Jennifer Lynn Knapp (born April 12, 1974) is an American-Australian folk rock and contemporary Christian music singer-songwriter, author, and LGBTQ advocate. She is best known for her first single "Undo Me" from her Gold-certified debut studio album, Kansas (1998), and the song "A Little More" from her Grammy Award-nominated album, Lay It Down (2000). The Way I Am (2001) was also nominated for a Grammy. In total, the three albums have sold approximately 1 million copies. with her twin sister Lori. Knapp has called her childhood "difficult" and "abusive" due in part to her parents' acrimonious divorce and her father's remarriage.

As a teenager, she was a classical trumpet player. Knapp began selling her two independent albums at shows. Her second album, Wishing Well, attracted the attention of Christian producer TobyMac, who signed her to Gotee Records. Knapp won 1999 Dove Awards for New Artist of the Year and Rock Song of the Year for "Undo Me". She also contributed vocals to Audio Adrenaline's cover of "It Is Well with My Soul", and an early studio version of “A Little More” from Lay It Down was featured on Sparrow Records' Listen Louder (1999). Knapp toured the US, singing primarily in churches but also performing at festivals. At the 1999 Lilith Fair, she joined the Indigo Girls and Sarah McLachlan on stage to sing “Closer To Fine”, a performance she has referred to as her favorite concert experience. She was motivated by a desire to mentor Christian musicians as well as to ensure she would have a job after her music career. Alabaster's clients included Relient K, The O.C. Supertones, and Katy Hudson (later known as Katy Perry). That year she headlined a national "Christian heavyweight" tour with Third Day, who observed that Knapp helped attract a larger and broader audience for their concerts. In several interviews, Knapp spoke about the possibility of expanding outside of the Christian music market, saying "I want to reach as many people as possible". and garnered a nomination for Best Rock Gospel Album in the 2000 Grammy Awards. Additionally, the Los Angeles Times called her "a rising star in Christian music". Around this time, her songs were featured on several episodes of the television drama Felicity.

Knapp's next album, The Way I Am (2001), was inspired by the crucifixion and Jesus Christ's incarnation. The album was recorded while Knapp was on tour while Crosswalk.com argued that the album was too much of a departure from Knapp's earlier style. The Way I Am reached #10 on the Christian music charts and #130 on the Billboard 200; In 2002, Knapp toured with Jars of Clay and Shaun Groves on The Eleventh Hour Tour.

Together, Knapp's first three studio albums have sold more than 1 million copies. and its scrutiny of her faith and behavior. She faced burnout due to her hectic schedule that included touring 250 days a year and recording two albums in two years. Additionally, she realized she was interested in pursuing a relationship with her road manager, Karen. She later stated: "I had some difficult decisions to make and what that meant for my life and deciding to invest in a same-sex relationship". eventually moving to Australia. while the second disc contains demos and contributions to other artists' albums and compilations. Three years later, Gotee Records issued the album Jennifer Knapp Live, which features live recordings from four shows in The Back 40 Tour. Her lead guitarist at the time, Mark Lee Townsend, had originally recorded the tracks as a tour memento but lost the tapes. After he rediscovered them, they were compiled into Knapp's first live album with no additional retouching in studio. In February 2008, Gotee Records re-issued a 10th anniversary edition of Kansas with re-mastered and additional tracks, including "Jesus Loves Me (Wishing Well version)" and other tracks from her 2006 live album.

2009-2010: Return to Music and Coming Out

In August 2009, Knapp's website was updated with a new design, new management, and a concert date. Her management confirmed to Patrol Magazine that she was working on new material. Her first concert after hiatus was on September 24 with Phillip LaRue at the Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles, California. In February 2010, Knapp announced that her new album, Letting Go, would be released on May 11 and supported by a spring 2010 tour with Derek Webb and summer appearances on the revived Lilith Fair tour.

In interviews with Christianity Today, Reuters, and The Advocate that were simultaneously published on April 13, 2010, Knapp announced that she is gay and has been in a relationship with a woman since 2002. Additionally, she said that Letting Go would not be a Christian album and predicted that her coming out would alienate many of her Christian fans. Knapp defended her identity as a gay Christian to Botsford.

Letting Go reached positions on multiple charts, including #3 on US Folk Albums and #73 on Billboard 200. "new batch of gorgeous, self-revelatory songwriting", and "a country/pop/indie journey through Knapp's recent life". Others mentioned "an engaging, wounded swagger and a radio-ready sheen" and "astonishing straightforwardness and spirituality".

2011-Present

In 2011, Knapp performed at the first annual Wild Goose Festival, a music and arts festival designed for a liberal Christian audience. Other performers and speakers included Derek Webb, Sarah Masen, and Brian McLaren. Since then, Knapp has performed regularly at the festival. The following summer, Knapp collaborated with Margaret Becker on The Hymns of Christmas. It was recorded on a budget with “one mic and one computer" and released later that year. They toured the US together in a van, performing 14 acoustic shows in support of the album release.

In early 2014, Knapp began recording a new album in Nashville with producer Jacob Lawson. The album, Set Me Free, was released on October 14, 2014, on Righteous Babe Records. Like Letting Go (2010), the album was not marketed to the Christian music industry. Knapp referred to the album as "my deepest look at love yet" and said that the musical style was less folk rock than she had originally expected.

As Knapp had predicted, her sexual orientation reduced her music's popularity among her Christian fanbase. However, by 2012, she was regularly appearing in front of Christian audiences again, as part of Inside Out Faith, her project of performing music and speaking about her faith and LGBTQ issues. In 2022, Knapp estimated that her fanbase was a mixture of longtime fans of her Christian music and newer fans of her non-Christian music and LGBTQ advocacy work.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Kansas, Knapp re-recorded the album, releasing Kansas 25 in May 2024. The album was funded via a Kickstarter campaign.

Music Style

Knapp's music has frequently been referred to as rock, She has been compared to Melissa Etheridge, Her early music included spiritual themes, especially of sin and redemption,

After announcing her return to music, Knapp publicly came out as gay in 2010. However, Knapp has also stated that the reactions to her coming out have been unexpectedly positive and that she has received significant support.

In 2018, Knapp completed a Master of Theological Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School.

LGBTQ Advocacy and Writing

Knapp is one of the first and one of the most well-known Christian music artists to come out as gay. When Knapp first came out in 2010, she stated: "I'm in no way capable of leading a charge for some kind of activist movement" and "I'm not at all interested in personally being the one who is advocating." However, by 2014, she was called a "Christian LGBT advocate" for people trying to reconcile their religious beliefs with their sexual orientation.

Knapp's memoir, Facing the Music: My Story, was published by Howard Books / Simon & Schuster on October 7, 2014. The book discusses her career and her experiences as a Christian and a lesbian. Howard's VP and Publisher, Jonathan Merkh, stated that he hoped the book would help readers "understand where someone may be coming from as they open up about their sexuality and their faith." In 2019, The Tennessean published an opinion column by Knapp and Inside Out Faith co-chair Nancy VanReece critiquing the Contemporary Christian Music industry for excluding "faith rebels" who "are queer, cuss, drink and have sex". She has also contributed articles on LGBTQ topics to HuffPost.

Discography

Albums

  • 1994: Circle Back
  • 1996: Wishing Well
  • 1998: Kansas
  • 2000: Lay It Down
  • 2001: The Way I Am
  • 2006: Jennifer Knapp Live
  • 2010: Evolving EP - Six tracks, five of which were later released on Letting Go
  • 2010: Letting Go
  • 2012: The Hymns of Christmas (with Margaret Becker)
  • 2014: Set Me Free
  • 2017: Love Comes Back Around
  • 2024: Kansas 25
  • 2026: Supplicant

Compilations

  • 1999: Heaven & Earth: A Tapestry of Worship
  • 2002: City on a Hill: Sing Alleluia
  • 2003: The Collection
  • 2004: 8 Great Hits

Singles

  • 1997: "Undo Me" – No. 1 CHR, No. 4 Rock
  • 1998: "Romans" – No. 1 CHR
  • 1999: "A Little More"
  • 2001: "Breathe on Me"

Charts

{|class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Album

! Year

! Chart

! Peak<br />position

|-

| rowspan="2" | Kansas

| rowspan="2" | 1998

|-

|-

| rowspan="2" | Lay It Down

| rowspan="2" | 2000

|-

|-

| rowspan="2" | The Way I Am

| rowspan="2" | 2001

|-

|-

| rowspan="1" | The Collection

| rowspan="1" | 2004

|-

| rowspan="5" | Letting Go

| rowspan="5" | 2010

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

| rowspan="1" | Love Comes Back Around

| rowspan="1" | 2017

|-

|}

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Award

!Year

!Work

!Category

!Result

!Ref

|-

| rowspan="4" |Dove Awards

|1999

|Herself

|New Artist of the Year

|Won

|