Daily Archives: May 21, 2012

Laura Story adds another honor to an award-winning season as “Blessings” is named Top Christian Song at the Billboard Music Awards

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Laura Story is on a roll, having earned yet another award for her celebrated, multi-week No. 1 single, “Blessings.” At last night’s Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas, Story garnered the trophy for Top Christian Song, following up her recent Grammy® Win for Best Contemporary Christian Song as well as Dove Awards for Song of the Year, Pop/Contemporary Song of the Year, Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.

“Many thanks to the fans that continue to request this song, talk about it on Facebook and Twitter, and buy it. We are thankful to you and Billboard for awarding “Blessings” as Top Christian Song of the Year,” commented Story. “We are awed by how God continues to use this little song to minister to so many!”

Story’s award and radio successes are matched by album sales, helping crown an immensely successful period for the decorated worship leader. Her critically acclaimed album, Blessings, has held the No. 1 spot for three consecutive weeks on Billboard’s current Contemporary Christian Overall chart, with the digital single for “Blessings” nears Gold status. The project debuted at No. 4 upon its release in April 2011.

“Blessings,” which was released last year, was in rotation at over 100 Billboard Christian format reporting stations going No. 1 at Christian AC, Inspo and the National Audience charts for multiple weeks. Additionally, the song also held the No. 1 spot on the iTunes® Christian/Gospel Top Songs chart for 28 consecutive weeks.

Recently wrapping the “Girls Night Live” tour with Mandisa on May 4 in Savannah, GA, Story will be taking most of the summer off as she and her husband Martin prepare for the birth of their first child and begin writing and recording for a forthcoming album. Starting November 29, Story will join Steven Curtis Chapman and many others on the “12 Gifts of Christmas” tour. For more information, please visit www.12giftstour.com.

Story’s first book, What If Your Blessings Come Through Raindrops?, released in March by Freeman-Smith, a division of Worthy Publishing (EMI CMG Distribution), and is already in its third printing. Inspired by her Grammy®, Billboard and Dove Award-winning hit song, “Blessings,” the book is comprised of 30 daily devotions designed to draw readers into a deeper understanding of God’s sometimes mysterious gifts. For further information on the book, visit www.worthypublishing.com or www.turningpointpr.com.

The Billboard Music Awards took place at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand and were broadcast live Sunday May 20, at 8/7c on ABC.
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About Laura Story:
Laura Story, a talented worship leader and songwriter known for penning hit worship songs such as “Indescribable” made famous by Chris Tomlin, made her music debut in 2008 with her first release Great God Who Saves (INO Records). Great God Who Saves garnered her four Dove nominations in 2009, at which she took home her first award for “Inspirational Album of the Year.” In 2011, she also nabbed another nomination for “Female Vocalist of the Year.” Her hit single “Mighty To Save” earned a No. 1 Soft AC/Inspo and Top 10 AC hit at Christian radio. Also in 2011, Story revealed twelve new inspirational tracks on her sophomore release titled Blessings. Story teamed up with producer Nathan Nockels (Passion, Philips, Craig & Dean, Point of Grace) and delivered a worship project that exudes constant threads of pop energy and singer-songwriter warmth. The title-track immediately became a fan favorite as it topped the iTunes® Christian/Gospel Top Songs chart and held the No. 1 spot for 28 consecutive weeks.

Casting Crowns Honored with Two Billboard Music Awards

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On the heels of wrapping up its highly attended “Come To The Well” tour, best-selling Christian music artist Casting Crowns received two 2012 Billboard Music Awards during last night’s live broadcast on ABC. The band was named this year’s Top Christian Artist and also received the honor of Top Christian Album for its 2011 project, Come To The Well.

Casting Crowns was nominated for four awards in categories including Top Christian Artist, Top Christian Album (where it received two nominations for: Until The Whole World Hears and Come To The Well) and Top Christian Song, “Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me).”

“What we do is inspired by our faith in Jesus, our home churches and the incredible people we get to interact with on the road. We feel honored that our music would be recognized in this way,” states lead singer Mark Hall.

The awards reflect Billboard’s chart rankings based on key fan interactions with music, including album sales and downloads, track downloads, radio airplay and touring as well as streaming and social interactions on Facebook, Twitter, Vevo, YouTube, Spotify and other popular online destinations for music.

These measurements are tracked year-round by Billboard and its data partners, including
Nielsen Entertainment and Next Big Sound. The awards were based on the reporting period of March 1, 2011 through February 29, 2012. Top artists were recognized in a variety of genres, including R&B, Rap, Pop, Country, Rock, Latin and Alternative.

The “2012 Billboard Music Awards” were broadcasted live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 20 on the ABC Television Network.

A full list of winners can be found at: http://www.billboard.com/bbma/winners?page=4

About Casting Crowns:
All of Casting Crowns’ projects are RIAA certified, with a tally of three RIAA Platinum Albums, two RIAA Platinum DVDs, five RIAA Gold Albums, two Gold DVDs and three Gold digital singles (“Who Am I,” “Praise You In This Storm,” “East to West”). The band currently holds the position as Billboard’s top-selling act in Christian music, since 2007. The group has also been honored with two American Music Awards, with six total nominations, three GRAMMY Awards, 14 GMA Dove Awards, two 2012 Billboard Music Awards and four total Billboard Music Award nominations.

Casting Crowns’ seven band members all remain active in student ministry in the Atlanta area and tour according to their local church commitments. Serving his 18th year in youth ministry, lead singer/songwriter Mark Hall maintains his role as the student pastor at Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in Atlanta.

As a testament to the band’s impact, Casting Crowns performed for a second time in North Korea in April 2009, in partnership with Global Resource Services; the band continues to forge invaluable relationships with the people in the D.P.R.K. (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea).

Casting Crowns recently concluded its 42-city “Come to the Well” spring tour, which saw 40 arena sellouts, more than 370,000 in attendance (across the 40-city fall leg and spring dates combined) and has generated more than 13,000 child sponsorships through its partnership with Christian humanitarian organization, World Vision.