Paul Smith (christian music)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Paul Smith


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Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Paul Charles Smith
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Origin = United States
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Genre = Contemporary Christian
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URL = [http://www.paulsmithsings.com/ Paul Smith Official Website]
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Paul Charles Smith is a Grammy Award winning and Dove Award winning Contemporary Christian Music performer and songwriter. He is best remembered by his early years with the legendary gospel group, The Imperials. Paul spent four years with The Imperials recording four albums and one live video and was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's Gospel Music Hall of Fame as a member of The Imperials. He has recorded five solo albums and is an award winning songwriter.

Biography

tarting Out

Paul Smith began his musical career in 1981 with The Imperials, following the departure of Russ Taff; Paul had previously come to know The Imperials by booking them for concerts at his college. Paul finished out the “Priority” tour and quickly calmed the fears of Imperials fans world wide. “Stand by the Power” hit store shelves in 1982, Paul co-wrote the title track as well as the hit “Lord of The Harvest.” He brought back a dominant songwriting ability within The Imperials that had not been there since the early years with Henry Slaughter. He found continued success when he co-wrote the 1980s Larnelle Harris hit “How Excellent Is Thy Name.”

In 1983, The Imperials released “Side By Side.” It was a double record set featuring five solo performances from each member. Paul had the last five songs on the album; his pure and original pop style came through spinning off the hit “Here on the Rock.” “Side By Side” won the “Dove Award” for “Pop/Contemporary Album of The Year” in 1984. Paul recorded four albums and one live video with The Imperials before leaving the group in 1985. He would still continue to submit songs to The Imperials and in 1987 scored another hit as a writer for the song “Wings of Love.”

olo

In 1986 Paul signed with Dayspring Records a division of the Word Records. His first three albums, showcased studio talent that not only helped redefine The Imperials in the 80s, but also helped define Contemporary Christian Music in the 80s. He would only record three albums on this label. By 1990 The record label StarSong pulled away from Word Records and became apart of Sparrow Records. Many of the artists including The Imperials had left Word and signed with StarSong, so it was no surprise that Paul also made the move. “Human Touch” was released in 1991; the album showed a more classic enthusiastic version of Paul, though it would be his only album released on that label.

Paul continued to tour thru the early 90s, but didn’t have a new album out until 1994, when he signed a contract with Integrity Music to release “Extra Measure” the album charted, but the success of the album didn’t last.

Finally in 2006. Paul's long awaited album "Soli Deo" was released independently. "Soli Deo is not a huge departure from the musical style that made Paul a highly recognizable voice in contemporary Christian music in the 80"s. "- [http://cdbaby.com/cd/psmithsings CD Baby Review] "

Today Paul is still performing concerts as well as working as a Music Minister at the First Baptist Church of Colleyvile,Texas. Imperial fans today still long for a reunion of The Imperials with Paul.

Discography

olo

*1986 Live and Learn "(Dayspring/Word)"
*1987 No Frills "(Dayspring/Word)"
*1989 Back to Who I Am "(Dayspring/Word)"
*1991 Human Touch "(StarSong)"
*1994 Extra Measure "(Integrity)"
*2006 Soli Deo "(Independent)"

Albums with the Imperials

*1982 Stand By the Power "(Dayspring/Word)"
*1983 Side By Side "(Dayspring/Word)"
*1984 Sing the Classics "(Dayspring/Word)"
*1985 Let the Wind Blow "(Myrrh/Word)"
*1986 Old Fashioned Faith "(Dayspring/Word)"
*1996 The Imperials – Legacy "(Word)"
*2007 The Definitive Collection "(Word)"

Video

*1984 The Imperials 20th Anniversary "(Myrrh/Word)"

References

* Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music; Powell; pp 46, 47; Hendrickson Publishers; Pap/Cdr edition (August 2002) ISBN-10: 1565636791 ISBN-13: 978-1565636798
* Resource Publications, "The Christian Music Directories" formerly "The Recording Locator" - http://www.rpinet.com/cmd.html
* http://www.paulsmithsings.com/ the official website of Paul Smith
* http://www.theimperials.com theimperials.com
* http://www.biggodrecords.com - imperials complete catalog
* http://www.sandipatty.com – sandipatty.com
* http://www.doveawards.com/history/browse.cfm?year=1984 – the GMA Dove Awards 1984
* http://www.christianmusicarchive.com/artist.php?id=1086 – Paul Smith Discography
* http://www.bsnpubs.com/word/dayspring.html - Dayspring/Word Discography
* http://www.bsnpubs.com/word/myrrh.html - Myrrh/Word Discography
* http://www.bsnpubs.com/word/starsong.html - StarSong Discography
* http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=8664870&search_in=c&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=30&start=1 - ASCAP list of Paul Smiths Songs
* http://www.sghistory.com/index.php?n=Main.Imperials (does not have complete list of imperials recordings up to 2007 listed yet)
* http://cdbaby.com/cd/psmithsings - CD review of "Paul Smith Soli Deo"

External links

* [http://www.paulsmithsings.com/ Paul Smith Official Website]
* [http://www.theimperials.com/ The Imperials Official Website]
* [http://www.biggodrecords.com/ Big God Records]
* [http://www.worddistribution.com/ Word Music Group]
* [http://www.chordant.com/ EMI/CMG Distribution (StarSong)]
* [http://www.providentmusic.com/pgs/main.aspx/ Provident Music Group (Integrity)]