Chris Rice was born in a small town near Washington DC, his official musical education was just 3 years of piano lessons. While he was in college he began to speak and lead worship at his church’s youth group. After graduating from college with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Communication, he decided to try his hand at songwriting and moved to Nashville. His first roommate was Monroe Jones who helped him put together song demos. Jones has been his producer ever since.
In 1996 Chris Rice was the very first artist to be signed to Micheal W Smith’s new Label, Roketown Records. The next year his first album Deep Enough to Dream was released. That was followed by Past the Edges in 1998. Chris Rice received the Dove Award for Male Vocalist of the Year for that album. The next year he tried out a bit more of a pop style with the album Smell the Color 9. In Contrast, his next 2 albums where piano-only Hymn and Christmas disks called The Living Room Sessions. The albums were recorded in a living room, but that’s nothing new. All of Chris Rice’s songs are recorded like that.