Biography
During the sixth season of American Idol, Chris Sligh achieved his major breakthrough thanks to a combination of self-deprecating humor and tenor vocals that ultimately secured him a tenth-place finish. He channeled that exposure into a CCM career that began with the band Half Past Forever, which he had already formed before appearing on the program, and continued as a solo artist. Born Charles Christopher Sligh in 1978 to a Baptist family, he cultivated both his faith and his vocal skills from an early age. Because his parents worked as missionaries, the family relocated often, and young Sligh lived at various points in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Germany, where he absorbed musical ideas from his guitar-playing father. He later moved to South Carolina to enroll at the fundamentalist Bob Jones University, only to be expelled after seven semesters for breaking the institution’s “music rules” by attending a concert by the seminal Christian band 4Him. Throughout his American Idol run he maintained his convictions, even performing a dc Talk song during Top 16 week.
Although the show eliminated Sligh in March 2007, his tenth-place result still earned him a place on the American Idol Summer Tour. Prior to the tour’s start, however, he reunited with Half Past Forever and secured a recording contract with the Atlanta-based, Christian-friendly label Brash Music. The band issued Take a Chance on Something Beautiful that July, and later the same year Sligh finalized a solo agreement with the same imprint. Several producers contributed to his debut album, among them Stephen Leiweke, formerly of Jars of Clay, and the Grammy-winning Brown Bannister, yet Sligh composed the majority of the material himself. “Empty Me” began receiving Christian-radio airplay early the next year, and the complete project Running Back to You, which showcased Sligh’s approach to Christian pop/rock, appeared in May 2008. He also gained recognition as a songwriter for other acts, most prominently Rascal Flatts, whose recording of his composition “Here Comes Goodbye” reached number one in April 2009. For his subsequent album, The Anatomy of Broken, released in 2010, he moved to the Word label.
Although the show eliminated Sligh in March 2007, his tenth-place result still earned him a place on the American Idol Summer Tour. Prior to the tour’s start, however, he reunited with Half Past Forever and secured a recording contract with the Atlanta-based, Christian-friendly label Brash Music. The band issued Take a Chance on Something Beautiful that July, and later the same year Sligh finalized a solo agreement with the same imprint. Several producers contributed to his debut album, among them Stephen Leiweke, formerly of Jars of Clay, and the Grammy-winning Brown Bannister, yet Sligh composed the majority of the material himself. “Empty Me” began receiving Christian-radio airplay early the next year, and the complete project Running Back to You, which showcased Sligh’s approach to Christian pop/rock, appeared in May 2008. He also gained recognition as a songwriter for other acts, most prominently Rascal Flatts, whose recording of his composition “Here Comes Goodbye” reached number one in April 2009. For his subsequent album, The Anatomy of Broken, released in 2010, he moved to the Word label.
Albums
Singles