MUSIC SCENE
True Vibe, a boy band with a mission
By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| True Vibe — from left Jason Barton, Nathan Gaddis, Jonathan Lippmann and Jordan Roe — play tonight and tomorrow at the Hawai'i Theatre.
True Vibe with Stacy Orrico, Nikki Leonti, Jan Brenner 7:30 p.m. today and tomorrow Hawai'i Theatre $10-$35 528-0506 |
"I came home from work and saw them on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,'" remembered Lippmann, of an evening back in 1996 when he realized that the group he had founded had really made it. And without him. "They were there with Stevie Wonder — who's the man! — singing a song from this movie. I was delivering food and struggling to pay bills."
A devout Christian, Lippman had left 98 Degrees the previous year just as the group was preparing to sign its first big management contact.
"There was no real specific reason why I left other than God placing something in my heart to leave," said Lippman, now with rising Christian contemporary pop vocal group True Vibe. "I knew that even though I wasn't doing anything wrong and had totally committed my life to Christ ... that if I wanted to go out there, I wanted people to see nothing but the Lord in me."
True Vibe — along with Lippmann, vocalists Nathan Gaddis, Jason Barton and Jordan Roe — is in Honolulu for concerts tonight and tomorrow.
Lippmann was no stranger to changing life directions when he started talking with his friend Jeff Timmons about forming a vocal group in early 1995.
A classically trained french-horn player schooled at the University of Cincinnati's Conservatory of Music and the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music, Lippmann had already chucked years of musical training in 1993 to move to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Later that same year, Lippmann met a friend who introduced him to Christianity.
Searching for a couple of vocalists to finish the quartet, Lippmann phoned childhood pals Nick Lachey and Justin Jeffre in Cincinnati.
"And then we just started singing," said Lippmann. "We were just singing a cappella everywhere we could."
The group quickly gained opening concert slots for a then relatively unknown Backstreet Boys and even Soul Brother Number One James Brown. The quartet's big break arrived after opening for Boyz II Men, when the Motown vocal group's management approached them with a contract.
"I backed out right at that point," said Lippmann, who immediately accepted a regular role on Nickelodeon's "Sweet Valley High," while 98 Degrees brought in Nick Lachey's brother Drew to replace him. "Sweet Valley" was canceled soon after Lippmann signed on, and he wound up taking a job delivering food. It was a career he would keep for the next four years, while 98 Degrees rode the multiplatinum Boy Band wave of the late 1990s.
Lippmann never questioned his faith, confident while struggling to make ends meet that his God had other plans for him. Lippmann married girlfriend Ruth in 1997, became even more involved with his church, and auditioned for french-horn seats in symphonic orchestras.
Lippmann began toying with the concept for True Vibe — male pop vocals a la 98 Degrees with Christian lyrics — in early 2000, phoning record labels in Nashville (Christian music's capital) to gauge their interest. With *N Sync, Backstreet Boys and 98 Degrees still riding high on the pop charts, Christian label Essential Records signed Lippmann on the strength of his idea and musical resume, entrusting him to recruit True Vibe's three other members.
"It was real important for me to keep the heart of the group right," said Lippmann, who had by then relocated permanently to Nashville. "More than just performances, I wanted our ministry to be solid."
Lippmann held private auditions, listening to the recommendations of friends and fellow church members such as Mark Kibble of noted a cappella group Take 6.
True Vibe released its self-titled debut in May 2001, following a well-received three-week gig opening for pop R&B act Destiny's Child. The album went on to sell 200,000 copies, securing two No. 1 singles on Contemporary Christian Music's Top 50 with "Now And Forever" and "Sweet Jesus." True Vibe's teen-mag-ready mugs have since been plastered on the mainstream pages of Teen Beat, Tiger Beat and Bop! And yes, True Vibe has indeed been slapped with the obligatory "Christian boy band" label.
"Honestly, I don't care what people call us as long as they give us a chance and listen to the music," said Lippmann, laughing. "I really believe that God uses all different styles of music to reach out to people."
