Casting Crowns Beats Hillsong UNITED at 2014 AMA's; Christian Group Wins Favorite Artist, Contemporary Inspirational
Casting Crowns earned recognition at the American Music Awards after winning the award for Favorite Artist: Contemporary Inspirational on Sunday.
The fan-voted award marked Casting Crown's third AMA, which was presented to the Christian rock group during a live broadcast on ABC Network television at Los Angeles' Nokia Theater. Other nominees in the Contemporary Inspirational category included the Newsboys and Hillsong UNITED.
In addition to the AMA's honor, Casting Crowns continues to dominate the Christian as well as secular song charts. Their current album "Thrive" was number one on the Billboard Contemporary Christian Albums Chart and ranked number six on the Billboard Top 200 Chart.
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Furthermore, Casting Crowns is currently on the fall leg of its 2014-15 Thrive Tour, which includes a sold out performance at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. The highly successful tour has seen nine sellout dates so far, and the band will perform at New York's famed Carnegie Hall on Jan. 24 as part of a full weekend with fans.
The AMA, Grammy and Dove Award-winning group consists of Mark Hall, Melodee Devevo, Brian Scoggin, Megan Garrett, Juan Devevo, Chris Huffman and Josh Mix, who have been recording and touring for more than 10 years. In addition to three AMA awards, Casting Crowns has been honored with a Grammy for its 2005 album "Lifesong," 17 GMA Dove Awards and two Billboard Awards.
Meanwhile, the 2014 AMA's also saw wins for Luke Bryan, One Direction, Katy Perry, Sam Smith, Carrie Underwood, Beyonce, John Legend and many more. Upon winning Favorite Male Country Artist, Bryan thanked everyone from God to his tour bus driver.
"Thank you AMAs, thanks for having me out here," the singer said during his acceptance speech. "It's amazing to be here in L.A. watching all this music. I want to thank God above for letting me tour night in and night out on the road. I want to thank the fans … Want to thank all my management, my booking agent Jay Williams, I always forget ya. All my guys on the road, my band, my crew, my bus driver…" he said in conclusion.
