|
After the huge
success of the Dove Award-winning Song of the Year,
Redeemer, singer-songwriter Nicole C. Mullen has
become a star on the rise, but she probably doesn't consider
herself to be that.
She's a mother, a wife, and an artist, but star? That's not
really her thing. She loves people. She wants to hear what they
have to say. She loves to dance and teach kids how to dance.
And she loves Jesus, and wants to share that love with others.
Nicole C. Mullen found her faith in Jesus at an early age.
"I fell to my knees and I made up the best prayer an 8-year-old
could make up. God took me seriously," said Mullen, about her
youthful commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of her
life.
"He changed me, and He's been using me ever since. I
remember getting off of my knees and typing on a little
typewriter, saying, 'As of this night I will never be the same.
Jesus Christ has come into my heart. He's made me clean and
new.'"
Mullen's new contemporary Christian CD is called Talk
About It, (Word) and it's a testament to how God can use
the ordinary to do extraordinary things. The singer-songwriter
knows that God has been a great God to her since she "called on
Jesus" at an early age.
"And I have not been perfect ever since, but Jesus Christ
has," she said. "I have been faithless at times, but He has
been faithful. I have done my own thing, but He's been steady
as a rock. He's never left me or forsaken me. Jesus Christ took
an ordinary girl and did an extraordinary thing through her. If
He can do it with me, He can definitely do it with you."
After growing up, Nicole went away to Bible school at
Christ for the Nations for a couple of years and then traveled
with their singing group. Later, she lived in Dallas for a
while, then went to Nashville, and started singing background
for her husband, producer David Mullen.
"He's a songwriter/producer now," said Mullen, about her
husband. "He wrote the Larryboy theme song for
Veggietales, which just brought it's live show to the Fox
Theatre.
He made me sing it. We do a lot of stuff together in
the studios. He is working on the new Veggietales movie
about Jonah and the Whale. My husband is one of the brainchilds
behind the music. He produced the album I had on Word and the
new one."
Nicole was a back-up singer for years before stepping into
the spotlight of center stage.
"Amy Grant had me out (on tour) for a couple of
years. I went on tour with the Newsboys - I was a
Newsgirl for a couple years. From there I went on tour with
Michael W. Smith and different people," she said. About
Smith, she added that he's a "wonderful guy, great Christian,
he loves the Lord, and he's a man of faith and a man of honor."
Mullen's always been a singer-songwriter, but only recently
did she start to receive notice from the Christian music world.
Her song, On My Knees, was a big hit for singer Jaci
Velasquez. It won many awards, as did Redeemer,
which helped her sell hundreds of thousands of copies of her
self-titled debut CD. Nicole was the first female in over a
decade to win the Dove Award for Songwriter of the Year because
of Redeemer.
So where does she come up with such amazing songs?
"Sometimes they come to me while I'm driving," said Mullen.
"I was raised in the city, but now I live out in the country on
40 acres and we have horses and dogs and cats and bugs and bugs
and bugs. I live about an hour outside of Nashville, and on the
way home a lot of ideas will come, depending on my train of
thought for that day or a certain passage of Scripture may
strike me and spark a song."
Elisa Elder, vice president and general manager of
Word Records, said Mullen's "musical communication is
energetic, artful, clear, and well-crafted, as is her ministry
to young people. We are seeing lives changed wherever Nicole
goes. What a bright light."
With Talk About It, there are several songs that
further illuminate her talent at writing well-written songs,
like the first radio single, Call On Jesus, which is in the
same vein as Redeemer. Will she win Songwriter of the Year
again? Probably. God continues to use this ordinary woman to
produce extraordinary things.
Nicole is a songwriter with a mission.
"I love writing about reality from a Christian's
point-of-view. I believe that we as believers are called to
make an impact on our culture. We are compelled to do that,"
she said. "We as believers are called to give light to the
world and we can't give light by hiding. We've got to let those
around us know we are believers in Jesus Christ, so I do my
best to do that in my songs.
Just The Facts
Full Name:
Aileen Nicole "Bubbles" Coleman Mullen
First song
Published
(& Age Written):
"Amazing to Me" (age 14)
Favorite
Sports Team:
Tennessee Titans
What have you
read lately?
dc Talks' Jesus Freaks
Favorite Bible
Verse: Psalm 89:1
Family Facts:
My husband, David, a son and a daughter
Song do you
wish you wrote:
"And I Will Always Love You"
Hobbies:
horseback riding, good movies, hanging out with the youth
If you weren't
an artist,
what would you be?
Probably have more kids, run a horse farm for the kids and
teach a dance class, all in the same week
What is God
teaching you now?
Just to trust Him, like I do with my manager, who will call me
and say "You need to be here at this time." I don't know what
state or what city, but I just do it.
If you could
meet anyone, who would it be?
Esther.
Favorite Board
Game: Candyland
Favorite Soda:
Sprite
What was the
first instrument you learned to play?
Guitar, three years ago.
Favorite
Place: Home
What do you
hope to be doing in ten years?
Singing. I hope that by then to have influenced lots of
teenagers, to mentor to them, to be a big sister and to have
told them about Christ.
Favorite
comfort/pig out food: Chocolate, girl!!!
Favorite
Cartoon:
The VeggieTales series.
Must See TV:
Law and Order
Most cherished
possession:
My Bible.
Dream Car:
Forget the dream car; give me a Lear jet!
If you could
be any kind of tree,
what would you be?
Pecan
In your humble
opinion, what is the best album ever?
Andrae Crouch's "Mercy"
What are you
listening to right now?
Andrae Crouch's Mercy, Aretha Franklin's
30 Greatest Hits
What event
from the last few years still influences you today?
My grandmother's funeral.
First question
you will ask God when you get to Heaven?
I ask Him this a lot.
What is it of my family that you have taken notice of me? Why
did you choose to love me?
Chicken or
Steak?
Grilled chicken. |
