TobyMac

Christian singer, songwriter, and producer TobyMac was born Kevin Michael McKeehan, in Fairfax, Virginia. While attending college at Liberty University in 1987, TobyMac joined forces with classmates Michael Tait and Kevin Max Smith to form the Christian group DC Talk. Over ten years they released five studio albums. Their musical style began as mostly hip hop for the albums "DC Talk" (1989) and "Nu Thang" (1990) with TobyMac predominantly rapping. The third studio album "Free at Last" (1992) began a shift to a more Christian Pop-rock style and earned the group their first Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album. The shift in style continued with Grammy winning "Jesus Freak" (1995) and "Supernatural" (1998). DC Talk never disbanded but went on hiatus as TobyMac began to focus on building a solo career. His highly anticipated debut solo album "Momentum" was released in 2001 and proved that he could stand on his own as a musical artist. His second album "Welcome to Diverse City" (2004) was even more successful with the song "The Slam" getting featured in multiple movies, sporting events, commercials and television shows. When his third album "Portable Sounds" (2007) was dropped, it hit #10 on the Billboard 200 list and dominated Christian rock radio stations in 2007. TobyMac continued to release albums, notably debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 list for the album "Eye on It" (2012). Tragedy struck on October 23, 2019 when his son Truett died of an accidental overdose. Truett had been an aspiring rapper and appeared on many of his father's albums. TobyMac released a single "21 Years" in 2020 in dedication to his son and followed with the release of the studio album "Life After Death" in 2022.