Jeremy Camp finds solace in his music, easily expressing his feelings. Camp will be at the Denver Coliseum on April 9. For ticket information call 720–865-4220. Photo by Eliza Marie Somers
Anyone who attends a Jeremy Camp concert soon finds out that Camp’s life is an open book. He is quick to share his story about his first wife, Melissa, her struggles with ovarian cancer and her death at age 21, just four months after their marriage.
But in the months after her death, Camp could not fathom telling and ultimately reliving those moments surrounding Melissa’s death, especially in front of an audience.
“I didn’t want to go on stage and praise the Lord,” Camp said. “I was like, ‘Lord I don’t feel like telling about how good you are because right now I hurt. Lord you don’t understand it hurts.’ But I had no where else to turn. I know He is faithful. Then I would get on stage and start sharing and getting it out. And after the shows people would come up to me and thank me for sharing. But it wasn’t me it was the Lord.”
Then Camp quotes the Bible, 2 Corinthians — He comforts us in all our suffering so that we may be able to comfort others in all their suffering. “It led me to share my story,” said Camp, who will be at the Denver Coliseum on April 9 with the Rock & Worship Roadshow ($10 general admission).
In his personal life, Camp has turned the page, but it has not been without some guilt.
Camp met his future wife, Adrienne Liesching, while they were on a summer tour that included nine bands. Adrienne fronted the band, The Benjamin Gate, a hard rockin’ Christian group from South Africa. And as Camp puts it, “We naturally became friends. Her merch table was next to mine and we would chat and hang out. I just thought she was a cool girl.”
As their friendship blossomed, Camp began opening up about Melissa and pouring out his heart. “Then I started having these emotions, and I was feeling guilty,” said Camp, whose father is a minister in Indiana. “It was only one-and-a-half years before that I lost my wife to cancer. I was not looking for a relationship. Then God spoke to my heart and I got His blessing. And it’s been amazing since — an amazing healing process for me. And now we have two beautiful girls. They are my life.”
So what does Camp tell nonbelievers especially after going through his pain and suffering?
“If you didn’t believe then what is your life for?” Camp explained. “If a man gave his life to the Lord then he would have someone to walk through this life with. You see God’s hands in so many situations. Then someone will point to all the bad things that are going on. Well, it’s because we don’t want God in our society. We are pushing God farther and farther away. And we can now see those consequences in our society.”
Camp’s musical influences vary greatly. He grew up in a household that listened to Christian music, while he also delved into rock ‘n’ roll, listening to Led Zeppelin and Pearl Jam.
“My music is very diversified. I’ll have a rock song, then I’ll do a ballad,” Camp said. “I guess it’s just an outgrowth on what I have to say. I guess you could call my music Progressive, pop, rock.”
And the mainstream band he would like to share a stage with is no surprise — Coldplay.
“I listen to their lyrics and they have a sense of something real,” Camp said. “Their music comes from the heart.”
Something Camp knows quite a bit about.