Bart Marshall Millard (born December 1, 1972) is an American singer and songwriter who is best known as the leader of the band MercyMe. He has also released two solo albums: Hymned, No. 1, in 2005 and Hymned Again in 2008. He received a solo Grammy nomination in the category of Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album for the latter album. Band career In high school, Millard wanted to become a football player, a dream which ended when he injured both ankles at a high school football game. As a result, Millard took choir as an elective. Millard's father, Arthur Wesley Millard Jr., died in 1991, during Bart's first year of college, and his youth pastor invited him to work with the church's youth group worship band. Millard accepted and worked with the video and audio systems for the group. James (Jim) Bryson played piano for that band and later went on to play with Bart Millard and the worship band on a trip to Switzerland. This trip inspired Millard to pursue a full-time musical career. Millard and two of his friends, James Phillip Bryson and Michael John Scheuchzer, moved to Oklahoma City, and formed MercyMe. Since then, the band has recorded six independent, ten studio, two Christmas, and three compilation albums. Solo career Millard made a promise to his grandmother to record an album of hymns before she died, which he did with Hymned No. 1, and he subsequently shared the story of how he was inspired by his grandmother's faith. Millard made the second of his two hymn albums because he realized that the church he was attending did not sing hymns and he wanted his children to have hymns as a part of their lives. Millard said his dad heavily influenced him in his musical direction with respect to the hymn albums, drawing particularly on Willie Nelson and Louie Prima. Millard stated that these influences would not be appropriate for MercyMe, as MercyMe is similar to Coldplay, while these hymns are more in the vein of Frank Sinatra. Millard said that he embarked on his solo effort in order to give expression to musical styles that would not have been compatible with MercyMe. Millard said that they sang a Hank Williams song called "I Saw the Light" in his church growing up. The title of Hymned Again is a "tongue-in-cheek" reference to the first album. The