Jeremy Camp
Jeremy Camp Bio
Behind every great songwriter, from Johnny Cash to Paul McCartney,
lies a series of greater stories of heartbreak and redemption.
Jeremy Camp is no exception.
Camp's army of fans know how much heart goes into his music.
The raw, unbridled spiritual emotion of his debut album, Stay
(recorded without a thought of hit singles, record labels
or the "industry" whatsoever) resonated with a large
group of kids filled with their own yearning for the Lord's
mercy. His acclaimed follow-up, Restored, spoke of the grace
of such fulfillment found.
Filled with hope, praise, and an even deeper comfort and
understanding of God's mysteries, Beyond Measure looks to
be the Midwestern singer/songwriter's defining chapter, heralding
an even greater peace inside Camp's expressive soul. Like
his Dove Award winning and 1.7 million selling catalog, the
album is sure to inspire sing-a-longs that could make even
Dashboard Confessional blush.
Never one to shy away from wearing his heart on his sleeve
Camp was relating his powerful testimony to a journalist when
the new album's title track began to form within. He remembered
something his late wife, Melissa (whose passing formed a crucial
nexus of the raw honesty that informs his work) had said to
him: "If one person were to accept Jesus through my death,
it would all be worth it."
"I said that in this interview and right when I said
that, this whole fog of everything that had been going on
in my life finally cleared," Camp recalls. "I was
getting distracted and busy. Sometimes even when you are busy
doing the right things you don't realize what is going on
to the full extent of your life."
Blessed with his new wife, Adie, and their daughters Isabella
and Arianne, Jeremy reflected on everything that God has done.
"I remember just being on my face, just weeping, saying
'Lord forgive me for getting caught up and busy.'" He
wrote the song. And then, quickly, he realized its theme would
shape the entire new album.
"This album shows even more what God has done in my
life than Restored. It's a little more personal to me, more
like Stay, but musically and vocally it is leaps and bounds
above both. This album is so diverse, but in such a good way."
"This record is just me," he says, repeating for
emphasis: "It's ME. Period."
From radio pop to rousing hard rock to soft-spoken ballads—experimenting
with falsetto a la Keane while still dipping into the baritone
that won comparisons to Matchbox 20 toward the start of his
career—Camp's diversity makes sense. After all, he grew
up in Indiana, where the radio dial boasted Top 40, Classic
Rock and Country in equal measure. "In the Midwest there
is a wide range of people and variety and that ties into my
writing," Camp reasons.
Case in point: "Yesterday my bass player was like, 'Are
you going country on us? That lick sounds country.' I was
like, 'I don't know, that just came out, I guess.' Some people
just like a group to be mellow, or pop, or rock, but I can't
help it, that's just how I write. The variety defines a lot
of my music."
Camp was raised in a Christian home and drew musical inspiration
from worship music and secular tunes alike. Touchstone albums
in his artistic development include U2's The Joshua Tree ("you
hear the passion in it when Bono sings, it's huge"),
Delirious' King of Fools ("the first worship CD I heard
that was really outside of the box"), Jars Of Clay's
debut album ("it really stepped out from the scene")
and Steven Curtis Chapman's The Great Adventure. "The
albums that drive me are the ones where you can hear the passion
behind it," he proclaims.
Contrary to the mythologizing that has happened in some of
Camp's press, Bible college did not steal him away from a
football scholarship, but he was certainly headed that way
when the Lord, and music, took him in that direction.
Camp spent two years studying scripture at Bible college,
from Genesis to Revelations. "That was a huge part of
my life. It really gave me a foundation of the Word of God.
It really got me grounded in life. God did a huge work there.
"And that started a lot of the writing of the music.
It added some depth," he says. "It was a big part
of why I'm doing what I'm doing, why I share and minister
and speak my heart when I play live."
Stay was written during the most broken time of Jeremy's
life. "I did not write that record thinking 'this will
be a hit.' I wasn't signed. I just wrote that record as my
heart." It's an impossible record to duplicate. And Camp
hasn't tried.
Carried Me: The Worship Project was his next release, as
fans came onboard behind the truth on Stay. "I have just
tried to move on to the next chapter. I remember the emotions
involved in most of those songs. It's special."
As the Jeremy Camp phenomenon took hold on the road, an incredible
thing happened. Jeremy met South African singer Adie and the
pair fell in love. He wrote the song "Restored"
in the back of the bus after they became engaged.
"You have restored me/ my feeble and broken soul."
"After Melissa died, I never thought I'd be here,"
he says humbly. "But God just opened up my life. Somebody
asked me how I could say everything is fine. I never said
everything was fine. I just said that God restored me from
that confused, hurting place in my life. He has given me strength
and taken me out of that dark place in my life. There are
still scars. There are still memories. But I can't deny that
God has blessed me immensely. I have to be so thankful. I
have two kids, my beautiful wife, I'm just blown away at God's
grace and God's faithfulness."
"Restored" became the cornerstone of the album
by the same name. The record catapulted Camp to even greater
success and acclaim but looking back, it was all a bit of
a whirlwind. "I hear story after story of how God has
used those songs, and it's great," he reasons. "But
I look at this new record and I go, 'Wow.'"
"When You Are Near," "I Am Nothing" and
Beyond Measure's title track are filled with messages that
Camp says God really pressed on his heart. "I even wrote
a worship song. All of my songs are definitely worshipful
but this is a straight up worship song like you'd hear in
church. I wasn't going to put it on because it 'didn't fit
the album.' But I couldn't help it! It poured out of my heart."
While there are new flourishes of melody and depth on Beyond
Measure none of it sounds contrived because Camp says he didn't
set out to do something different. "I just wrote my heart
and let God take care of the rest."
"We were getting all caught up in, 'What is the first
single going to be?'" he relates with his trademarked
honesty. "And you definitely want to be wise in everything
you do. But finally I was just like, 'Just put out a song!'"
He laughs. "What God lays in your heart – you have
to rest in that. You can't over-think things."
And that attitude is a good approximation of Jeremy Camp's
entire vibe. Where he's been, where he's at, and where he's
going with Beyond Measure.
"I'm looking to touch the heart of God and He'll take
care of the rest. I think this is the best record I ever put
out. Stay, I can't compare to that, because of what happened,
but I can say that this is the one where it's the best record
I've put out in every aspect. And this is not because, you
know, this is what everybody says about a new record; I do
feel that way. I'm really, really excited." Courtesy
EMI/BEC Recording
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