Michael W. Smith

Michael W. Smith is a singer-songwriter whose successful career in Christian music has crossed over to the mainstream.

He began playing with local bands while still in college, before moving to Nashville to pursue his career seriously. Taking a job as keyboard player with Higher Ground, he used his downtime to write music for some of the big names on the Christian music circuit, including Bill Gaiter and Amy Grant. This led to an offer to play in Grant's touring band, and eventually as a support act, which gave him the opportunity to polish the material for his first album.

His debut solo album The Michael W. Smith Project (1983), which contained one of his best known songs, "Friends", earned him a Grammy nomination and heralded the start of a commercially and critically successful career. The follow-up, Michael W. Smith 2 (1984), earned him a Grammy for Best Gospel Performance, and after two more albums, he achieved mainstream recognition with a Top 100 position in the Billboard 200 with Go West Young Man (1990). The album featured "Place in This World" which made the Top 10 of the Hot 100.

Subsequent releases have all sold well and have earned Smith over thirty Dove Awards, with Grammys for I'll Lead You Home and Worship Again. In addition to his own career, he set up the Rocketown Records label, which has provided a home for Geoff Moore, Chris Rice and High Flight Society.