DC Talk (1987–2001) TobyMac formed DC Talk with
Michael Tait in 1987 at
Liberty University. He and Tait released
Christian Rhymes to a Rhythm in 1988 and recruited classmate
Kevin Max Smith to join the group. The trio then signed with
Forefront Records and set out on tour after they released
DC Talk in 1989. In 1990, they released
Nu Thang, their first gold album which was followed with a tour. The follow-up,
Free at Last, was certified platinum and the band gained popularity after they performed on
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and
The Arsenio Hall Show. In 1994, with Todd Collins and Joey Elwood, he founded the first Christian hip-hop label
Gotee Records. They released their next album,
Jesus Freak, in 1995, which went multi-platinum and led to the Jesus Freak World Tour and a tour CD,
Welcome to the Freak Show. Following the release of "
Between You and Me" which reached No. 29 on the Hot 100 in 1996, the group released
Supernatural, which would be their last album. The album was certified platinum. In 2001, the group released
Solo, a collection of their solo attempts. They recorded a cover of "
40," originally by
U2. This was the last recording before they went on hiatus. DC Talk went on hiatus in 2001 and its members embarked on solo careers. In 2005, the trio performed together at a show in
Redmond, Washington, In 2011, he joined Tait on the song "Jesus Freak" in
Greensboro, North Carolina. DC Talk has recorded several songs together since their hiatus, including 2002's "Let's Roll", a song about the
terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, "Atmosphere (Remix)" on his 2004 album
Welcome to Diverse City, "The Cross", a track on Kevin Max's 2007 album
The Blood, "Love Feels Like", a track on TobyMac's 2015 album
This Is Not a Test, and "Space" on TobyMac's album
Life After Death.
Solo career Momentum (2001–2003) On November 6, 2001, he released his first solo album:
Momentum. He composed and recorded the song "Extreme Days" for the 2001 Truth Builder Productions film
Extreme Days, which was featured on the
Momentum album. Momentum, debuted at No. 1 on the
Billboard Heatseekers chart in the November 24 issue. The song "Extreme Days" was also used in the movie ''Hangman's Curse
, based on a book by Frank Peretti. His song "Get This Party Started" was featured on an episode of the TV show Roswell. His song "Yours" reached the Top 5 on ChristianRock.net. "Yours", "Extreme Days", "Get This Party Started" and "Momentum" were all featured in the Xbox 360 video game Crackdown''. "Momentum" earned five Dove Awards and a Grammy nomination. He was nominated for Artist of the Year at the
34th GMA Dove Awards. In 2002, he performed at the Festival Con Dios. Later that year, he released his first Christmas single, "
This Christmas". In 2003, he released
Re:Mix Momentum, a remix of the album
Momentum. His song "Yours" was used in
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as "
Sting's" theme song. He was featured on "Throw Yo Hands Up" on
Kirk Franklin's 2002 album
The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin.
Welcome to Diverse City (2004–2006) Welcome to Diverse City was released in October 2004 and is certified gold. The album debuted and peaked on the
Billboard 200 at No. 54, selling 21,000 copies that week. His "Winter Wonder Slam Tour" played throughout December 2006. The album's song "The Slam" was featured in the film
Never Back Down, advertisements for the films
Transporter 2,
Aeon Flux, and
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, as well as advertisements for the television show
Prison Break. The song was also featured in car commercials, men's NCAA clips, NBA Finals (Miami Heat, 2006),
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programming, NFL Football commercials, and "The Ultimate Highlight" on
SportsCenter. Former
Ohio Valley Wrestling performer
Matt Cappotelli used "The Slam" as his entrance theme. "
Diverse City" was featured in the
Veronica Mars episode
The Wrath of Con, as well as
Konami's
Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 4. "Atmosphere" and "Burn For You" were also used on different commercials. The album gave him another Dove Award for Rap/Hip-Hop Album of the Year. A remix version of the album,
Renovating->Diverse City, was released in 2005.
Portable Sounds (2007–2008) McKeehan's third studio album,
Portable Sounds, was released in 2007 and sold 50,645 copies in its first week, debuting at No. 10 on the
Billboard 200, and at No. 1 on the SoundScan Contemporary Christian Overall chart. The album also received a Grammy nomination for
Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album. He won rock/contemporary album of the year for "Portable Sounds" at the 39th annual GMA Dove Awards. The songs "Made to Love" and "I'm For You" both hit No. 1 and were the second and third most played songs on Christian Hit Radio stations in 2007. "Hype Man (truDog '07)" features his son Truett. "Ignition" is being used by
ABC/
ESPN to promote its coverage of
NASCAR, and "Boomin'" has also been used to promote a new crime-drama, ''The Women's Murder Club'', on ABC, as well as others. In September 2007, his song "Feelin' So Fly" appeared in the film
The Game Plan, starring
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. "Ignition" received worldwide exposure when it was used as the
Arizona Cardinals entrance music during the pre-game of
Super Bowl XLIII. He was awarded two Dove Awards for his work on this album, including Artist of the Year. His music video featuring the song "Boomin" was awarded a Dove Award for Short Form Music Video of the Year. Around this time, he wrote his song, "New World" for
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and co-wrote and recorded the song "What We Gonna Do?" for the
VeggieTales film ''
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie''. "Feelin' So Fly" and "I'm for You" appear in
Thrillville: Off the Rails.
Alive and Transported (2008–2009) He released his first live album as a solo artist in 2008.
Alive and Transported was a live recording of the Portable Sounds Tour in Houston, Texas. It included covers of popular DC Talk songs "Jesus Freak" and "In the Light". The album included a DVD of the concert and gained him a
GMA Dove and a Grammy Award.
Tonight (2010–2011) His fourth studio release,
Tonight, was released on February 5, 2010. The album debuted at No. 6 on the
Billboard 200, selling 79,000 units in its first week. The album's first single, "
City on Our Knees", was released on August 14, 2009. The song reached No. 1 on
Billboard's
Hot Christian Songs and No. 1 on both Christian AC and CHR.
Christopher Stevens and Dave Wyatt joined McKeehan in producing the album, as with the production of his 2007 release,
Portable Sounds. Truett, aka TruDog, Toby's oldest son, was once again featured on a song as in the previous albums. The album is a mix of
pop,
rock,
hip-hop,
Latin, and
funk, similar to his album
Portable Sounds. The album charted No. 6 on the
Billboard Top 200 and No. 1 on the Billboard Christian albums chart, selling 79,000 units in its first week. In the same year, he released a DVD,
TobyMac: Moving Pictures Featuring His Entire Work of Music Videos, on November 10, 2010. The title track of
Tonight is featured in the intro of
MLB Network's TV show 30 Clubs 30 Days. In March, he announced the "Hello Tonight" summer 2010 tour with
Chris Tomlin. The song "City on Our Knees" earned him a Dove Award for Pop/Contemporary Song of the Year. The song "Showstopper" was used to promote World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) June 2010 Pay Per View, "Fatal 4-Way", and was used at least once in NCAA Basketball. It was also used as an introduction to Thursday Night Football in 2009–2010. His single "Tonight" was also used as a pregame introduction at home games for the Baltimore Orioles during the 2011 MLB season. The song was also promoted for ESPYS' Best U.S Male Olympian. His "Tonight" was listed best Christian album of 2010 on iTunes and his Christmas single titled "Christmas This Year" (featuring
Leigh Nash) was awarded the holiday song of the week on iTunes. He was nominated for Artist of the Year at the 2011 Dove Awards. Additionally, the songs "Get Back Up" and "City on Our Knees" were recognized for being two of the Top 25 most performed songs on Christian radio over 2010. In 2010, McKeehan performed at Revelation Generation. He also toured with
Skillet and
House of Heroes on the "Awake Tonight Tour". He toured with
Third Day,
Michael W. Smith,
Jason Gray and
Max Lucado on the
World Vision-sponsored "Make a Difference Tour 2010".
Tonight was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album for the
53rd Annual Grammy Awards. His first full-length Christmas album,
Christmas in Diverse City, was released October 4, 2011. It contains songs from each of the Diverse City members as well as TobyMac. Its other guest artists included: Leigh Nash,
Owl City,
Jamie Grace, Victor Oquendo, Superherose, Arch Nemesiz, Tim Rosenau, Toddiefunk, and
Byron "Mr. Talkbox" Chambers. TobyMac released his third remix album, ''Dubbed and Freq'd: A Remix Project'', on March 27, 2012, featuring remixes of songs from his prior two studio albums.
Eye on It (2012–2014) His fifth full-length studio album,
Eye on It, was released August 28, 2012. The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 1, which is a first for a Christian album since 1997, and sold 69,000 copies in its first week. The album fell to No. 8 on the second week with 26,000 sales. The first single, "
Me Without You", was released to iTunes and Amazon MP3 on June 12, 2012, and went to No. 1 on
Billboard's Christian Songs chart on September 1, 2012, becoming the singer's fifth chart-topper. "Family" was used in a promotional advertisement campaign for the show
Blue Bloods. One showing of this advertisement was during the
2013 Super Bowl. "Forgiveness" is a collaboration with Christian rapper
Lecrae. Although not released as a single, "Eye on It" was utilized by the
ACC Network on its telecast of the
2013 ACC men's basketball tournament. The song was also used in several commercials by the
Fox Sports Networks for
NBA and
MLB telecasts. He appears in the 2013 film ''
I'm in Love with a Church Girl''. A remix album, ''Eye'm All Mixed Up
, which features remixes from the album Eye on It'', was released on November 4, 2014.
This Is Not a Test (2015–2018) During his "Worship, Stories, and Songs Tour" in 2014, he performed the first single from his new album, titled "Beyond Me", which was released on January 6, 2015. The single "Beyond Me" also appeared on Hot Shot Debut at No. 34 solely on the strength of radio airplay. His sixth studio album,
This Is Not a Test, (stylized as "***THIS IS NOT A TEST***") was released on August 7, 2015 and debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. The album appeared on Top Christian Albums at No. 1, selling 35,000 copies in its first week. "Backseat Driver" was released as a promotional single from the album on June 9, 2015, which was later followed by "Til The Day I Die" on July 10, 2015, and "Feel It" on July 24, 2015. On November 3, 2017, he released
Light of Christmas, his second compilation of Christmas songs.
The Elements (2018–2021) In January 2018, he released "
I Just Need U", which debuted at No. 1 on the Hot Christian Songs chart, making the song TobyMac's sixth No. 1 single to top the chart. In July 2018, he released "
Everything" as a single. In September 2018, he both announced,
The Elements, and released "Scars" as a single. The album was released on October 12, 2018, and became his fifth album to top the
Christian Albums chart on Billboard. On January 10, 2020, he released a single "21 Years", dedicated to the memory of his son Truett, who died on October 23, 2019. McKeehan released
The Lost Demos on May 8, 2020, an EP of recovered
demos. During the
pandemic, he released "Separate Altogether Acoustic" music videos featuring the Diverse City band, his daughter, Marlee McKeehan, and Gotee Records colleague Michael Cochren.
Life After Death (2022–2024) On February 19, 2021, McKeehan released "
Help Is on the Way (Maybe Midnight)" as a single. On September 17, 2021, McKeehan released "
Promised Land" as a single. On January 7, 2022, he released a new version of "Promised Land" as a collaboration with
Sheryl Crow. On June 2, 2022, he released another single titled "The Goodness" as another collaboration with gospel artist
Blessing Offor. On June 10, 2022, he announced on Instagram his album
Life After Death which was then released on August 19, 2022. This was followed by McKeehan announcing his Hits Deep Tour for 2023, with supporting acts
Crowder,
Cochren & Co.,
Tasha Layton, Jon Reddick, and
Terrian. Gabe Patillo, TobyMac's touring band member and studio collaborator, died on April 12, 2024, from complications with cancer. '''
Heaven on My Mind (2025-Present)''' On June 7, 2024, McKeehan released "Nothin' Sweeter" as a single. On December 6, 2024, McKeehan released "a lil Church (Nobody's Too Lost)". On January 10, 2025, McKeehan released "God Did It". On February 7, 2025, McKeehan released "Can't Stop Me". On April 4, 2025, McKeehan released "
Heaven On My Mind" as a single with the artist
Forrest Frank. On May 30, 2025, McKeehan released "Oh My Soul (Psalm 103)". ==Other work==