David Meece, front-runner in Contemporary Christian Music is celebrating 33 years since his first recording DAVID was released in 1976, initiating the career and journey he has taken as a Christian recording artist over the last three decades.
As his music caught on, David began to play to sold-out concerts all over the world while composing songs that have become Christian household standards. From "We Are the Reason” recorded by well over 200 artists in several languages and nominated for the Dove Award Song of the Year, to the beloved “One Small Child” written when he was 14 years old, becoming a beloved Christmas classic, David has been a Christian music vanguard.
Growing up in a small town of Humble, Texas, David distinguished himself as a childhood prodigy and began touring as a concert pianist at the age of ten. By fourteen, he performed the Mozart piano Concerto in F Major with the Houston Chamber Orchestra. He won a nationwide talent show at the age of fifteen and toured England, Germany, France, Switzerland and Holland. When he was sixteen, he was the featured soloist with the Houston Symphony and under the direction of renowned conductor, Andre Previn, performing the difficult Khachaturian Piano Concerto, 45 minutes in length.
Life has not always been easy for the gifted artist. David grew up in a house dominated by an abusive, alcoholic father. Though his childhood was desolate, his earliest happy memories revolve around the piano. “I can remember wanting so badly to press the piano keys down and I couldn’t get up on the bench. David reflected. “Somebody had to come and help me. But I remember once I was up there, I was happy.”
David went on to receive a full scholarship to the prestigious Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. While studying there, he made a serious commitment to follow Christ. He also made a commitment to his wife, Debbie, a student at the conservatory, majoring in viola. ‘I wouldn’t have made it without her,” David said. “She has been the glue that has held me together through the tough times and since she came from a healthy background, God has used her to keep me from falling apart at the seams.”
David and Debbie will be celebrating their 33rd wedding anniversary this year. They give all the glory to God for the faithfulness He has shown to them in their marriage. They are the proud parents of 27 yr old son, Christopher who is an outstanding drummer and daughter, Kelly, 23 who married Nick Rogers in 2006 and is pursuing her dreams in music, dance and stage performance. Debbie teaches strings and piano privately and performs with the Harpeth String Trio out of Nashville. She has written a powerful devotional to accompany David’s CD, “Once in a Lifetime.”
With a history of packing out auditoriums from Houston’s Jones Hall to the Sydney Opera House and filling stadiums around the nation and in Canada, David has felt equally at home ministering in even the smallest of churches. With a widespread appeal to all ages, he often turns the crowd into a choir, letting them take his songs home in their hearts. His hilarious perspective has lent a comic relief to the serious message God has called him to share regarding his painful journey of forgiveness and personal wilderness experiences. His life lessons learned and well written into his lyrics through the years have been powerfully applicable to so many who have adopted his songs as their own.
One song in particular has become beloved world-wide. It is the autobiographical My Father’s Chair. “One of the few memories I have of my father is that he loved to sit in the same chair and watch TV after work. However, he was also very violent and his alcoholism and abuse eventually grew to a point where he just disappeared. In the first verse, I talk about my father’s chair, which was empty. In the second verse, I share about ‘my’ chair and how I want my kids to see my chair as a place of love and unconditional acceptance.” In the third verse, David makes the ultimate discovery, “My earthly father was not my real father at all. My real father is my Father in heaven and He has never left my side for one second! The Father’s chair – His throne in glory – is the chair that will some day draw all His children and none will be turned away.”
His story and song was aired on a two-day broadcast on Focus on the Family just before Father’s Day in 2003. Focus received such a tremendous response, that they re-aired the program later that year and listed it as one of the top five broadcasts of 2003.
David Meece has a clear message: Total surrender to God in trust and obedience.
His desire is to impart comfort, challenge and conviction to his listeners. When he has shared his gift of song, many thousands have come to know God’s healing touch.
Like his biblical mentor, David-the psalmist king, David Meece seeks after the heart of God and invites others to come and do the same. “I’m convinced that there has been a tremendous urgency placed upon my life by the Holy Spirit, an urgency to get the Gospel out to as many people as possible,” he said. “I believe God wants me to go and share the Gospel everywhere, anywhere people will have me. I’ve never had this calling on my life so strongly before, but I’m convinced of it right now. I’m convinced Jesus is coming back very soon.”
