Mark Schultz (musician)
| Mark Schultz | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Mark Mitchell Schultz |
| Born | September 16, 1970 |
| Origin | Colby, Kansas U.S. |
| Genres | CCM |
| Occupation(s) | Singer–songwriter |
| Instruments | Piano, acoustic guitar |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Labels | Word, Curb,Fair Trade Services |
| Website | www |
Mark Mitchell Schultz (born September 16, 1970) is a contemporary Christian music artist. He has been nominated for numerous Dove Awards, winning his first at the 2006 Dove Awards when the CD/DVD Mark Schultz Live: A Night of Stories & Songs was named Long Form Music Video of the Year.
Mark Schultz was adopted at two weeks old by his parents Gary and Ronita Schultz in Kansas City, KS. He has an older brother, Brad and a younger sister, Susan. Most of his childhood was spent in Colby, KS where he attended Colby Elementary School. When he was about eight years old, Schultz began to teach himself piano by ear. Schultz attended Colby High School and sang in musicals and with his friends in a band. He was also very involved in athletics as a basketball player, a track runner, a pitcher in baseball, and the quarterback of the football team. He graduated from Colby High School in 1989 and was elected to be the graduation speaker for his class.
Schultz attended two years at Colby Community College where he played baseball. Next he transferred to Kansas State University where he finished his college career, graduating in 1994 with a BA in marketing. He is a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. At KSU he auditioned for the small elite singing group known as the Kansas State Singers and was given a spot. He traveled with the Singers during his college years, and it was in this group, led by director, Gerald Polich, that Schultz honed his singing voice and started to dream about a bigger career in music. Late at night he would sneak into the music building at K-State to play the piano and write songs.
After graduating from college, Schultz drove to Nashville, TN to try to make it in the music industry. He had no job lined up, and all of his belongings fit in the back of his car. When he got to Nashville, he began looking for internships with music labels, and he also took a job as a waiter at one of the larger hotels in downtown Nashville. The hotel was right down the street from the famous Ryman auditorium. When Schultz's parents came to visit him for the first time in Nashville, his dad told him that he would one day listen to his son doing a concert on that stage.
Schultz found an internship at BMI, Broadcast Music Incorporated. One of the other interns who was leaving gave Schultz a name and number of a youth pastor in town and told Schultz to contact him for a job. That pastor's name was Mark DeVries. Although he was a Christian, Schultz did not feel like he was being called to work in a church but rather have a career in country music, so he tore up the piece of paper with the name and number on it and never called the minister.
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