TobyMac has been a multifaceted man throughout his life which has led to success in all his pursuits. With 7 GRAMMY Awards, the artist is one of the most successful innovators in any genre of music out there.
TobyMac has been a multifaceted man throughout his life which has led to success in all his pursuits. With 7 GRAMMY Awards, the artist is one of the most successful innovators in any genre of music out there.
He has found success in a number of different areas including finding Christ, speaking at events, and even writing songs.
He has sold more than 10 million albums, both with DC Talk and as a solo artist. Among these are Alive and Transported, which won a Grammy for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album in the 51st Grammy Awards. In 2013 his album Eye on It earned him another Grammy for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album.
All this success didn’t come without issues, and there were many moments of desperation.
But one thing kept him going, and that was his faith in GOD.
In this article, we will take a look at Tobymac’s life and perseverance.
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Early Life & Achievements
Looking back, TobyMac, Aka, Kevin Michael McKeehan was born on October 22, 1964, in the suburbs of Virginia. His parents were very devout Christians. Toby discovered his love for contemporary music very early in life and listened to all sorts of contemporary music genres.
He was obsessed with music.
When he was 13, he went to a church camp and was inspired by the Bible. He’s one of a handful of musicians who are also interested in combining music with biblical words.
Sting is the man who eventually inspired Him, He saw him leading his band, ‘The Police,’ in 1983 and knew this was a career he had to pursue.
He loved how his ears were instantly drawn to the beauty of each song and how the band could forge music that wasn’t just beautiful, but also provocative.
After graduating from a local high school, he became serious about his career in music and started looking for like-minded individuals to begin his career.
Toby went to high school with Michael Tait, and in 1987 the love of music united them as a duo called ‘DC Talk’.
They both attended ‘Liberty University where they met Kevin Max Smith, and when Kevin joined them things finally started to get exciting & their careers took off.
In 1989, The trio signed with Forefront Records and began touring extensively afterward. They have performed on several concert tours.
In 1994, TobyMac married a Jamaican woman named Amanda.
The band DC Talk, released many albums together, including “Between You and Me,” which reached No. 29 on the Hot 100 in 1996. The group released “Supernatural,” which would be their last album. The album was certified platinum.
The members of DC Talk disbanded in 2001, and every member has gone on to pursue their own solo career.
On November 6, 2001, he released his first solo album: Momentum. The album features the song “Extreme Days,” which has been featured on the soundtrack for a 2001 film by Truth Builder Productions.
Momentum debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart in November and was used in the movie Hangman’s Curse, based on a book by Frank Peretti, which was also featured in the Xbox 360 video game Crackdown.
And he earned five Dove Awards and a Grammy nomination. He was nominated for Artist of the Year at the 34th GMA Dove Awards.
He was featured on “Throw Yo Hands Up” on Kirk Franklin’s 2002 album The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin.
Welcome to Diverse City was released in 2004 and certified gold.
In January 2018, he released “I Just Need U”, which debuted at No. 1 on the Hot Christian Songs chart. It was TobyMac’s sixth No. 1 single to top the chart.
Tobymac released “Everything” as a single in July 2018 & announced his fifth album, The Elements, and released “Scars” as a single in September 2018. The album was released on October 12, 2018, & became his fifth album to top the Christian Album charts.
2019 was probably the worst year of his life, was the year that he lost his son.
and revealed that he’d never thought extensively about eternity before the young man’s death.
“I just felt like everything was beautiful and perfect until the last few years. Then, when we lost Truett, everything changed, and I met grief in the fiercest way,” he reflected.
“I started to learn to laugh even in the first week a little bit, but not laugh as deeply. I don’t know if I’ll ever laugh as deeply. I don’t know if we’ll ever smile as big, but I can smile and I can laugh,” TobyMac added.
“I spoke about eternity before, but I never really thought about it deeply because I didn’t need to,” he commented. “I always trusted God. I always walked with God. It’s not a question of that, but it was like to deeply think about it.”
Now, Toby Mac thinks about eternity deeply because he imagines his son there. He became emotional before sharing the original picture in his mind that he has of Truett.
On May 8, 2020, Tobymac released The Lost Demos, an EP of recovered demos made during the pandemic. He also released two “Separate Altogether Acoustic” music videos featuring the Diverse City band and his daughter Marlee, and Gotee Records colleague of Michae Cochren.
In 2021, McKeehan released Help Is on the Way (Maybe Midnight), which was a single.
September 17, 2021, was the single release of “Promised Land” by recording artist Tobymac.
He has written many books including ‘Under God’, ‘Living Under God: Discovering Your Part in God’s Plan‘, and City on Our Knees.
Controversy
When the album “Eye on It” came out, fans complained that the album cover looks like the Eye of Horus or All-Seeing Eye which both have links to the occult and Illuminati.
Toby debunks this claim on his site in his FAQ section. “Though the world can make anything seem bad, my intentions were pure with the focus on the eye in my artwork.”
I’m an athlete. My dad told me to always ‘keep my eye on the ball’ when I’m playing soccer. One of the key things to remember is not to take your eyes off the ball.” “So that’s where the album title originated. Then, translating that analogy to life, fixing my eye on what matters to me-Jesus and my walk with Him. I also love this verse Matthew 6:22 – ‘Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body when your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light.'”
No matter what you do these days, people tend to create stories out of nowhere and take things out of context based on their own perceptions.
Conclusion: Tobymac
Toby’s songs have been featured in TV shows and movies & he’s built up a large following. He has also used social media to connect with his fans directly.
TobyMac says of his new approach. “The most important thing to me now is when I walk into a studio to record a song ‘does it make you feel something?’ And, is there a reason for it to exist in this world?”
He doesn’t look nearly as old as the years pass him by, but he certainly feels wiser with every passing day and says that he is feeling invigorated by the changing attitudes currently sweeping across Christianity.
“I love to see [Christians] reaching out and loving well, instead of being insulated and judging,” he says. “I would hope that I’m an artist that’s opening people’s minds about what it means to be a believer walking in this world every day.”
And he would much rather do it through songs than a sermon.
TobyMac has also helped establish a camp, called Camp Electric, located near Nashville, Tennessee, for young musicians who want to have pop and rock skills.
He loves to spend time with his family above all else. One of the more important obligations he has is his job with his label, but even then this is a time filled with fun and activities.
So, let us know in the comment section, what do you think about Tobymac.
Thank you for reading and see you in the next article.