Christon Gray

Christon Gray
Background information
Birth name	Christon Michael Gray
Born	(1986-07-18) July 18, 1986 Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Origin	Columbus, Ohio U.S.
Genres	Hip Hop, Contemporary R&B, Christian,
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, rapper, producer
Instruments	Vocals, Piano
Years active	2006 (2006)–present
Labels	Fo Yo Soul/RCA Records
Associated acts	Taelor Gray, W.L.A.K., The Elevationists
Website	christongray.com

Christon Michael Gray (born July 18, 1986) is an American R&B singer and rapper born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He is a Christian and calls his music ‘about being human’. It’s this approach that has allowed him to be successful as a mainstream artist.

Background

Gray was born Christon Michael Gray on July 18, 1986, in Columbus, Ohio. His parents, Arthur Gray (a former choir leader), and his mother Leigh Ann (a trained soprano) have two other children; Christon’s older brother, Taelor Gray, who is also a rapper and pastor, and his younger sister Aubrey, who is currently a college student. He resides in Columbus, and is married to Cristina Gray and they have a daughter together, Mya Blue.

Music career

2006 - 11: Elevationists & EWEWM

In 2006, Gray was a part of The Elevationists with his brother, Taelor and childhood friend BJ (James Hazley). After a few years together, they disbanded the group.

In 2011, Gray, with the help of writing partner and music director Marlo Scott, released an album entitled Even With Evil With Me. The independent release spawned the timeless track ‘Isle of You’, which quickly led to record label interest. Before the year was out, he was signed to Collision Records.^[1]

2012 – 14: Collision Records & School of Roses

In 2012, he began working on his retail and label debut for Collision, but as it morphed, he decided to release it as a free mixtape.^[2] Body Art was a hit among Gray's fans and featured the label's roster as well as other artists and producers from the CHH genre. It caught many fans off guard because it was more of a rap album than EWEWM, which was the album’s intention.^[3]

Early in 2013, the label released the collective album We Live As Kings (W.L.A.K.). As a member of the four-man group, Christon was featured on the majority of the tracks. The album went on to top the Billboard Gospel chart and crack the top 10 on the Rap and Christian charts. It also contained the cut 'King In Me' which was used as the theme song to American Idol’s Super Bowl commercial in 2014.^[4]

On March 25, 2014, Gray released his 2nd studio album entitled School of Roses. It included fan favorites ‘Vanish’ (feat. Swoope) and ‘Wanna’ (feat. JGivens) which peaked at #15 on the Billboard Live Trending chart. This was more of an R&B album than Body Art, and it debuted at the top of the overall charts on iTunes, and hit #44 on the Billboard Top 200 and #5 on Top R&B Albums.^[5]

2015 - Present: FYS/RCA & The Glory Album

In early 2015, Gray began releasing music on his own, prompting fans to question whether or not he was still a part of Collision and W.L.A.K. The first track 'Open Door (See You Later)' was posted on his Soundcloud page in March of 2015.^[6] Still not addressing his status, one week later he posted the beautiful piano led love ballad, 'Afraid With You'. Lastly, he posted ‘Light On’ featuring B.Reith the following week. On April 28, 2015, after confirming he was leaving Collision in an interview with Wade-O^[7] & Rapzilla,^[8] Gray released an EP called The Demos to be streamed exclusively on the Christian music-streaming app, "The Overflow^[9]". The album went to be the most streamed project on the entire service for 2015, with all 5 tracks occupying spots #1 - #5 the week of its release.

It became clear that he was using these songs to get himself a new record deal, and in June 2015, he revealed that he had signed with Kirk Franklin's label, Fo Yo Soul Recordings/RCA.^[10] Kirk himself made the announcement via video screen at Alive Fest in Ohio on June 20, 2015.^[11] Gray subsequently removed The Demos to work on his third retail album and label debut. He subsequently removed The Demos to work on his third retail album and label debut.^[12]

On November 18, 2015, Rapzilla.com released an interview via email with Gray in which he said his debut with Fo Yo Soul had been completed and was being scheduled for release during "the colder part of 2016".^[13]

A couple weeks later, on December 2, 2015, Gray released a freestyle video that included the name and release date of his next project, The Glory Album. Gray's debut album with Fo Yo Soul/RCA was set to be released on March 11, 2016.^[14]

Two weeks after that, he debuted the first new track off the album on Vevo called ‘Connor McDees’ featuring Brooklyn emcee, Skyzoo and his brother Taelor.

Leading up to the album release, he was chosen as one of ESPN’s Artists of the Month for March.^[15] The station highlighted 3 tracks, ‘Open Door (See You Later)’, 'The Glory Pt. I' and ‘Stop Me' on all of their regular programing. The later track went on to be used in commercials for Honda,^[16] HBO’s Ballers^[17] & RocNation Sports.^[18] It was also used at the ESPY Awards during the shows final segment.^[19]

Also during this time, Apple Music selected ‘Open Door (See You Later)’ and ‘Ft. Knox’ as ‘Best of the Week’ singles back to back. As well, TGA received key placements on Amazon Music, iTunes, Google Play, TIDAL, and Spotify.^[20]

The Glory Album was released on March 11, 2016. The LP went on to again claim the #5 position on the Billboard R&B charts, while also hitting #6 on the Christian chart.

Discography

References

External links

• Official website