7up w/ Peter Furler
The Gospel Guru caught up with multi-Grammy nominated and Dove Award winning artist Peter Furler. Peter has driven the sales of five RIAA Certified Gold records, sold over seven million albums, and has had 25 No. 1 one songs.
After ending his long tenure in ’09 as the lead singer of Newsboys, Peter Furler has returned to music. Peter has recently released his solo debut “On Fire”, which debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Christian Album Chart. Now sit back, relax, and get a bit of 7up with Peter Furler.
For more information about Peter Furler, visit him at www.PeterFurler.com
1. Describe Peter Furler in three words. I’m content, thankful, and blessed.
2. Why do you feel that you are necessary for Christian music? I don’t!
3. What was your inspiration for your debut release “On Fire”? Just the love of making music, and creating something out of nothing. Sitting down with a guitar and writing a song; hearing it for the first time in your heard then to hear it on the string and your lips. I love Recording it and looking back, and realizing if I hadn’t sat down that day then I might not have written that song. So I would have to say just the joy of creating music was my inspiration.
4. After such a successful run with Newsboys, how difficult was it to leave? It was very peaceful, and amicable. It was done right, there’s not a big story there. We took Mike Tait on the road, who later replaced me. He watched maybe 25 or 30 odd shows, and kinda caught the vision and we made the switch. It was all good; Mike took the bat and ran for it. The most difficult part was after a while it became clear that the boys needed to walk on their own two feet. That kinda left me wondering what I was gonna do, but that wasn’t really difficult I enjoyed that process.
5. What artists/producers would you like to collaborate with in the future? There’s a producer named Daniel Lenwaure, I would like to work with him. A guy out of New Orleans named Alan Tucson, I like him I’d like to do something with him. I always enjoy working with Phil Joel we’ve done stuff though the years. So, yeah there’s a ton of people.
6. Who do you look up to in the industry, and why? I’ve always liked the guys from U2; I think they’ve been a good example in a lot of ways especially creatively. Mylon LeFevre, my father in law. I look up to him the way he’s been through the ups and downs of the industry. Anyone that’s gone before me. Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, you know people that have stuck with it through the good and bad.
7. As a Christian artist, how do you define success? It’s in the heart; success is how free you are in the heart. Fame and money is something that people can get, and later find out its not what they wanted. Success is really in God knowing you and you knowing God.
