Kevin Max

Kevin Max is one third of the Christian rock group dc Talk. His birth name is Kevin Max Smith, but he legally shortened it to "Kevin Max" in 1997, citing that there were probably too many Smiths already in the world. Fans of dc Talk were not surprised at the decision; Max is often cited as the most eccentric member of the group.

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In recent years, Kevin Max has attempted to separate himself from the Christian music world and create a name for himself apart from dc Talk. While he does not shy away from vocally defending his Christian faith, he has expressed a desire to create art with a universal appeal. He insists, "My music is for a Buddhist to pick up and still enjoy, for an atheist. But it is there to prod and ask some questions: What's my worldview? What do I believe in, and why do I believe it?"

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The resulting solo album, Grammy-winning Stereotype Be, released on August 28, 2001, was praised by All Music Guide for " pop, rock, and world music to create a versatile and intriguing project." Collaborating with legendary artists such as Adrian Belew and Tony Levin, Stereotype Be found Max being hailed in some musical circles as "the next Peter Gabriel."

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Curiously, while Stereotype Be has developed a considerable cult following, it wasn't well-received in the Christian music market, and not long after its release, Max was dropped from his Christian label, Forefront Records. Undeterred, Max began to slowly build his solo career through live shows and word-of-mouth. He released independent albums via his website, including an EP entitled Between the Fence and the Universe and a spoken-word collaboration with Adrian Belew entitled Raven Songs 101, both in 2004.

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In Fall of 2004, Max's word-of-mouth strategy finally began to pay off. He played the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Later that year, he signed a new deal with Northern Records and will release a second full-length album, titled The Imposter, on October 11, 2005. He is also set to star in an independent film titled Soupernatural; in addition, he plans to release a Christmas album, currently untitled, in time for the 2005 Holiday Season.

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Max is also a poet and an author. He has published four books, three of which are poetry books: At the Foot of Heaven (1994), The Detritus of Dorian Gray (2003), and Divine Erotica (2005). The other is an autobiography of sorts titled Unfinished Work (2001), an in-depth look at the meaning of each of his songs from Stereotype Be. In addition, Max has a spoken-word EP album that accompanies his first poetry book At the Foot of Heaven, released in 1995 by Starsong Productions.

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In 1997, Max married Alayna Bennett. They divorced in 2003 for undisclosed reasons. He remarried in 2005 to "Amanda" (last name unknown). The two continue to live in Hollywood.

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Christian rock: Christian rock is a form of rock music played by bands where the musicians are openly Christian. The extent that their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands....

Dc Talk: dc Talk is a Christian rock band formed in the late 1980s in Lynchburg, Virginia by Toby McKeehan, Kevin Max, and Michael Tait. They began as a hip hop act, but in the mid-90s they reinvented themselves as a pop/rock group. In both instances, they found immense critical and commercial success in the...

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