As a child Dixon fared more of an athletic type despite being surrounded by music on a daily basis. With encouragement from his parents to take piano lessons from his aunt aged eight, he reluctantly gave in and soon his passion for music would develop and by age 13 he started singing in public. Together with his younger sister Schyler, they formed a Christian rock band called Messenger.
With his passion for music growing stronger by the day, Dixon began writing with his best bud Paul from school as together they improved their songwriting abilities. The piano soon became a haven for Dixon as it soon represented a form of escapism and solace during his reflective moments. In his teenage years he’d become so involved with music that he began leading worship at his church youth group.
In 2012 Dixon appeared on season 11 of the popular talent competition American Idol, accidently. Having previously auditioned for the competition the year before and failing, Dixon accompanied his sister to Idol auditions for moral support. With encouragement from the judges, he auditioned too and both got a golden ticket for the next round of the competition. Dixon made it all the way to the semi-finals performing tracks by Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Fleetwood Mac and Coldplay along the way.
After his shock exit from the competition, Dixon appeared on various talk shows as he prepared to go on the American Idol tour. In 2012 he released his first original song “New Love” via iTunes. The following year Dixon released his debut album “A Messenger” through Sparrow Records. Within the first week of release he had already shifted of 22,000 copies and went into the Billboard charts at number 15. The album featured singles “You Are” and “Love Has Come for Me”. Following the album’s release, Dixon jumped on the Miracle Tour with Josh Wilson supporting Third Day.
In 2014 Dixon released his second album “Anchor” featuring the single “More of You” and the album went straight to number one in the Christian music charts. Taking inspiration from fellow Christian artists Hayley Williams and Chris Daughtry, Dixon continues to evolve his rock sound and bringing it forth to the mainstream.
'Here we go again... another one of those American Idol rejects' might have been your first thought when you heard Colton Dixon was touring, but this is far from the truth. The Tennessee born singer is still only 22 years old and has a remarkable amount of potential to become the best at what he does. After being knocked out of the Talent Show in 2012, he went on to do several live performances on various TV shows and also recorded two albums in as many years, both of which topped the US Christian charts.
Performing at the Citizens Business Bank Arena shortly before the release of his second album 'Anchor', it was clear that this youngster had plenty of energy and determination in him that will eventually make him a very accomplished singer. He opened with the song 'Our Time Is Now', quite an uplifting and inspirational number that was bound to get the energy in the crowd flowing. He also showed how versatile he was with his next song 'Love Has Come For Me', where he slowed down the tempo and began playing the keyboard. The tune was more spiritual than his opener and was more powerful emotionally – almost ballad like.
In a break between two of the performances, Colton said 'Y'all gunna have a lot more fun if you stand up'... which was 100% correct. Although his songs have a continuous moral message, even non-Christians can agree that he is a great performer who makes some very good and catchy songs that you can party all night long to.