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Sparrow Records

American record label

Summary

American record label

Field	Value
name	Sparrow Records
image	Sparrow Records Logo.png
parent
founded
founder	Billy Ray Hearn
distributor	Capitol CMG
genre	CCM, gospel
country	United States
location	Brentwood, Tennessee, U.S.
url

Sparrow Records is a Christian music record label and a division of Universal Music Group.

History

Sparrow Records was founded in 1976 by Billy Ray Hearn, then artists and repertoire (A&R) director at Myrrh Records. Barry McGuire was the first artist signed to the label, followed quickly by John Michael Talbot and his brother Terry, Janny Grein, and Annie Herring of 2nd Chapter of Acts; all of whom released albums with Sparrow in May of that year.

Purchased by Thorn EMI in 1992, Sparrow's parent underwent a demerger four years later to become the EMI Group, and the label is now part of the Capitol Christian Music Group.

As of 2009, Sparrow's artists include Britt Nicole, Chris Tomlin, Mandisa, Matt Redman, Matthew West, Steven Curtis Chapman and Switchfoot. Since 1996, a popular production of Sparrow Records has been the annual WOW Hits contemporary Christian music series. In 1998, the WOW franchise then added the annual WOW Gospel series of albums. The WOW Worship series was introduced in 1999.

Notable artists

:Source: Artist List

Amy Grant
Anne Wilson
Bethel Music
Blessing Offor
Brian Courtney Wilson
Brandon Lake
Brooke Ligertwood
Brian Johnson & Jenn Johnson
Bryan & Katie Torwalt
Canaan Baca
Chris McClarney
Chris Quilala
Chris Tomlin
Christine D'Clario
Cody Carnes
Crowder
Dante Bowe
Danny Gokey
Ellie Holcomb
Evvie McKinney
Hillsong United
Hillsong Worship
Hillsong Young & Free
HLE
Housefires
Jeremy Camp
Jeremy Rosado
Jesus Culture
Jon Foreman
Karen Clark Sheard
Kari Jobe
Kevin Curiel
Kevin Quinn
Kim Walker-Smith
Mac Powell
Mosaic MSC
Newsboys
Passion
Pat Barrett
Rend Collective (with Rend Family Records)
Ricky Dillard
Riley Clemmons
Social Club Misfits
Stephen Stanley
Tasha Cobbs Leonard
Tauren Wells
The Baylor Project
TobyMac (also with ForeFront Records)
Twinkie Clark
Tye Tribbett
We the Kingdom

Former

2nd Chapter of Acts (disbanded)
Above the Golden State
Susan Ashton (active, unsigned)
Audrey Assad (active, independent)
Avalon (active, with Red Street Records)
Margaret Becker (active, with Kingsway Music)
Bellarive
Dan Bremnes
Steve Camp (active, unsigned)
Michael Card (active, unsigned)
Marcos Vidal (active, unsigned)
Carman (deceased)
Steven Curtis Chapman (active, with Reunion Records)
City Harbor
Daryl Coley (deceased)
David Crowder*Band (disbanded, had moved to sixstepsrecords)
Danyew
DC Talk (hiatus)
Delirious? (disbanded)
Bethany Dillon (active)
Dogs of Peace (active)
Earthsuit (disbanded)
The Elms (disbanded)
Kirk Franklin (active, with GospoCentric Records)
Peter Furler (active, independent)
Keith Green (deceased)
Steve Green (active, unsigned)
Rickey Grundy, (active, independent)
Charlie Hall (active, with sixstepsrecords)
Matt Hammitt
Tramaine Hawkins
Tim Hughes (active, with Survivor Records)
Kari Jobe (active, with Capitol Christian Music Group)
Jump5 (disbanded)
Phil Keaggy (active)
Donald Lawrence
Luminate
Mandisa (deceased)
Barry McGuire (active, unsigned)
Geoff Moore and the Distance (disbanded)
Michael W. Smith (active, with Rocketown Records)
Needtobreathe (active, with Atlantic Records)
Newsboys
Christy Nockels (active, with sixstepsrecords)
Out of the Grey (on hiatus)
Twila Paris (active, with Koch Records)
Charlie Peacock (active, independent)
Marty Raybon
Matt Redman (active, with Integrity Music)
Resurrection Band
Sanctus Real
Sarah Reeves
Samestate
Robbie Seay Band (active, unsigned)
Something Like Silas
Soulfire Revolution
Kristian Stanfill (active, with sixstepsrecords)
Starfield (active, independent)
Switchfoot (active, with lowercase people records) (Switchfoot still has a distribution agreement with Sparrow Records)
Russ Taff (active, with Springhouse Records)
John Michael Talbot (active, with Troubadour for the Lord)
Steve Taylor
Chris Tomlin (active, with sixstepsrecords)
Michelle Tumes (active, with EMI CMG)
The Waiting (active, independent)
Sheila Walsh (active)
Matthew Ward (active, independent)
Matthew West
Lisa Whelchel
White Heart
Josh Wilson (active on Black River Christian)
Deniece Williams (last worked, with Shanachie Records)
ZOEgirl (disbanded)
Danniebelle Hall (deceased)
West Angeles Church of God in Christ Mass Choir and Congregation ("Saints in Praise" series)
The Archers (musical group)
Jimi Cravity
Kristene DiMarco
Colton Dixon (with 19 Recordings)
Shawn McDonald
NF (with Capitol Records)
Britt Nicole (with Capitol Records)
Christy Nockels
Nichole Nordeman
Kristian Stanfill
The Young Escape

Compilations

Firewind: A Contemporary Dramatic Musical (1976)
Christmas (1988)
Passion: Awakening (2010)

Sparrow projects

WOW Worship Series

References

Mount, Daniel J.. (2005). "A City on a Hilltop? The History of Contemporary Christian Music".
(1990). "The Sound of Light: A History of Gospel Music". Bowling Green State University Popular Press.
(September 30, 1992). "Thorn EMI moves into gospel music with US purchase". Independent.
(August 17, 1996). "Vote solid for Thorn demerger".
Hendershot, Heather. (2004). "Shaking the World for Jesus: Media and Conservative Evangelical Culture". [[University of Chicago Press]].

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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