Plus One Articles

Here are some articles that I have found printed on Plus ONE over the past year and a half. 

CCM's CD Review on The Promise:

  Plus One's five handsome young men arrive in a world already smitten with boy bands, and a cynic might dismiss them as just another attempt to jump on the teen-phenomenon bandwagon. Ah, but here's the rub: These guys are good. Really good.

  In fact, The Promise's 12 tracks are stamped with the maturity one would expect of a veteran singing group. Give no small credit to a parade of A-list producers and songwriters-starting with Grammy-winner David Foster-for building a memorable debut that will likely eat up the airwaves. One key, naturally, is the quality of their voices. The five-Nate Cole, Jason Perry, Jeremy Mhire, Gabe Combs and Nathan Walters-blend and harmonize exceptionally well, smoothly trading leads on "I Run to You" and "God Is in This Place." And on the ballad "Be," they show enough distinction in style and timbre to offer dynamic contrasts when they hand off lines.

  The songs, mostly radio-friendly pop with hints of R&B, are just as fine. The best is "Written on My Heart," co-written by Eric Foster White, who wrote much of Britney Spears' debut. It's pure pop candy, with a hooky chorus and a driving-with-the-top-down, summer-song vibe. Lyrically, the writers occasionally address the generic "you" rather than naming God, which positions the group for crossover success, but might not satisfy Christians who prefer more direct declarations. But that's a minor note in what is an excellent debut.

The Idea of a Christian Boy Band:

Plant the Seed

  The brainchild of two men—artist manager/modeling agent Mitchell Solarek and Atlantic Records’ Barry Landis—the idea to create a Christian boy band began innocently enough, sparked by Solarek’s tour of duty as car pool driver for his 5-year-old daughter.

  "One morning we were driving to school," recounts Solarek, "and she’s singing a Backstreet Boys’ song, and one of the lines is, ‘Am I sexual? Yeah, yeah.’ It just rocked me."

  Solarek resolved to find Christian CDs along the lines of what was in heavy rotation on pop radio. "The music she wanted was not there," he says. "Barry had already been talking about wanting more youth-oriented acts so it wasn’t rocket science. I remember just calling him and saying, ‘OK, I’m on board. This is what we’ve got to do.’"

  In June 1999, 15 young men came to San Francisco for official auditions with Solarek, Landis, vocal arranger/songwriter Phil Sillas, a photographer and a choreographer. Along with spiritual depth, musical talent and dancing ability, Solarek hoped to test the social and emotional interaction of those who auditioned, trying to find guys who "…can be guys you can hang with, can be friends and can like each other."

  At the conclusion of the San Francisco tryout, three permanent members emerged: the now 19-year-old Sacramento native Nate Cole; 20-year-old Gabe Combs from Pittsburgh, Calif.; and 20-year-old Jeremy Mhire from Springfield, Missouri. The oldest member, 22-year-old Lakeland, Fla., native Nathan Walters, auditioned for Landis in Nashville, where he was working as a background vocalist for Janet Paschal. The final member, Jason Perry, 18, joined the group in early September after Cole’s second cousin, a traveling evangelist, heard Perry sing at his church in Madison, Ind., and recommended him to Solarek.

  Mhire says, "The first time all five of us were together… we just immediately started talking about where we were spiritually, and if we were going to do this as a group, where we would want to take it."

  Says Cole, "When you feel like God’s calling you to something, you don’t think about all the little details."

  But these five men possess something special that goes beyond commitment—an innate connectedness. Solarek recalls one of the group’s first performances last fall when Plus One was unexpectedly asked to lead a time of praise & worship. "I’m sitting back by the sound guy when they go into the praise & worship time. It was like they had been doing this for 10 years or something. They just did it."

  Concert promoter Nick Ruggiero booked Plus One’s first ticketed performance, an event for Canyon Ridge Christian Church in Las Vegas that occurred over two weeks before the band’s debut CD, The Promise, hit stores. "It was absolutely amazing!" Ruggiero notes of the show, which sold-out a 1,250-seat auditorium.

  "I have been promoting concerts for over 15 years, and I have done concerts with everyone from Stryper to dc Talk. But I have never seen an audience respond to an artist or group the way this one did to Plus One."

Men on a Mission

  Charming and witty, it’s not a huge surprise the members of Plus One can easily woo a crowd. And they’ve certainly developed an internal rapport after living together in a small apartment for the past 10 months. What is more unusual to find in the music business, even the Christian music business, is an entire team’s dedication to tangible service opportunities.

  "I wanted them to be very relevant any place they went," says Solarek. "My goal was that by the time they left San Francisco, they could sit down and have coffee with anybody."

  To teach the members of Plus One about the real world, Solarek thought it was important to first break their hearts, to show his young protégés first hand that life for many of the people they would be singing to is far from easy.

  "We put them on a plane to Selma, Ala.," says Solarek of the group’s involvement last fall on a Habitat for Humanity build. "These guys worked an entire week. It was over 100 degrees, and they were putting the roofs on all these houses side by side with the people who were moving into them."

  Says Cole, "The neatest thing was when it was all over, there was a dedication for the home, and the family came. All the people that built the house were there. It was a real emotional time."

  In addition to their work with Habitat, the members of Plus One kept a busy schedule during the three months they lived in San Francisco. From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, they’d train their voices and practice choreography. And from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. each night, they volunteered at a local shelter for underprivileged families.

The Plan of The Promise

  Behind the music, beyond the mission efforts, Plus One is intent on building a platform to communicate a message. Even the group’s name indicates its commitment to their faith, with "Plus One" resulting from a conversation of how they were "five plus one," the one being God.

  "It is so amazing to look through the lyrics of our album, look at our name and see the continuity," says Mhire. "It all goes along the lines of no matter what, Christ is there through thick or thin."

  Says Landis, "Almost every song—‘I Will Rescue You,’ ‘Run to You,’ ‘I Will Be There,’ ‘My Friend’—is about the fact that one of kids’ biggest problems today is loneliness. The guys are talking about how you don’t have to be alone. God is there for you."

  But for that message to be heard in a broader culture, Plus One will first have to win its audience’s respect. The talent is there—just ask concert attendees. The money is there—witness the unbelievable half million dollar budget spent on making The Promise. The exposure is there—visit the group’s Web site to see a full summer performance itinerary followed by a fall tour with Jaci Velasquez. And the dream team is in place—from Solarek and Landis to big gun general market producers like Rodney Jerkins (Backstreet Boys, Michael Jackson) and David Foster (Celine Dion, Whitney Houston), the latter of which co-signed the group to his 143 Records. But will Jeremy, Nate, Jason, Nathan and Gabe stand the test, staying true to their beliefs in light of the media attention, the scores of fawning young women and the tempting allure of fame?

  "This has happened so fast," says Walters. "In some way it hasn’t really hit us. So I wonder a year from now, are we really going to be keeping our heads on straight?"

  The fact that these men are already asking that question is a good sign. And while they readily admit to not knowing the answer, they believe they know the way to the answer.

"Come success or failure," says Mhire, "as long as we stay focused on God, then that’s really all that matters."

Chart Toppers!!

  Following in the footsteps of ‘NSync, Backstreet Boys and other current teen music sensations, new boy band Plus One might appear to be about five minutes late to the popularity party. But, according to the group’s chart-topping position at radio and in Christian bookstores this week, Plus One’s Nate Cole, Gabe Combs, Nathan Walters, Jeremy Mhire and Jason Perry have arrived just in the nick of time.

  After forming last summer, Plus One’s five members have spent the past 10 months perfecting their voices, practicing their dance steps and preparing for their new career. It all paid off May 30 when the band members, making a promotional appearance at a mall in Seattle, discovered their debut CD, The Promise, sold more records its first week than any other artist, landing them at No. 1 on the Christian music sales chart above such names as Point of Grace and Steven Curtis Chapman.

  "We were running down the hall, and my heart was just beating in my chest," says Mhire, reflecting on the news that over 19,000 people had purchased The Promise. "It was an emotional moment, but at the same time we just stopped and grabbed each other and prayed. I don’t know if it’s hit us yet. Everything we’ve done this past year has led up to this week, and now here it is and it’s amazing."

  The group’s first radio single, "Written on My Heart," also rises to No. 1 on Christian adult contemporary radio on this week’s charts. Though no one can really explain such instant success, the members of Plus One are more concerned about keeping their heads on straight in the midst of it.

  "It’s exciting to know how much God is doing in such a short time," says Cole. "It’s another confirmation that we’re in God’s will. Hopefully, we’ll continue to not take that for granted."

  Maintaining that focus won’t be easy, though. The men are already Christian music’s latest sex symbols, with excitable teen girls doing what excitable teen girls do—screaming their adoration and begging for tokens of love, even group members’ water bottles. But this fivesome is taking it in stride and praying its message will outlast the infatuation.

  "Girls really respect and desire Godly qualities in guys," says Cole. "Even girls that aren’t Christians will think that’s a neat thing. Hopefully, after a while we’ll start influencing them."

  At the same time the Plus One guys want to be careful about who—or what—they allow to influence them.

  Mhire says, "Every time we have an opportunity to sing or a chance to minister or do an interview or whatever… [I want to] not do it so that the audience or whoever is listening is pleased, but that I please God because this is what He’s blessed us with."

That Thing They Do:

  Remember the scene from That Thing You Do when fictional band The Wonders first hears their song on the radio? It was pandemonium as the guys ran around screaming, "We’re on the radio! We’re on the radio!" Well, diners at the Nashville Cooker were treated to a similar scene recently when the members of the new group Plus One first heard their voices carried across the airwaves. "We heard our song had been on the Battle of the Bands on [Nashville Christian radio station] WAY-FM and it won, like, four nights in a row, but we never got to hear it because we were in dance rehearsal," explained Plus One member Nate Cole during a recent visit to the CCM offices. "Then one night we got a late break for dinner and we were eating at The Cooker. We got done eating and I was like, 'we should go out to the car. I bet our song’s gonna be on soon.' So we ran out to the car and [Plus One member] Gabe [Combs] put the key in the ignition and right when he turned it on it’s like, 'Your love is written on…' and we were like, 'That’s it!' So we freaked out," Cole adds. But what exactly does he mean by "freaked out?" Well, according to another Plus Oner, Jason Perry, "Nate jumped on top of the car —on the roof of the car!—and he was going, 'Our song’s on the radio! Our song’s on the radio!' Yelling to people in the parking lot." So was the owner of the car equally excited or did jumping on the roof of the car cause a little friction between Cole and the group member in possession of said auto’s pink slip? "Nah," Cole says dismissively, then pauses before adding, "it was a rental." Plus One's debut disc, The Promise, hit stores May 23rd.