New Sophomore Album What If We (released 8/19/08)
4 Dove Award Nominations (2009)
GMA Dove Awards “New Artist of the Year” (2008)
Popular new single and Grammy nominated, Give Me Your Eyes - #1 on Billboard’s Hot Christian AC radio chart for 14 weeks, #1 download on iTunes Christian Song Chart for 7 months, #1 on AmazonMP3.com Christian Chart
Featured in The New York Times, Billboard, Associated Press, Tennessean, CCM Magazine, and others
Nominated for Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year in 2007 for #1 hit single I’m Not Who I Was
Featured on two motion picture soundtracks: Billy: The Early Years and Henry Poole is Here
Currently on WinterJam Tour with TobyMac, Hawk Nelson and others.
Graduated, Middle Tennessee State University; BA in English
Guest
Brandon Heath: 'Give Me Your Eyes'
By Terri Simmons
The 700 Club
CBN.com
– LIVING BIG IN LITTLE MOMENTS
Brandon Heath looks for opportunities to observe, process and act upon what he witnesses in the world surrounding him. He likes the little moments. Even his new album’s title, What If We, grew up out of one of those little moments through a conversation he had with a mentor.
“Every part of that phrase, ‘what if we,’ is important,” he says. “I don’t even look at it as incomplete because the ‘what if’ part is about possibilities, obviously. But the ‘we’ part is saying, ‘let’s do this together, let’s not do this alone.’”
One of the things that bothers Brandon about this world is he believes people are only looking out for themselves.
“We’re looking out for number one. I don’t want to be alone, I want to live life with other people. God even says it’s better to join together in service to Him.”
Community and relief work are at the core of who Brandon is both as a private person and public figure. He’s been able to take his public platform and merge it with his heart for community, working with Young Life, Blood: Water Mission, Restore International and unofficially many other human rights agencies on the larger global scale – including turning his attention to his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. In April 2008, parts of Nashville and surrounding areas were hit by a string of tornadoes; in turn, Brandon quickly organized a benefit concert for the storm victims and raised $20,000. For Brandon, that’s an example of living big in the little moments.
GIVE ME YOUR EYES
Give Me Your Eyes became one of the most successful Christian tracks at the end of 2008 and continues in 2009. It was birthed over a meal Brandon had with a friend and co-writer, Jason Ingram.
“We had a conversation over Chinese food that we wished we could have God’s perspective on things,” he said. “If we did have His perspective, we’d wish we could have it for long periods of time, rather than just for a few seconds. That was the beginning.”
The quick success of Give Me Your Eyes was a surprise to Brandon.
“I never had a song have such an impact. I think that the reason it was so successful is because it’s a common desire that God puts on a lot of people’s heart,” he said. “I think that a lot of us just really do want to see people through God’s eyes, have His perspective and to care for people better.”
INSIDE THE ARTIST
Brandon grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. His mother was a hair dresser, and his father was a police officer.
“My parents divorced when I was three, so my mom raised me alone for a good five or six years before she remarried. My mom and dad both remarried,” he said.
Brandon said he never really went to church until he was 16-years-old.
“I went through high school, and did fine, but that’s when I started my relationship with the Lord, and I think for me, a lot of the reasons I came to the Lord was because I wanted to learn how to forgive my dad for some mistakes that he made when I was younger. I had to forgive both of my parents for not sticking together.”
Back then, Brandon realized he had grown bitter towards his parents, and he sought God’s help for forgiveness.
“When I really found out about forgiveness, I knew that I didn’t deserve it, but He [God] had given it to me anyway, and so I wanted to extend that to my dad,” he said. “I think that was the original intent. As I grew and got involved in groups in cege and more involved in church, I found that there were parts of me that needed to be broken down. That’s where I’ve been for the past ten years – trying to get back down to my foundation, and I think that’s where the Lord, the Holy Spirit lives. The more I chip away at my pride, myself and the bad habits I’ve learned, the more I realize the heart of God.”
Brandon began writing music at age 13, around the same time he received his first guitar.
"I got it for a Christmas gift. I needed something to help me figure out how to write words to a song, so the guitar was the tool for it,” he said. “I guess songwriting kind of just went along hand-in-hand with the guitar.”
In high school, Brandon was a member of the choir and was encouraged by his teacher to keep singing, which turned about to be the first time he considered taking music seriously.
“I was a part of Young Life which is an outreach organization. I was singing songs for them over the summer. I’d take my guitar and lead club songs, which are usually songs you hear on the radio, but then I’d start singing a couple of my own songs, and they really loved hearing me sing,” he said.
Young Life was Brandon’s first audience. His focus behind his music is to encourage people to know that they are loved by God.
“I think people just want to belong to someone or something. I think that if we knew how much God loved us, we would realize that we belong and that we’ll always belong to Him,” he said. “I’d love for people to see my story, my struggle and triumph and really be able to relate to where I’ve been and where I’m coming from and see their own story unfold. I want them to realize that God can literally use anybody. If he can use me, he can definitely use somebody else.”
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