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Jason Upton
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Jason Upton (born December 15, 1973) is an American Christian artist who was popularized by his appearances at services in Lou Engle's movement The Call. He is somewhat critical of highly structured church services and varying degrees of professionalism in the church. Early life and history Jason Upton was born on December 15, 1973 and was adopted on March 13, 1974. Central to his Christian testimony are his Native American roots. While originally told that his birth father was a Dakota, which is one of the tribes of the Sioux nation, he has recently discovered that his birth father was Cherokee. He grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Upton began singing in churches at the age of 15. During this time he won awards and traveled around singing in churches all over the country. After getting married to his wife Rachel in 1995 the couple began to question why they just sang in churches had desire to impact people for Christ. During their time at Regent University, finishing their Masters of Divinity programs, they set up a worship room in their home where they regularly gathered with other worshipers to pray. It was during these times that they were convinced that the songs God was giving them during worship were not simply songs but 'keys that would open and shut doors in the spirit.' Since that time Jason has been asked to sing and lead worship all over the country and the world. The Uptons have three children: Samuel James (born January 9, 2001); Emma (born December 18, 2002), and Lucy Rae (born June 21, 2007). Events and tours Jason Upton regularly tours the country, leading worship in churches small and large throughout the year. He has rarely appeared on television, although he has appeared at least twice on the 700 Club. He is not regularly played on mainstream Christian radio. During worship services he not only plays the piano or keyboard, or acts as the lead vocalist, he also teaches and encourages the congregation. Some his teaching has been made available on CD, under the title, Jason Upton speaks. Career Upton released his first CD, Key of David, in 2000. It was recorded live in Virginia Beach that year and was produced by Upton's own Key of David Ministries. Over half of the album consists of unrehearsed, spontaneous songs and declarations. Later in 2000, Jason appeared at the youth event 'The Call D.C.' On August 14, 2001, Jason released his second album Faith, which was also recorded live. Post-production work gave the album a high-quality smooth sound. It was his first on a professional recording, and was released on 40 Records. The title track "Faith" was a spontaneous track, an unplanned song which Jason referred to in the liner notes of the album as a 'Spirit Song'. While it differed from Key of David, the album was well received. In 2002, he released two independent CDs that were his first to have been recorded in the studio, at Dark Horse Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Jacob's Dream contained songs that were more introspective and meditative in nature than his previous works. Dying Star was a larger project and concentrated more on destruction of personal pride and complete submission to what Upton sees as God's plan and not what the mainstream church envisions. That same year, he collaborated with other Christian artists on a Keith Green tribute entitled Your Love Broke Through: The Worship Songs of Keith Green. He re-recorded "You Are The One" for this project, further exposing him to mainstream christian audiences. He also led worship at The Call New York that year. 2003-2005 In 2003, Upton launched another independent CD, Remember, which was recorded live and was a compilation of two nights of worship. On the first track, he is heard rebuking a tornado which was tearing through Oklahoma City at the time and was headed directly towards the building that he was worshiping in. On the last track, on a song called "Fly", an unknown, high-pitched voice can be heard. Jason has credited this 'mystery voice' to an angel. Upton has also reported that a child present at that service claims to have seen an angel on the platform. The sound was cleaned up a little before the tracks were released. Also that year, Jason led worship at Kansas City and appeared at the OneThing Conference for the International House of Prayer. This further popularized him among Christian youth. 2004 passed with Jason continuing to tour, and it was early December before he released his sixth CD Trusting the Angels, a studio album which was also independently produced. This album was again recorded at Dark Horse Studios in Nashville and was different from his previous albums in that no track seemed to be spontaneous. In April 2005, Jason released his second album on a recording label which was produced by Gotee Records. Great River Road was a studio album and a collection of Jason Upton songs, containing five songs from his previous CDs and only four new compositions. It also included a bonus track "You Are The One", which had been recorded for the earlier Keith Green tribute. This album further included a CD-ROM feature of Jason explaining his inspirations for and reasonings behind the songs on the CD. Jason's fourth live album, sixth independent album, and eighth overall album, Open Up The Earth was released in late October 2005 and is partly recorded in Holland. It contains two CDs of mostly spontaneous worship, and a bonus DVD. It contained no post-production and is raw, unedited worship. This was Key of David Ministries' largest project to date. 2007-2009 In 2007, Jason released two new CDs: Between Earth and Sky was released in April, 2007. It included several recorded moments, both audio and video, at two different events - one at Life Center International in Harrisburg, PA and the other at Morningstar Christian Fellowship in Fort Mill, SC. * Between Earth and Sky Beautiful People was released on May 29, 2007. It is a representation of Upton's broad interests and influences as a musician. * Beautiful People 1200 FT Below Sea Level features various recordings from across America, containing songs, instrumentals, spontaneous music and spoken word. * On the Rim of the Visible World was released August 7, 2009. On the Rim of the Visible World contains 10 songs that are recorded in Jason Upton's home and six live songs that were recorded 'on the road'. * On the Rim of the Visible World' Popular Culture *Jason recently appeared in the Documentary Film "Justice Waiting", Which also featured International House of Prayer-KC, Rick Joyner, and Lou Engle. *Jason has been featured on CBN. See Also
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