Tiffany Arbuckle was born in
Indianapolis but grew up in
Atlanta, singing in church and school. She moved to Nashville one week before her 21st birthday, where she now resides, and worked as a background singer for a number of artists, including
Bill Gaither and
Amy Grant. Plumb was originally formed in 1997 as a five-piece band that consisted of Arbuckle on vocals, Joe Porter on drums, Matt Stanfield on keyboards, J.J. Plasencio on bass guitar and Stephen Leiweke on guitar, with name, Plumb, coming from the
Suzanne Vega song "
My Favorite Plum". Following
Silvertone Records affiliate Essential Records mainstream alternative radio success with its debut artist
Jars of Clay in 1995, the label signed Plumb as its second artist. When Arbuckle was urged to write, she turned to
Matt Bronleewe—an original member of
Jars of Clay who happened to be her next-door neighbor—and the two hit it off. In 1999, Plumb released a second studio album,
Candycoatedwaterdrops, which won the 2000 Gospel Music Association
Dove Award for "Modern
Rock Album of the Year". Three tracks from it were later covered by other artists; "
Stranded" and "Here with Me" by
Jennifer Paige and, in 2001, "Damaged" by
Plummet. Though the album won the DOVE Award for Best Modern Rock Album in 2000, and saw strong radio success with the single "God-Shaped Hole", the subject matter and approach of much of Plumb's music was often considered too dark and taboo for the mainstream Christian marketplace. Plumb's tendency to write songs about deeply personal issues, such as international hit "Cut" which addressed
cutting, and "Damaged" which addressed a girl coping with being molested as a child, led to more enthusiastic reception by fans of alternative and dance music. Later in 1999, all band members left the band, and since that time Plumb became a solo project of Tiffany Arbuckle. Plumb considered leaving the music industry after the 2000 album, but changed her mind after receiving a note from a fan a few hours before what she thought to be her final concert. The letter was about her song "Damaged" about a girl coping with being molested as a child. Shortly after the birth of her second child, Plumb recorded her fifth album,
Blink, as a collection of lullaby inspired songs. It was released on October 9, 2007, immediately becoming one of her best selling and most enduring albums to date. Lead single "In My Arms" was used in conjunction with key plot narratives for both
Vampire Diaries and
One Tree Hill, and became Plumb's biggest international hit to date, selling close to half a million singles in both the United States and Russia. "In My Arms" received remixes by
Kaskade, Scotty K, Bronleewe & Bose, Gomi, and Bimbo Jones, with the latter reaching the No. 3 spot on the
Billboard Dance chart. The first single from Beautiful History, "Hang On", reached No. 1 on the
Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in 2009 and reached the top spot on
Billboard's
Hot Dance Airplay chart in 2010. The debut single from the project, "Drifting", a co-penned duet with longtime friend Dan Haseltine (of Jars of Clay), spread quickly across Christian rock radio. The second single, "
Need You Now (How Many Times)", went to
contemporary Christian music radio in early 2012 and has become Plumb's most successful single to date in that market, rising to number to No. 1 on multiple radio and iTunes charts in both the United States and Canada by year's end. The album
Need You Now was released worldwide in February 2013, charting at a career-best No. 56 on the
Billboard 200 chart and No. 2 on Christian album charts. The album received five Dove Award nominations including Song of the Year and Contemporary/Pop Album of the Year. With her children now all at least grade school age, and with the massive success of Need You Now, 2012 and 2013 saw the most aggressive touring of her entire career, playing major festivals throughout 2012 and 2013, embarking on her first and largely sold-out headlining tour in the fall of 2013, and joining the massive Winterjam arena tour for November 2013–14. Plumb released her seventh studio album,
Exhale, on May 4, 2015. Plumb left Curb Records in early 2017 to form her own label, Plumb Music, and released her first single "God Help Me" in July 2017. The song was one of six tracks included on the EP
God Help Me in late 2017. She followed it up with the album
Beautifully Broken in June 2018 on
Centricity Music. Plumb's original version and recording of the song would be included on her sixth studio album,
Need You Now, and featured in episode 5x02 of
Vampire Diaries. ==Personal life==