A tuneful contemporary Christian artist who merges polished pop/rock sounds with sincere messages of faith, Jamie Slocum was born in Grants Pass, Oregon. When he was young, Slocum's family relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, and at the age of nine, Jamie began performing with the Phoenix Boys Choir. Becoming proficient on piano, guitar, and sax, as a teenager Slocum started a local band called Shadowhouse and took up songwriting. While Jamie studied broadcasting and marine biology in college, in time his interest in music won out, and in 1991 he moved to Nashville in search of a career. Slocum first established himself in Music City as a songwriter, and the group Seneca scored a hit with one of his tunes, "We Got a Good Thing Going." After Slocum signed a publishing deal with Mike Curb, the veteran music mogul encouraged him to record an album of his own. Slocum's debut album, Somewhere Under Heaven, was released by Curb in 1996, and earned Slocum a Dove Award nomination for Best New Artist of the Year. Freedom Records released Slocum's next full-length, Grace Changes Everything; the title track became a hit on adult contemporary radio. After 2001's Someone Like You, Slocum returned to Curb Records for the 2003 release My Heart Knows. In 2009, Slocum released the album Dependence, and the title song became a number one adult contemporary radio hit. "Dependence" was also nominated for a Dove Award as Inspirational Song of the Year. Two other songs from the album, "Fragile" and "Just Another Mountain," were also AC successes. Slocum's sixth album, Safe, was slated for release in April 2016. ~ Mark Deming