Eric Champion

Eric Champion (born May 12, 1970) is one of the pioneers of mid 1990s Christian pop and modern rock. In the beginning of his musical career, he was a pop singer. His music had the flair of many of his Christian pop contemporaries but with more of a Michael Jackson meets Prince vocal approach meets futuristic techno dance sounds. Although his first album was released when he was only 18 years old, one of Eric's biggest albums during his pop phase was Vertical Reality which went on to sell nearly 100,000 units. In 1996, with the release of Transformation, Champion revealed his own transformation. He was tired of trying to fit the mold of a Christian pop singer. This unique album was a huge departure from his previous music. It introduced rock guitars, synthesizer loops, special effects, and crooning lyrics and voice overs. The album is still hailed by critics as being ahead of its time and the musical change was compared by CCM Magazine to be as extreme as DC Talk's Jesus Freak from their earlier albums. Eric also is noted for songwriting with various artists including Rebecca St. James and Plumb.In 1998, Champion was featured at the Atlanta Fest Christian music festival. After the release of his eighth album Natural (his second for Brentwood Essential) Eric left the Nashville scene and moved with his new wife and child to Orlando, FL where he started working at the recording college Full Sail University. In 2005, Eric reappeared with two new projects, a new solo EP, Unexpected and a Brit pop rock project, Rook which also included former GS Megaphone drummer Randall Shreve.