Platinum-selling and recent American Music Award nominee MercyMe, multi-platinum and GRAMMY award-winning artist Amy Grant, along with multiple Dove Award nominee Bebo Norman have just announced plans for ‘The Imagine Tour’ this winter of 2004.
“My vision for this tour is to see lives completely changed,” said lead-singer Bart Millard. “When we were talking with Amy about the tour, she smiled and told me this was why she longed to be a part of this tour as well. We’re so excited that she and Bebo will be out on the road with us – it’s going to be a great time.”
The tour will hit approximately 25 markets beginning January 30 through March 8, 2004. Promotions within each market will be coordinated with both Christian and mainstream Pop and AC stations, due to MercyMe’s recent success at pop radio with “I Can Only Imagine,” and Grant’s support with such for several years.
“I am so excited to be part of this tour with Mercy Me,” says Grant. “I’ve gotten to know all the guys over the past couple of years and they have truly amazed me with their songwriting ability, musicianship, and overall artistry. Their commitment to Christ and passion about leading others to experience a deeper faith is genuine and inspiring. It is an honor to share the stage with them. (For the record, they are also gadget geeks who are constantly trying to teach me how to use their latest techie toys…. they are trying desperately to drag this “70’s Jesus Movement” hippy into the new technical millennium!).”
This year, MercyMe went from being Christian music’s fastest-selling new artist of 2001, to having the pop radio surprise of the year with “I Can Only Imagine,” the song that had already garnered MercyMe several Dove Awards, a #1 single and a gold record. 2003 also became the year MercyMe held strong on Billboard’s top 200 sales chart, selling over 20,000 units a week all summer and into the fall of 2003 with their 2001 release Almost There, and then topping Billboard’s singles sales chart for seven weeks (and still counting!). Later this year, their 2002 release Spoken For received RIAA Gold certification, and they garnered the most weeks at #1 at AC radio with their single “Spoken For.” In addition to gearing up for time off after an incredibly busy 2003, MercyMe is currently in the studio working on their April 2004 INO Records release, Undone.
Amy Grant has sold more than 24 million albums in her career and was recently honored for her body of work with an induction into the Gospel Music Association Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Grant, who debuted on the Word-owned Myrrh label in 1978 at the age of 17, has pioneered the path for Contemporary Christian music. Since then Grant’s musical resume has come to include one Quintuple Platinum, one Triple Platinum, and one Double Platinum album, as well as additional six Platinum and three Gold albums. Along with five Grammys, she also has received 24 Dove Awards, the highest honor in the Christian music market. Grant’s vast media exposure includes appearances on “Good Morning America,” “The Today Show,” “Oprah,” “Late Night With David Letterman,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “Larry King Live” among others, and also heralds special television productions such as the Lifetime Television special “Women Rock!: Girls & Guitars,” The Grammy Awards, The American Music Awards, Christmas In Washington, an acting debut role in a CBS network original movie “A Song From The Heart”, as well as hosting the CBS network “A Christmas To Remember” special.
Bebo Norman’s popularity continues to grow steadily as a result of the success of his critically acclaimed projects, Ten Thousand Days (1999), Big Blue Sky (2001) and Myself When I Am Real (2002). The latter title landed at No. 1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart its debut week, spawned the hit radio single “Great Light of the World” and earned the singer-songwriter eight 2003 Dove Award nominations. Norman maintains a loyal fan base built by years of consistent touring, initially as an independent artist and later as a nationally signed artist to Essential Records.
IMAGINE TOUR TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
*all dates subject to change
*check http://www.mercyme.org for updates
January 30 Nashville, TN
January 31 South Haven, MS
February 5 Greensboro, NC
February 6 Columbia, SC
February 7 TBA
February 8 Jacksonville, FL
February 12 Shreveport, LA
February 13 Birmingham, AL
February 14 Bloomington, IN
February 15 Louisville, KY
February 19 Detroit, MI
February 20 Madison, WI
February 21 Chicago, IL
February 22 Ames, IA
February 23 Council Bluffs, IA/Omaha
February 26 Fort Smith, AR
February 27 Dallas, TX
February 28 Kansas City, MO
February 29 Oklahoma, OK
March 1 Abilene, TX
March 4 Montgomery, AL
March 5 Cincinnati, OH
March 6 Chattanooga, TN
March 7 Norfolk, VA
March 8 Salisbury, MDBuy MercyMe Products
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