MercyMe歌手简介:
作为一支乐队存在了8年，这让他们学会了对于现在这个集体来说每一个成员的重要性。吉他手 Mike Sheuchzer 是在佛罗里达一支青年乐队中与 Millard 相识的。在毕业之后 Millard 将他推向舞台，从那时起他们就开始在一起工作。乐队在今年春天收入了他们的新成员，吉他手 Barry Graul。这里还有 Robby Shaffer,鼓手兼财政专家。他负责乐队的财政并且以有责任感而出名。贝司手，新做爸爸的 Nathan Cochran 是乐队里的重量级人物，所以当他有话要说的时候，往往是值得一听的。还有 Gim Eryson,键盘手，他的专业技术在过去经常被用到乐队汽车的修理工作上。他还十分有童心。“我从没见过任何一个人送出那么多我们的专辑给那些买不起它的孩子们，”Millard 说，“有时候我们不得不劝劝他，然而要让这样一个热心肠冷静下来可太难了。”而歌迷们回应的正是这种坦诚和乐队成员之间的亲情。当然他们也关注着乐队的本身的音乐。
2010年全美音乐奖，MercyMe得到了“最受欢迎当代福音艺人”奖
Although praise & worship band MercyMe was founded in 1994, vocalist Bart Millard says that the group's birth was a process God began in him during high school. Millard recalls, "My dad and my older brother were both football players. So naturally, that's what I wanted to do as well. But I broke both my ankles in a high school football game and that ended my career." Due to the injury, Millard was left with an elective class to fill and reluctantly joined the only available option: choir. With the prodding of his choir director, he was soon actively involved. During Millard's first semester in college, he was faced with the death of his father to cancer. The loss caused him to look for a change and a fresh start. Millard's youth pastor, who had recently moved from Millard's hometown of Greenville, TX, to Lakeland, FL, invited him to work with the youth praise band. He accepted the offer and moved at the end of his freshman year of college. Millard says that the praise band involvement marked "the first time I had ever done anything with a band -- just a local youth group who played for a Wednesday night service. But I fell in love with it immediately." It wasn't long after that Millard became friends with keyboardist Jim Bryson. In the summer of 1994, the two traveled to Europe as part of a praise team. The trip caused Millard and Bryson to consider full-time music ministry. In August of 1994, guitarist Mike Scheuchzer made the duo a trio. The three, who now lived in Oklahoma City, formed MercyMe. From there the group begin to attract local promoters and found themselves opening for Audio Adrenaline. Following this, the band moved to Nashville, TN, and then to Texas. Their concerts grew to 200 dates per year. Bassist Nathan Cochran and percussionist Robby Shaffer joined the group, turning it from a trio into a five-member band. MercyMe, with six independent projects to their credit, signed with INO Records and released Almost There in August 2001. In 2003, the group was nominated for the Favorite Contemporary Inspirational Artist at the American Music Awards. MercyMe released Undone in 2004 and Coming Up to Breathe in 2006. In September 2007, the band embarked on a tour to promote All That Is Within Me, which was released in November that same year.