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More importantly, Carman has seen well over one million concert salvations, as well as holding the record for the largest solo Christian concerts in history with 50,000 in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1993, and more recently, 80,000 attending in Charlotte, North Carolina. On top of all that, he has written novels, screenplays, and had the longest running theatrical release for a Christian film with 2001's "The Champion," a film in which he also played lead. He collected over a million names on a petition to return prayer to schools, the record for one individual gathering signatures on a petition of any kind in our country's rich history. His albums continue to be very well received in the marketplace, including Heart of a Champion (2000), Ultimate Praise (2002), House of Praise (2003), and Live and Reloaded! (2005). He regularly puts his hand to various TV productions, often serving as a lively guest host on the TBN network. To put it succinctly, Carman has entertained, encouraged, and preached the Gospel message so dear to his heart for over 25 years, crossing cultural, denominational, and ethnic lines without constraint.

A man confident in his calling and his gifting, Carman has never been one to shy away from a challenge. It is in this spirit of energetic adventure that he takes on a new genre, one that fits him seamlessly and naturally. Releasing September 11th, Instrument of Praise is Carman's first foray into the field of gospel, but you'd never know it by listening to its 14 glorious, rousing tracks. Carman himself acknowledges the genre fits him like a glove, saying, "I grew up singing gospel, it's where my heart is. I've always gone to an integrated church, so for me this feels very natural." Carman attended Carlton Pearson's church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for 12 years before moving his ministry headquarters to the East Coast in 1997.

His rich gospel heritage explains the joyous fluency of this new album. From the jazz-tinged opener "The Overflow" to the quiet, salvation-themed closer, "Jesus Now," Instrument of Praise brims over with Carman's energetic passion for the gospel message so central to his life and his ministry. "The album title says it all," he shares. "This song has been bouncing around in my head for so long, it has become an anthem for me. It's what I do, it's who I am."

Who Carman is comes across strongly on this diverse, riveting album of soon-to-be-classic praise anthems. His intense focus on the gospel shines through the melodic, emotionally charged "Bless the Name," and the dramatic stylings of "This Blood, This Power", splashy with sound, bring to mind Carman's theatrical performance in "The Champion." An artist intently plugged into his audience, Carman knows how to communicate his always Biblical message in a format easy to enjoy and comprehend. "The best message is one of simplicity," he shares. Responsible for much of the writing of Instrument of Praise, Carman brings the funk home to the upbeat, horn-infused "I Love You Forever," and his richly unique vocals affirm the Lord's mighty powers in the percolating "Everlasting God." And if you can stay seated for the frenetic celebration that is "Celebration Day," you better check for a pulse. Producer Michael "Mookie" Taylor has seen to it that each of these 14 tracks has been enhanced with sweet sonic nuances galore, like the warm flutes and guitars adding color to the mesmerizing title track, and the winding percussive rhythms of the uplifting "S.A.V.E.D. 100%."

When it's time to take things down into a deeper groove, Carman is just as ready, with the heartfelt worship of "We Lift You Up," the quiet keys soothing in support. "People want music they can be involved with," Carman explains. "Ultimately, I want to make music that will draw my audience into a worship experience with God." It is this desire that has motivated the singer so generous in spirit for over 25 years of music ministry, and Instrument of Praise stands poised to continue the trend of excellence and inspiration into another generation. Tyscot Records features one of our generation's most iconic artists when Carman explores and conquers yet another field of artistry in the gospel glories of Instrument of Praise, in stores and online September 11th.




Old bio for "Heart of a Champion"

He looked around and saw things. Things that disturbed him, things that made him mad. Instead of railing against the wind, he looked into himself-he listened for God. Knowing that following his vision would require a radical shift in life as he knew it, Carman also knew he had to go. And so, he committed himself to do something about it-to be part of a solution…

It's hard to believe it's been five years.

That's a long time away from recording and touring for an artist who's career has yielded more than eight million units of product sold over two decades of recording. His concert tours have drawn countless standing-room-only crowds in the nation's largest arenas and stadiums, including the largest Contemporary Christian concert ever, at Texas Stadium in 1994 when he performed before 71,132 people. And his message of salvation brought more than a million souls to a place of decision. During these past five years he has been in pursuit of a new dream-his greatest challenge and ministry opportunity to date-that of making movies to bring the Gospel to theatres across the nation.

The result of this vision, his writing and five years out of the public spotlight, is the upcoming movie release "Heart of a Champion," scheduled to hit theatres in the spring of 2001. Produced by Matthew Crouch ("The Omega Code" by Gener8Xion Entertainment) and directed by multi-Emmy Award winner Lee Stanley, the film will be released to theatres nationwide. In addition, Carman entered the recording studio again to produce a double CD/double cassette project due October 24th. This project is titled Heart of a Champion- A Collection of 30 Hits, six of the songs are brand new and 24 are Carman classics. Carman also will hit the road again with Heart of a Champion-The Tour beginning October 26th and his first novel, based on the movie screenplay is due November 1st (published by Thomas Nelson). In conjunction with the movie release in early 2001, "Heart Of A Champion," a Carman video collection is planned.

"Sometimes you find out your vision when something makes you angry," said Carman. "I'd go and sit in a movie theatre, and something would happen on screen, and I thought to myself, 'Now why did they do this? Why did they say this? Why did they have to show that? If they would have eliminated these words and these scenes or if they had this guy do this instead of that, it would have been a great movie!' I could have taken anybody to see it, and it would have had a great message to it. As I thought more about it, it started to make me mad. He explains, "So I said to myself, 'Why doesn't somebody do something about this?' And whenever I hear that voice that says 'Why doesn't somebody?' it usually means me. Or you. That means God is speaking to you saying you ought to do it because you see the problem, you see the gap, and you see what needs to be done to solve this particular problem."

As Carman pondered the state of movies and the great void in the entertainment world when it comes to Christian content, he began to recognize a new vision being birthed within his own heart, and a new outlet for the creative gift at the center of his 25 year Christian music ministry. In spite of his many years of the kind of success that most recording artists only dream of, Carman decided to leave it all, becoming a virtual unknown in Hollywood.

Selling his home in Nashville, and leaving behind the trappings of the music industry and his reputation as one of the top-selling artists in Christian music, he moved to Southern California. A newcomer to the West Coast, Carman took the first step toward his goal. He signed up for screenwriting class. Carman looked to the new challenge in light of the songwriting he's done for so many years. "I've been writing stories all along anyway," Carman mused. "I just had to figure out how to change them from six minutes to two hours. I needed God's help with that."

Carman took some inspiration from one of the masters of filmmaking, the legendary Alfred Hitchcock. "What Hitchcock would do, is take a normal man and put him in extraordinary circumstances, and then watch how he tried to maintain his normalcy through these unexpected situations," recalls Carman. "Like Cary Grant in 'North by Northwest,' all of the sudden, this normal guy is involved in a big spy plot. Or consider Jimmy Stewart in 'Rear Window.' He just happens to be looking out a window and he sees a murder. He's just this normal guy and all the sudden all this incredible stuff is happening around him."

Carman explains how those ideas translated into his concept for "Heart of a Champion." "Instead of taking a normal man and putting him in an abnormal circumstance, I thought we should take a godly man, and put him in an ungodly environment. Then we watch him struggle to maintain his godliness through the entirety of the movie. In fact, that is the picture of us all. We go to church on a Sunday morning, learn something, and then we try to figure out the rest of the week how to apply it to our lives."

The premise is fleshed out in the story of Orlando Leone, an ex-fighter who is portrayed by Carman. Following his exit from boxing, he runs a youth center ministry and starts a new life. Life seems good for the retired fighter, until all of the sudden things change. During his shift as a part-time security guard at a hotel, mayhem erupts. In an effort to stop a noisy party, when attacked, Leone knocks out one of the instigators who, by chance, is the Cruiser Weight Champion of the World. The story is big news in the press. Before long, the champ wants to get Leone back into the ring and seek his revenge. This begins a struggle for Leone, who doesn't want to go back to fighting, because his life is involved in the ministry - but the pressure is on.

To prepare for his first role in a major motion picture Carman had his work cut out for him. "Back in February I started training as a fighter and had to lose about thirty five pounds in order to become the character Orlando Leone," explains Carman. "I worked with Terry Claybon who trained Denzel Washington for the movie "Hurricane." He's a professional fighter. The training was exhausting, doing four to five hundred sit-ups every day and going through a grueling beating to prepare myself for this movie. But it will look real."

The film's recent predecessor, 1999's "The Omega Code" was considered the most successful independent film of 1999 and was shown in 320 theatres. "Heart of a Champion" is scheduled for much more extensive exposure, opening on 800-1000 screens nationwide.

As wrapped up as he has been in movie production and all that goes along with this kind of huge undertaking, Carman is still committed first and foremost to touching lives with the Gospel through music. "The bottom line is we're taking the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the movie screens of America."

The double CD set, Heart of a Champion, features six new songs all of which Carman is co-writer, and 24 songs from Carman's rich artistic history of music and ministry. Produced by Glenn Rosenstein (Madonna, U2, Ziggy Marley, Jars of Clay) in New York and Los Angeles, the new songs feature some of music's top studio musicians and engineers including Leland Sklar (James Taylor, Phil Collins), Michael Brecker, Luis Conte (Eric Clapton), Steve Skinner (Celine Dion), Curt Bisquera (Elton John, Tom Petty), Tony Maserati (Mark Anthony), Chieli Minucci (Backstreet Boys, N'Sync) and Jay Healy (Mariah Carey). These new recordings feature a decidedly different sound than Carman's previous projects. Slick pop with some Latino influence and Carman's own passionate performance portray an aggressive new ministry and a fresh new sound.

In addition to the new tunes, "Heart of a Champion," "Faith Enough," "Jesus Period," "Prayer" and "Just Like He Said" are songs which chronicle some of Carman's best through the years. Included are "Who's In the House," "America Again," "Great God," "I Feel Jesus," "There Is A God," Addicted to Jesus," "Sunday School Rock," "R.I.O.T.," "The Champion," "No Monsters," "Mission 3:16" and "We Are Not Ashamed," among others. In addition, what is being touted as the "ultimate Carman video collection" will be released in spring of 2001, with favorite past videos, a brand new video for "Heart of a Champion," archives and behind-the-scenes Carman footage.

Heart Of A Champion-The Tour kicks off October 26th and will feature a special guest, Sparrow Recording artist ZOEgirl. In light of the many changes in Carman's ministry, he decided to make some changes to the tour show. "We're adding things," Carman explains. "More dancers, more choreography, more costumes, more musicians and a bigger stage-we will be using more live instrumentation, live horns and a full band. I'm eager to be back on the road, ministering, touching people because when it's all said and done I still want to win people to Christ and encourage people in their faith."

In addition to the movie, CD, tour and video, Carman set his hand to author a fictional book, based on the screenplay, Heart of a Champion. "What will make this interesting for readers is that the book, like many popular novels, differs from what you see on the screen," said Carman. "Every book that's made into a movie has a screen adaptation written for it. This is written in the opposite order, but it is different in that there are twists to the plot in the book that simply aren't in the movie."

Carman's new life and new ministry is in full swing. With the tour beginning this fall, his first novel, the CD release, and in early 2000 the major motion picture and video collection release, Carman has re-invented his persona, his career and his life. However, his ultimate goal remains unchanged.

"'Heart of a Champion' is going to almost 1000 screens," Carman sums up the magnitude of his unfolding ministry goals. "So we know we're going to be reaching a lot more people than ever before. Plus when you consider the tour, the album, the video and the book, it will be one massive evangelistic outreach I think people are going to go see the movie and then we're going to see a lot of new people at concerts who have never bought a Carman record. We expect people who do not know my music, but only know me as an actor, to come to the concert, because they want to see what else this actor does. It's at that point, with God's help; I can lead them to the Lord. That is how this whole new vision for ministry works together."