Carman

One of contemporary Christian music's most commercially dominant figures, Carman entered the world as Carman Domenic Licciardello on January 19, 1956. Conversion occurred after he attended a concert by Andrae Crouch, after which Bill Gaither became his discoverer; the artist subsequently established both a personal ministry and an independent recording operation. His first album, Some-O-Dat, appeared in 1982, and successive LPs steadily elevated his presence on CCM airwaves. Charisma magazine readers voted him favorite male vocalist in each of the three years spanning 1987 through 1989. Billboard further recognized him as CCM Artist of the Year in 1990, while Revival in the Land captured Album of the Year; additional honors accumulated rapidly, accompanied by multiple gold and platinum certifications.

Following the August 15, 1993 release of Yo! Kidz: Heroes, Stories and Songs from the Bible, he organized the "Music for Peace" crusade at Johannesburg's Wanderers Stadium, where 50,000 attendees witnessed the largest solo Christian concert on record. The following year he surpassed that attendance figure by performing for 71,132 people at Texas Stadium in Dallas. R.I.O.T. (Righteous Invasion of Truth) arrived in 1995 together with a companion book, and Mission 3:16 appeared in 1998. Two years afterward the double-disc retrospective Heart of a Champion collected his major hits.

Although new recordings slowed during the 2000s, Carman maintained visibility through regular hosting duties on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. The 2010s brought successive hardships: a 2011 traffic accident left him with serious injuries, and a 2013 myeloma diagnosis came with a prognosis of only three to four remaining years. Supporters funded a new project that surfaced in 2014 under the title No Plan B, which promptly became one of his strongest-performing releases by reaching number 66 on the Billboard 200. He passed away at a Las Vegas hospital on February 16, 2021.