Chris Tomlin

Christopher Dwayne Tomlin is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, and worship leader from Grand Saline, Texas. He is signed to Universal's Capitol Christian Music Group. Some of his most well-known songs are "How Great Is Our God", "Our God", "Whom Shall I Fear " and "Holy Forever".

Early life

At the age of 13, Tomlin began singing at the Main Street Baptist church in Grand Saline. He wrote his first worship song at age fourteen. During high school, Tomlin learned to lead worship in his youth group. After graduating from Grand Saline High School in 1990, he entered Tyler Junior College planning for a medical or physical therapy career. Tomlin graduated in 1992 and enrolled in Texas A&M University to study medicine. He grew active in a campus Christian group called Breakaway, where he became the worship leader. In 1994, Tomlin graduated from Texas A&M with a bachelor's degree in psychology. After college Tomlin participated as a worship leader at various camps in Texas, including Dawson McAllister Youth Conferences. While at Breakaway, Tomlin participated in a Bible study led by Choice Ministries founder Louie Giglio. In 1997, Tomlin partnered with Giglio to found Passion Conferences.

Career

In 1995, Tomlin released Inside Your Love, which was released independently. In 1998, he released Authentic on Sparrow Records.
In 2000, Tomlin signed onto newly founded Sixstepsrecords, a subsidiary of Passion Conferences. His first nationally released solo project, titled The Noise We Make, was released in 2001, featuring the song "Forever". He released the live EP 545 and his second studio album Not to Us in 2002.
Since his signing onto Sixstepsrecords, Tomlin has released nine full-length studio albums. 2004's Arriving was the first to chart on Billboard's Hot Christian Albums chart and the Billboard 200. Tomlin has topped the Hot Christian Albums chart six times, and his 2013 album Burning Lights topped the Billboard 200, making the album only the fourth contemporary Christian album to do so.
Tomlin has also released one live album, recorded in Austin Music Hall, and two Christmas albums, both of which topped the Holiday albums chart on Billboard.
Tomlin has toured with many contemporary Christian artists, such as Delirious?, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, and MercyMe. Tomlin has headlined several tours, and has also joined Passion Conferences for national and global tours and events. Tomlin has also participated in various other conferences festivals including Grand Saline's annual Salt Festival in Texas, Hillsong's 2007 conference, and the SoCal Harvest in Anaheim.
On June 14, 2007, Tomlin's version of the song "Indescribable" was used as the official wake-up call for Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester on Space Shuttle mission STS-117. Chris Tomlin left Sixstepsrecords in 2015 and signed to Capitol Records CMG and River Music Holdings in 2016
On September 21, 2025, Tomlin led worship for the memorial service of Charlie Kirk held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The assassination of Charlie Kirk occurred in Utah on September 10, 2025.

Personal life

Tomlin married Lauren Bricken on November 9, 2010. They have three daughters.

Discography

Independent releases

Inside Your Love
Authentic
Too Much Free Time

Commercial releases

The Noise We Make
Not to Us
Arriving
See the Morning
Hello Love
And If Our God Is for Us...
Burning Lights
Love Ran Red
Never Lose Sight
Holy Roar
Chris Tomlin & Friends
Always
''The King Is Still The King''
Awards and achievements

According to Christian Copyright Licensing International's list of the top 25 worship songs in the US in August 2007, Tomlin held five spots with songs he has either written, co-written or performed: "How Great Is Our God", "Forever", "Holy Is the Lord", "We Fall Down", and "Indescribable" . In 2008, Tomlin held 6 spots on 20 The Countdown Magazine top 20 praise and worship songs: "We Fall Down", "Forever", "Holy Is the Lord", "Indescribable", "Amazing Grace ", and "How Great Is our God". In 2012, CCLI reported that his songs were performed more than 3 million times in churches around the world. Time magazine has called him "most often sung artist anywhere" in 2006, and in 2013, he was also pronounced the most sung songwriter in the world. In 2017, he became only the fourth artist to receive the Sound Exchange Digital Radio Award for surpassing a billion digital radio streams, and in 2018, he became the first Christian artist to receive the Billionaire award from Pandora for reaching a billion Pandora streams.

Grammy Awards

GMA Dove Awards

Throughout his career, Chris Tomlin has been nominated for more than 50 Dove Awards and won 23 of them.

Year	Award	Result
2005	Praise & Worship Album of the Year	Won
2006	Artist of the Year	Won
2006	Male Vocalist of the Year	Won
2006	Song of the Year	Nomitated
2006	Song of the Year	Won
2006	Worship Song of the Year	Nomitated
2006	Worship Song of the Year	Won
2006	Worship Song of the Year ¹	Nomitated
2006	Special Event Album of the Year *	Won
2006	Special Event Album of the Year *	Nomitated
2006	Special Event Album of the Year *	Nomitated
2007	Artist of the Year	Won
2007	Male Vocalist of the Year	Won
2007	Song of the Year	Nomitated
2007	Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year	Nomitated
2007	Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year	Won
2007	Worship Song of the Year	Won
2007	Worship Song of the Year	Nomitated
2007	Praise & Worship Album of the Year	Won
2007	Special Event Album of the Year *	Won
2008	Artist of the Year	Nomitated
2008	Male Vocalist of the Year	Won
2008	Song of the Year	Nomitated
2008	Worship Song of the Year	Nomitated
2008	Worship Song of the Year	Won
2008	Special Event Album of the Year *	Nomitated
2009	Artist of the Year	Nomitated
2009	Male Vocalist of the Year	Nomitated
2009	Song of the Year	Nomitated
2009	Worship Song of the Year	Nomitated
2009	Praise & Worship Album of the Year	Nomitated
2009	Special Event Album of the Year *	Won
2009	Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year ²	Won
2010	Song of the Year	Nomitated
2010	Worship Song of the Year	Nomitated
2010	Praise & Worship Album of the Year	Nomitated
2010	Christmas Album of the Year	Nomitated
2011	Artist of the Year	Nomitated
2011	Male Vocalist of the Year	Nomitated
2011	Song of the Year	Nomitated
2011	Worship Song of the Year	Won
2011	Special Event Album of the Year *	Won
2012	Praise & Worship Album of the Year	Won
2013	Song of the Year	Nomitated
2013	Praise & Worship Album of the Year	Won
2013	Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year	Nomitated
2013	Artist of the Year	Nomitated
2013	Special Event Album of the Year *	Nomitated
2013	Special Event Album of the Year *	Won
2013	Praise & Worship Album of the Year *	Nomitated
2013	Praise & Worship Album of the Year *	Nomitated
2014	Songwriter of the Year	Won
2015	Praise & Worship Album of the Year	Nomitated
2016	Songwriter of the Year	Nomitated
2017	Artist of the Year
2017	Songwriter of the Year
2017	Worship Album of the Year	Won
2017	Short Form Video of the Year
2018	Worship Recorded Song of the Year
2019	Worship Album of the Year	Nomitated
2019	Long Form Video of the Year	Nomitated

*Denotes a collaborative effort or a song contribution to a "Various artists" album.
¹ The song was performed by Tomlin, but written and produced by Laura Story.
² The song was performed by LaRue Howard, but written by Tomlin.