TobyMac

**Toby McKeehan** (born **Kevin Michael McKeehan**;[2] October 22, 1964), better known by his stage name **TobyMac** (styled **tobyMac** or **TOBYMAC**), is a Christian hip hop recording artist, music producer, songwriter and author.

TobyMac has charted 20 solo singles on *Billboard*'s Christian Songs list.[3] He was first known for being a member of the Christian vocal trio DC Talk, staying with them from 1987 until their announced hiatus in 2000. He has since continued a successful solo career with the release of six studio albums: *Momentum* (2001), *Welcome to Diverse City* (2004), *Portable Sounds* (2007), *Tonight* (2010), *Eye on It* (2012), *This Is Not a Test* (2015), as well as two remixed albums of the first two albums titled *Re:Mix Momentum* and *Renovating Diverse City* respectively, and one remix album for albums number three and four titled *Dubbed and Freq'd: A Remix Project* (2012). He now has a fourth remix album titled "Eye'm All Mixed Up". He also has a full-length Christmas album *Christmas in Diverse City* (2011), which was his first holiday album.[4] TobyMac became only the third Christian artist to have a No. 1 debut on *Billboard* 200 chart[5] with *Eye on It*.[6][7]

Between DC Talk and his own solo career, he has sold more than 10 million albums[8] and won 7 Grammy Awards.[9] TobyMac has had six No. 1 hit CHR singles[10] including "Gone", "Made to Love" and "Lose My Soul." Five singles have gone to No. 1 on *Billboard*'s Christian Songs chart, tying him with Third Day for fourth on the list of artists with the most No. 1 hits on that chart. His live concert CD+DVD combo album, *Alive and Transported*, was released in 2008 and received the Grammy Award for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album at the 51st Grammy Awards in 2009.[11] His fifth studio album, *Eye on It*, was released on August 28, 2012 and received a Grammy for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album at the 2013 Grammys held on February 10, 2013.

## Musical career[edit]

### DC Talk (1987–2001)[edit]

Toby formed DC Talk with Michael Tait in 1987, at Liberty University. He and Tait released *Christian Rhymes to a Rhythm* in 1988, while they recruited classmate, Kevin Max Smith. The three set out on tour after they released their first album in 1989, *DC Talk*. In 1990, they released their first gold album, *Nu Thang*. After the Nu Thang tour, they recorded their first platinum album, *Free at Last*. The Free at Last Tour was a success. They were invited to play on The Jay Leno Show and The Arsenio Hall Show, getting mainstream attention. They released their first single for their next album, which immediately became a hit single. The album, *Jesus Freak*, which they released in 1995, went multi-platinum and led to the extremely popular Jesus Freak World Tour. They eventually released the tour CD, *Welcome to the Freakshow*. In 1996, "Between You and Me" reached No. 29 on the Hot 100.[12] The tour ended in success in time for *Supernatural*, which would be their last album. The album would sell platinum. They then went solo in 2001. The band has not toured together since 2001 (except for one show in Redmond, Washington, in 2005, and when TobyMac made surprise guest appearances at Winter Jam in 2010 in Nashville and in 2011 in Greensboro, North Carolina, and sang "Jesus Freak" with Michael Tait). However, DC Talk has recorded several songs together since their hiatus: "Let's Roll" in 2002 (a song about the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001), "Atmosphere (Remix)" on TobyMac's 2004 album *Welcome to Diverse City*, "The Cross", a track on Kevin Max's 2007 album *The Blood*, and "Love Feels Like", a track on TobyMac's 2015 album *This Is Not a Test*. The last album with the group was *S*

Eye On It

Momentum

Welcome To Diverse City

Tonight

This Is Not A Test