, professionally known as '''tobyMac''', is known for his role as a member of the '', and ''
Renovating Diverse City ''.
Toby was born on
October 22 ,
1964 , in
Fairfax ,
Virginia {Link without Title} . He got the name Toby from having been born in October. His older brother started calling him Toby before he was born. At some point in his life, his parents divorced, partly influencing the song "Stories (Down to the Bottom)".
Toby and his wife Amanda live in (TruDog), Moses, Marlee, Leo and Judah. Moses and Marlee were adopted in 2002. Leo was born in 2004. Judah was born in 2006
{Link without Title} . Truett appears on the albums ''Momentum'', ''Re:Mix Momentum'', ''Welcome to Diverse City'', ''Renovating Diverse City'', and ''Portable Sounds'' as emerging rap artist TruDog.
He grew up in the
Washington, D.C. area and met
Kevin Max and
Michael Tait while in college at
Liberty University in
Lynchburg, Virginia . The three formed the band
Dc Talk in 1989. A unique approach to combining
Rock ,
Pop , and
Rap quickly rocketed the trio to success, not only in the contemporary Christian music market, but also in the mainstream market. Their album ''
Jesus Freak '' was a significant milestone, selling over two million copies, making it a double
Platinum record.
dc Talk's latest album was released in 2000. The album '''' was a dc Talk compilation put together when the group members started their "intermission." The members were pursuing individual careers then, and at the time assured fans that dc Talk had not split up, but rather they were simply taking "an
Intermission ." More recently though, comments from the band members, most notably from Kevin Max, have implied that dc Talk is a thing of the past and will not regroup. Kevin Max writes on his official website's message board, "DC Talk is something of the past. In order for DC Talk to be anything of the future, it will be up to each individual member to come together to create something that is lasting and substantial. There is an audience out there interested in seeing DC Talk back together as a group and as an entertaining and creative force, but I feel that the spirit of the thing is dead. I appreciated the time that we had together those many years, and I thank God many times over for allowing me to be a part of something that was so far reaching and helped so many people, but to be honest, just doing a show to do a show is not interesting to me. It must be thought out, creative and passionate."
dc Talk reunited to perform a song on the album
Let's Roll about the events on
September 11, 2001 , and again on Toby's third album "Welcome to Diverse City." They remixed the song "Atmosphere," an original song appearing earlier on the album.
Throughout the 1990s, tobyMac achieved considerable success with his Grammy winning group dc talk, stockpiling a number of gold and platinum albums with seven million combined copies sold. As the group moved into the rear view window, tobyMac boldly stepped out on his own with his solo debut, Momentum. Earning rave reviews from Billboard to CCM Magazine, the 2001 album debuted atop the Billboard Heatseekers chart, sold over 500,000 copies, and landed two number one singles, "Extreme Days" and "Somebody's Watching." He went on to win several Dove Awards, including Producer of the Year, and two BMI honors as Christian Songwriter of the Year.
Toby McKeehan's solo music differs from dc Talk's rock-based musical style, leaning toward a more
Urban , hip-hop/rap sound. His sound is much more reminiscent of what was heard when dc Talk originally started out, on the albums ''DC TALK'', ''Nu Thang'', and ''Free At Last'', their most widely known album besides ''Jesus Freak''.
McKeehan composed and recorded the song "Extreme Days" for the 2001 Truth Builder Productions film '''', as well as advertisements for the television show ''
Prison Break '' . The song was also featured in car commercials, men's NCAA clips, NBA Finals (Miami Heat, 2006),
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programming, and "The Ultimate Highlight" on ''
Sportscenter ''.
Ohio Valley Wrestling performer
Matt Cappotelli , who currently is unable to perform due to a brain tumor, uses "The Slam" as his entrance theme. Toby's songs "Atmosphere" and "Burn For You" have also been used in commercials. His songs "Yours", "Extreme Days", "Get This Party Started", and "Momentum" were all recently featured in the
Xbox 360 video game
Crackdown .
''Portable Sounds'' sold 50,645 copies in its first week, debuting at #10 on the Billboard 200, and at #1 on the SoundScan Contemporary Christian Overall chart.
Christianrock.net News
Toby's band on his albums and his live shows has become known as "The Diverse City Band". This is the current lineup:
{Link without Title}
Toby has also written two books with Michael Tait and Kevin Max called "Jesus Freaks vol. 1 and 2". These books were mainly focused on Christian martyrs. He has also written two more books with Michael Tait titled "Under
God " containing stories of America's spiritual battles, and another called "Living Under God."
Toby is also the
President of
Record Label Gotee Records . Gotee features artists such as
DJ Maj ,
Relient K and
John Reuben . However, as a recording artist, he is under contract with
ForeFront Records . He got the name "Gotee" from the song "Socially Acceptable" on dcTalk's album ''
Free At Last ''. A member of the band
GRITS was doing the background vocals, and he was saying, "Let it go, T, let it go." ("T" refers to Toby) Toby happened to be growing a
Goatee on his face at the time, and when somebody pointed out the coincidence, he decided to name his new record company, "
Gotee Records ."
Toby's song
"Diverse City" was featured in the
Veronica Mars episode,
The Wrath Of Con .
TobyMac made it up to 2nd most requested artist of 2007 on
Christian-HipHop.net and 17th most requested on
ChristianRock.net .
All videos copyright
ForeFront Records 2001-2007
- "The Hardway" (1992)
- "Jesus is Just Alright" (1992)
- "Luv is a verb" (1992)
- "Colored People" (1995)
- "Between You and Me" (1995)
- " Jesus Freak " (1995)
- "Minds Eye" (1995)
- "Like it, Love it, Need it" (1995)
- "Since I Met You" (1998)
- "My Friend, So Long" (1998)
- "Consume Me" (1998)
- 2006 Rock Recorded Song of the Year for "The Slam"
- 2005 Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year for "Welcome to Diverse City"
- 2003 Short Form Music Video of the Year for "Irene"
- 2002 Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year for "Somebody's Watching"
- 2002 Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year for "Momentum"
