Spring Hill Music Signs Gersh
Artist formerly of Whiteheart begins solo career

(Nashville, TN) December 12, 2001-- Spring Hill Music announces the signing of Mark Gersmehl, more popularly known as Gersh, to a multi-album recording contract. A founding member of Whiteheart, one of the most popular and successful pop/rock groups in contemporary Christian music in the last two decades, Gersh's debut solo project, titled Awakening, is scheduled to release on May 21st, 2002.

click pic for a larger image

After two Grammy and 22 Dove award nominations, 15 years and 11 studio albums, Whiteheart went inactive in 1998. "I'm grateful for the experiences and ministry opportunities that I had with Whiteheart," says Gersh. "We had some great times and I met some wonderful people during that period of my life. I will always treasure those experiences, but it was time to move on."

After some much-needed rest, Gersh found his artistic drive back in full force. "There's a restlessness in me to explore life, to learn how to love, and to search for the heart of God," explains Gersh. "Songs are a way that I do that. I've always felt that one of the greatest luxuries you can have as a Christian is to be a musician, because you get to work out your faith in a song. When a song comes to life, it becomes a gift to give to someone else. Then, in a concert or in someone's CD player, you can say, 'Do you ever feel this way? Does this help you?'"

Awakening finds Gersh exploring sounds and musical concepts that weren't part of the Whiteheart palette. Some have drawn comparisons to the modern Euro-pop of Peter Gabriel and David Grey. "As much fun as rock music is, it's all about knocking the walls back with your sound," muses Gersh. "Now I want to draw the walls in. I want to pull people so close to their own heart that they can touch it. I'm trying hard to create songs that can stand alone on the basis of their melodies and their lyrics, without the heavy artillery behind them. This is some of the most intimate music I've ever made; at the same time, we're having some serious fun with the production, blending some acoustic elements with the technology available today."

The signing of Gersh is another step in Spring Hill Music's expansion of the musical boundaries of the label. "When people think of Spring Hill, they often think of southern gospel or inspirational music," says president Scott Chancey. "But we've been slowly increasing our musical diversity over the last few years with the signing of artists like Scott Krippayne. Gersh helps us push the edge of the envelope a little bit more and we are very, very happy to be partnering with him."

Featuring production by Gersh and Richie Biggs (Newboys, Tree63, Switchfoot,) Awakening will be distributed by Chordant Music Group and available in stores nationwide. The project's first singles release to AC and CHR radio in March, 2002.