What happened to Jennifer Knapp?

That’s apparently the question that drove at least one visitor here. And it got me thinking – what did happen to her? The last album I remember her releasing was The Collection back in 2004, which (in the 2-disc version) was a mix of hits and unreleased or hard to find b-sides, covers, and demos, and was a permanent fixture in my CD player until it was abandoned for my Zen. Gotee apparently also recently re-released Kansas, remastered and with a couple bonus tracks. To be honest, I hadn’t thought much about it until I saw the search and realized I hadn’t heard anything about her in years now.

Turns out that in 2004, she announced she was going on a sabbatical of sorts, and then rather disappeared off the face of the earth. Google has brought up dozens of totally unsubstantiated rumors, but the one link I could find was referencing a Relevant magazine article from 2004:

In an interview from the January/February 2004 issue of Relevant Magazine, Knapp stated that she was taking a break from music for a while, leaving the future of her career in God’s hands.

“It was definitely time for a break,” she said. “I was touring Lay It Down while recording The Way I Am, then went directly into touring that record. It got to where I was just doing shows to support the record, rather than having a record support the heart of the people I was supposed to be serving. I don’t want to make and tour another record just because that’s what people expect, or because ‘it’s about that time.'”

Knapp gave no indication of when new material will surface. “Truly, no plans and no promises of when,” she said. “At this time there’s really not enough material, and I don’t want to force anything just for the sake of getting a record finished.”

It’s too bad she’s retired from music, as she remains one of my favorite artists, but I can absolutely understand wanting to have a life back after the chaos that surrounds the modern musician’s lifestyle. I hope she’s still making music, even if it’s just for herself, as it would be a shame to think that so much talent could be left untapped.

Edit 10/28/09: For those of you still stumbling here via Google, commenter sami points out that Jen is back!

Edit 4/13/10: For all you stumbling across this post in reaction to the CT article, I’ve posted some new thoughts.

17 thoughts on “What happened to Jennifer Knapp?”

  1. mmm jennifer knapp
    i only remember lay it down and the really popular one before that

    i also remember downloading all her super old stuff in high school because i was in a love affair with her music. it was terrible quality. still. she’s basically amazing.

  2. She definately retired. I’ve heard a lot of things over the last few months. I was wondering where she disappeared to myself. I met her at a concert and got her autograph, literally months before her endless sabbatical.

    I’ve heard rumors. One said she developed throat cancer. That’s unlikely. One rumor, though I don’t want to go spreading things, put her Christian beliefs and… preferences, shall we say, into question. One last one was posted on Wikipedia and then removed. It stated she married British entrepreneur Johnathan Lucci in December 2007, AFTER the birth of her child, and that the family was living happily in the United States. I feel that this is the most credible of the three, but it was removed due to the lack of credible citations, as is customary with Wikipedia. Unless she returns, the world may never know where she went. I hope she comes back. I was never into the Morissette style, but I loved her and her music.

  3. So…

    The Jennifer Knapp that got married was a novelist, and the Christian singer I love. Also, if anyone know where I can find a copy of ‘Wishing Well’ could you let me know. I would give my left lung for it.

  4. Jennifer Knapp is my favorite artist of all time. I love her raw voice and lyrics and honesty in her relationship with Christ
    God uses her music in my life in so many ways.

    cornelia seigneur

  5. Pastor Bob Botsford is on Larry King today, 4/22/2010 (broadcast tomorrow) with Jennifer Knapp. She has just proclaimed herself as gay and they will be discussing what society and the Bible say on the topic. Pray for Pastor Bob and that God will be blessed with the result.

  6. I think it is wrong to be angry with people who claim Jennifer is wrong for what she is doing. The Bible condemns homosexuality…WE did not write the Book. What is wrong is wrong no matter who is doing it. That does not mean we cannot show compassion and mercy toward her. It is dangerous to decieve yourself. And to plaster that kind of testimony all over the world as if it is right or acceptable to God or should be to the church is wrong. We are all responsible for our actions as Christians but when you are famous I think you for better or worse should take your testimony seriously. The WHOLE world is watching. I will stand before God and give account for my actions as a Christian and so will Jennifer. It is not Christianity who is in the wrong here. It is Jennifer. I pray God does remove the scales from her eyes and she sees clearly what she is doing.

  7. Jennifer knapp has stopped music because she has confessed to being a lesbian,&this is not a lie,but the truth,she actually confessed to being a homsexual & I did like her music,but you can not be in that lifestyle & sing about Jesus in the same time.

  8. totally concur with that . I’m making an attempt to discover what running a blog software program to use, and its visibility to yahoo is essential to me. Getting a have any idea tumblr weblog, I tried searching which the Title of the weblog is, AND direct quotes from the blog’s written content. Didn’t appear up in the initially 5 look outcomes pages!

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