ZOEgirl was an American Christian pop girl group formed in 1999. The group comprised Chrissy Conway-Katina, Alisa Childers and Kristin Swinford-Schweain. They were signed to Sparrow Records from 1999 to 2006 and released their debut single "I Believe" in 2000. This song and their self-titled debut album ZOEgirl helped them become Sparrow's fastest selling artist of all time. With All of My Heart, the lead single for Life, was the group's only No. 1 Christian contemporary hit radio (CHR) single and led to the group receiving a GMA Dove Award for New Artist of the Year in 2002. By the end of 2003, over one million albums from ZOEgirl were sold.

As a response to the musical trends of the time, ZOEgirl changed their format from teen pop to pop rock with the release of "You Get Me" in 2003. Released as the lead single for their third album, Different Kind of Free, this was their only No. 1 Christian adult contemporary (AC) single. It also peaked at No. 2 on CHR, making it the second-highest ZOEgirl song on that chart. The group's musical change and the growing digital piracy at the time led to slower sales of ZOEgirl's music. Their highly anticipated fourth and final studio album Room to Breathe earned the No. 1 spot on Billboards Top Heatseekers Album charts. It was ZOEgirl's least successful album in terms of US Christian radio airplay, with only "About You" and "Scream" released as singles and the latter being unsuccessful.

In 2006, ZOEgirl disbanded, and Kristin and Chrissy formed the group Colman Blue with Kelly Trontell, which split up in January 2010.

In 2011, the group reunited for a two-hour interview on The Brian Mason Show, suggesting that they may release a lullaby album in the future.

2000–2002: Pop years and "With All of My Heart"

thumb|right|This graphic, found on early versions of ZOEgirl's website, explains the band name's meaning.

The girl group signed to Sparrow Records but needed a name. Their original name was simply "ZOE", all in capital letters, their favourite from a list of possible names they have made. However, there was already a trademark for this name, so they added the suffix "girl" in minuscule letters to form the name "ZOEgirl."

ZOEgirl's first, self-titled release was released on August 15, 2000. Most of the songs talk about their relationship with God, although two of them are about fleeing a sinful lifestyle and were not released as singles. "I Believe" and "Living For You" both obtained the No. 4 position on the Adult Contemporary (AC) chart, while "Anything Is Possible" obtained the No. 8 position on the contemporary hit radio (CHR) chart. The album itself peaked at position No. 8 on Billboards Top Heatseekers chart and sold over 350 000 copies by the end of 2003. Over 120 000 copies of this album were sold during the first six weeks of its release, and nearly 370 000 copies were sold by the end of 2003. making this the highest charting ZOEgirl album to date. However, its two singles were not as successful as the group's past hits. "About You" peaked at position No. 5 on the CHR charts and at No. 4 on the AC chart. "Scream" peaked at No. 40 on the AC charts and at No. 14 on the CHR charts.

The group's first greatest hits album, With All of My Heart – The Greatest Hits, was released on December 26, 2005. Two new songs were added to the album: "Unchangeable" and "One Day". "Unchangeable" was released as the album's lead single, peaking at No. 20 on CHR and No. 27 on AC. "One Day" was not released as a single.

2006 - Present

In September 2006, by means of their now-defunct ZOEgirl fan club site, the group announced that they would quit writing and recording music as a group so that members could tend to their personal objectives.

  • Chrissy Conway-Katina laid down tracks for the solo album, Beautiful Redemption, which was never released. In 2008, she formed the group, COLMANblue, with Kelli Trontel and Kristin Swinford-Schweain. They recorded and released the song "Hey (Not Worth the Worry)" in 2009.
  • Alisa Childers released a self-titled album on December 1, 2007. She was also in the Christian group named Girard Girls with her sisters and nieces. Formed in late 2009, they released a self-titled album independently under Calvary Chapel Music on April 20, 2011. In 2020, she was featured in the film American Gospel: Christ Crucified and detailed her journey from the Contemporary Christian Music movement to Christian Apologetics and a distinction between progressive and conservative Christianity.
  • Kristin Swinford-Schweain recorded the album Days of Eden in 2008.

The members of ZOEgirl reunited on February 27, 2011 for an interview on The Brian Mason Show on which the group stated they had no specific plans to create additional music together.

Member timeline

<timeline>

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20

PlotArea = left:55 bottom:25 top:0 right:0

Alignbars = justify

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy

Period = from:01/01/1999 till:03/31/2010

TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy

ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:2000 gridcolor:black

ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1999 gridcolor:black

PlotData =

width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from

color:red

bar:Alisa from:start till:09/01/2006

color:green

bar:Chrissy from:start till:09/01/2006

bar:Chrissy from:09/06/2008 till:end

color:blue

bar:Kristin from:start till:09/01/2006

bar:Kristin from:09/06/2008 till:end

color:orange

bar:Kelli from:09/06/2008 till:end

</timeline>

Note: ZOEgirl disbanded in September 2006. September 2008 to March 2010 represents spin-off group COLMANblue.

Discography

  • ZOEgirl (2000)
  • Life (2001)
  • Different Kind of Free (2003)
  • Room to Breathe (2005)

References

  • ThoughtQuotient.com Interview with ZOEgirl (archive)
  • About.com Interview with ZOEgirl
  • 30-CC Interview with ZOEgirl (video)
  • InTheTimes.com Interview with ZOEgirl (video)

<!-- * Faith and Fame Interview with ZOEgirl (video) (taken down due to a copyright claim) --->

  • Brio and Beyond Interview with ZOEgirl (archived)
  • Freak Magazine Interview with ZOEgirl (video)
  • ZOEgirl's Passionate Heart for Missions