Biography
4 Runner began in 1993, when lead singer Craig Morris (who had previously worked with Ronnie McDowell and Marie Osmond) met Billy Crittenden in Nashville, Tennessee while both singers were working as songwriters. Later, Jim Chapman (the brother-in-law of contemporary Christian music artist Steven Curtis Chapman) and Lee Hilliard joined as well, forming the group. The group then toured throughout the 1990s with Kenny Rogers. In 1994, Diamond Rio had a Top 5 country hit with "Love a Little Stronger", which Billy Crittenden co-wrote.
4 Runner was signed a record deal with Polydor Records' Nashville division in 1995. The same year, their debut album was released, with the single "Cain's Blood" (which was co-written by country-pop artist Michael Johnson and former Poco member Jack Sundrud) serving as lead-off single. The single reached a peak of 26 on the Billboard country music charts and 14 on the RPM country charts in Canada. While the album's other three singles failed to make Top 40 on the country charts in the U.S., the second single ("A Heart with 4 Wheel Drive") was also a Top 20 hit in Canada, and the album sold more than 200,000 copies in the United States.
Due to a restructuring of Polydor, 4 Runner was transferred to A&M Records for its second album, One for the Ages. Although its lead off single "That Was Him (This Is Now)" entered the country charts, the album itself was not released due to the closure of Polydor/A&M's Nashville unit in 1996 (the parent of both labels at the time, PolyGram, decided to consolidate all Nashville operations under the Mercury Records Nashville name). 4 Runner soon disbanded, and Chapman returned to working as an art teacher.
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