at this point in life may not point to it) I was a jock. I played baseball, basketball, soccer and ran track & field...and did extremely well with all of them. I took some piano lessons in 6th grade, but always thought music was for pansies. So, I avoided it all cost. Again, how ironic.
My freshman year of college someone heard me humming and asked me join their quartet...I did and music became the love of my life. I changed majors, changed colleges and studied music hard core to learn how it all worked. I started to write soon after that, and though it was crappy writing, looking back on it, it helped me get to the place I am today.
In 2001, I released my first solo record. It was a collection of songs I wrote specifically for the church and it was basically a way for me to get my stuff on tape. The songs were very acoustic-based and focused on the folk-pop side of things. I toured with those songs and put together my first band on that material. In 2002, I recorded and released my second album, this time moving a little more on the pop/rock side of things...but still aimed very squarely at the church, though I don't think I would call either one of my first 2 albums praise and worship. With this album, my band and I began to tour a lot more, and it allowed me to win GMA's songwriting competition in 2002.
In 2003, my bandmates decided to move on with their lives, so I formed a new band with a singer/songwriter friend of mine and called the band Half Past Forever. We toured endlessly and in 2004 recorded our debut self-titled album and released it in 2005. That album was very much a praise and worship record. The record sold well, but my friend soon decided family life was more for him, so he moved on from the band. Soon after, we released a 2nd album of songs left over from the debut sessions and called it "Besides..."
In 2006, I sat down and dug deep to write new material. The band had decided to move away from strictly church music and so I wrote a batch of songs that I felt conveyed my faith in a way that could be understood on a more universal level. The album was finished in August of 2006, but soon after we finished the record, my journey with American Idol started. The band released "Take a Chance on Something Beautiful" in March of '07 during my run on the show. We have sold a little under 25,000 copies of the record completely independent of distribution and have recently signed the album over to a label with major distribution.
A lot of people have wondered why I would try out for American Idol when I had a successful band before. In fact, soon after I made it through to Hollywood I received a phone call from one of the biggest managers in the business who wanted to sign my band. Why would I decide on American Idol over that? Well, I was nearly signed and part of record deals more than once in the past and had stuff just never work out. I knew that if I did well on the show, it would open up doors far beyond being a starting act with a small chance to succeed. American Idol is the biggest thing on the planet. I knew that a lot of the stuff I had would be waiting on me if AI didn't work out, and the upside of it all was way more than the downside, especially since the show is gaining more credibility artistically every year. In retrospect, I made the right decision.
I am signed with a major management company now. I will be signing with a major label in the next month or so, maybe less. I will have more information on both of these in the coming weeks. In about a month, I will be heading into the studio to record my label debut. I've been writing on the road and have come up with a batch of songs that I am both excited for and proud of. I'm excited for the world to get this record in their hands.
In the next couple of weeks, I will be putting up demos of several songs on my music myspace - myspace.com/chrissligh.
Thanks so much for your interest and stay tuned for more developments and for upcoming tour dates, photos, etc.
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