Sparrow Records’ artist Steven Curtis Chapman was awarded the American Music Award for Favorite Artist in Contemporary Inspirational Music at tonight’s show held live in Los Angeles at the Shrine Auditorium. The American Music Awards were broadcast nationwide on ABC.
This is Chapman’s second time to be nominated and his first win in this category, a category that has only been recognized for the last three years in the 31 years of American Music Awards broadcast.
Thrilled by tonight’s win, Chapman comments, “It’s great to know we have a home at this awards show. Because of this genre still be new to the AMA’s, along with fellow nominees Third Day and MercyMe I feel this is more of a group win than the winner and a wonderful way to represent Christian music.”
Chapman was also a presenter for the evening, co-presenting with Sara Rue (ABC’s “Less Than Perfect”) as they introduced The Bomb Squad, an unsigned band that won the Coca-Cola New Music Award Competition and the opportunity to perform on the AMA’s.
Dan Raines, President of Creative Trust and manager to Chapman, quipped, “The momentum around Steven continues to grow and we are thankful to Dick Clark and all of the fans for this award.”
Winners of the annual show are selected by the public. A national sampling were sent ballots by the National Family Opinion, Inc. firm. Names of the nominees on the ballots were compiled from data supplied by Radio & Records Magazine (R&R) and the Nielsen SoundScan Inc. management information system.
In his 16-year career, Chapman has also been awarded four GRAMMY Awards, 47 Dove Awards, 40 No. 1 radio hits and has sold over nine million records (two RIAA certified Platinum and seven certified Gold). He has recorded thirteen projects with Sparrow Records, his most recent entitled All About Love, released in January 2003. Currently, Christmas Is All In The Heart is available exclusively at Hallmark Gold Crown ® Stores nationwide, and Chapman is writing for his next project, slated to release in the summer of 2004. He has performed at the White House and has appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN and E!, as well as in numerous national newspapers and magazines. The Chapman family has recently established Shaohannah’s Hope, a foundation providing information and assistance to families who desire to adopt which is named after the first of their two adopted daughters. A portion of the proceeds from Chapman’s albums Declaration and All About Love benefit this foundation. Their own adoption story was just featured on the Hallmark Channel’s “Adoption” series. For more information please visit www.ShaohannahsHope.com, www.StevenCurtisChapman.com, and www.sparrowrecords.com.
