BIOGRAPHY

For Disciple, the music and the mission have always been one and the same: fervent faithfulness carried by a blistering hard rock sound. With 18 number one singles including smash hits like “Dear X (You Don’t Own Me),” “After the World,” “Erase” and “Promise to Live,” Disciple’s songs have been imbuing listeners with grace-focused hope for over 30 years.

The veteran Christian rock band was originally formed by high school friends in Maryville, Tennessee in 1992. Just a teenager at the time, founder and frontman Kevin Young was inspired to follow in the footsteps of bands who shaped his own belief — acts like Petra, Stryper and Whitecross, Christian bands who were scandalizing listeners of the time even as secular acts like Pantera, Skid Row and Def Leppard easily ruled the mainstream airwaves.

“The Christian music scene was completely different back then,” Young recalls. “Most of what was played on the radio seemed tame in comparison to the influences of my childhood, particularly punk and hard rock. I wanted to write and sing music that sounded like my culture but that also carried a message and reflected my values.”

The result was Disciple, a name chosen initially as a simple placeholder to represent the band’s core mission to be followers of Jesus Christ in all things. That commitment drove them through early independent records and across the South, playing concerts as a three-piece band. By 1997, their dedication had landed them their first record deal. By 2001, they were releasing their third album and navigating the harrowing challenges of road life as their following grew.

Looking back on the band’s history, Young reflects, “It’s the call and the cost of being a disciple of Jesus: sometimes you’re going to have a lot, and sometimes you’re going to have a little. That doesn’t matter; we’re on a mission. I feel like that has been our life as a band.”

Currently, the band is a collective of musicians who have held the ferocious hard rock sound steady for over 10 years: Young on vocals, Josiah Prince on guitar, Andrew Stanton on guitar and Joey West on drums. The growth of their tightly-knit musical cohesion is evident on their most recent album, Skeleton Psalms, which was produced by guitarist Josiah Prince at his studio The Ranch in Nashville. From scorching riffs to thunderous drum fills to alternately melodic and searing vocals, Disciple is a band intimately familiar with their own toolkit while unafraid to push their own limits. 

Every one of the longstanding members shares a sense of urgent calling that allows them to weather the storms of a changeable music landscape. In Disciple’s eyes, their mission of evangelism and hope eclipse any accolades that the band could earn. But their chronic drivenness prompted by adherence to the Gospel has consistently turned heads — and impacted lives. 

To date, Disciple has recorded 13 studio albums and sold hundreds of thousands of records. Their 2010 catalytic hit “Dear X (You Don’t Own Me)” has been streamed over 22 million times. The band’s music has been featured on ESPN’s NFL Live, WWE, Fox Sports, as well as in commercials for CBS’ CSI: Miami and Criminal Minds. They’ve received two Dove Awards and played thousands of shows worldwide, including a 2023 stint in 40 arenas on Winter Jam Tour. In 2020, the band launched a second musical project as an outlet for their impulse to worship, a band titled Honor & Glory. That band would ultimately secure their first career Grammy nomination for “Firm Foundation (He Won’t).”

But beyond those quantifiable milestones, Disciple’s music has made its deepest mark through resonance with listeners struggling with anxiety, depression, addiction, suicidality and self-harm. Their songs’ message of unconditional love meeting each of us at our most broken has inspired countless stories of lives saved and changed. Most recently, that has been evident through “Promise to Live,” which topped Christian rock radio charts for a staggering 16 weeks in a row.

“We all are in this world together, and are all in recovery together, from the trauma of this world and this life,” Young offers earnestly. “We’re not fighting alone. We’re fighting together. We make this promise to God and to each other: to not give up fighting. To not lose hope. To live for the most precious gift we have, which is life.”

That promise continues to galvanize the band well past the three-decade mark. Even with such storied staying power to their name, Disciple’s Kevin Young is quick to clarify the call that still lies before them.

“I don’t want to celebrate anything about what I’ve done in this life. I want to lay my life down in exchange for a better one that God has for me,” he states.