Triple treat of Christian artists heads for Modesto

By Sue Nowicki
snowicki@modbee.com

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Three big names in Christian music are coming to Modesto, converging on one stage for a concert at Calvary Temple next Sunday.

Jeremy Camp, Natalie Grant and Bebo Norman — all multiple Dove Award winners and well-known individual contemporary Christian artists — will be in town for the "Speaking Louder Than Before '09 Tour."

Camp, who specializes in rock and ballads, has had more than 17 No. 1 hits, including "I Still Believe," written after the ovarian cancer death of his first wife, Melissa Lynn Henning-Camp, then 21, in 2001. His second wife, Adi, also is a recording artist.

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Three of Camp's albums have gone gold, and a new one, "Jeremy Camp Live," is due out later this month. Among his top hits are "Let It Fade" and "Speaking Louder Than Before."

He's been in the area at least twice for concerts, including an appearance at Greg Laurie's evangelism crusades in Turlock in 2007.

Grant is a 37-year-old singer-songwriter who has won four consecutive Dove Awards for female vocalist of the year. Born in Seattle, Grant said her music career began at age 17 when she did some music arrangements for her church's youth choir. She then joined the group for two years before heading to Nashville to pursue a solo career.

The powerhouse vocalist likes to push the boundaries with music and lyrics rather than stick to what worked in the past. Just when you pin her down to the rock/pop genre, she'll spin a song with lots of blues, jazzy riffs or a hint of country.

Often called her signature song, "Held" plays on Christian radio stations, along with one from her latest album, "I Will Not Be Moved."

Grant established The Home Foundation in 2005 to fight against human trafficking in the United States and abroad. After visiting Bombay, India, and seeing a 7-year-old girl in a cage on the street offered for sexual service, she sent foundation funds to Bombay's Teen Challenge program, which gives food, shelter and educational assistance to children and young women in the city's red light district, and to a medical center in a nearby village that helps children who were formerly part of the sex trade, many of whom have the AIDS virus.

The experience has overflowed into her songwriting.

"I resolved to give my life away," she said.

Grant is married to Bernie Herms, who won his own 2009 Dove Award for record producer of the year. They have 2-year-old twin girls.

Music instead of med school

Norman, 36, an independent artist long before that became popular, became a Christian musician almost by accident. He had graduated from college with his degree in biology and was headed to medical school when he decided to take a year off. With a self-produced CD in his trunk, he set off across the country, playing in coffee houses and wherever else he could line up a gig. He hoped to sell 1,000 CDs; he ended up selling 50,000 of after shows and online.

The singer-songwriter said in a phone interview last week that he got the name, Bebo, from his younger sister when he was about 5. She was trying to say "big brother," and it came out "bee bo." His older brother picked it up, and he was never called Jeffrey Stephen again.

"It's cute when you're 5," he said, "not so cute when you're 35."

But it fits well in his family. His wife's name is Roshare, taken from her parents' first names, Rob and Sharon, and their two sons are 2-year-old Smith and 3-month-old Miller.

"They're maiden names from our family," Norman said. "That's not unusual in the South. And I figure if I could tolerate Bebo, they could tolerate Smith and Miller. My wife and I like unique names. Actually, all I ever prayed for was a wife with a normal name to counteract Bebo. And (God) gave me Roshare."