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Biography (courtesy of Sparrow Records)

Some people spend years in college trying to determine their destiny. Others spend their whole lifetime searching for that perfect fit. Aaron Spiro's course seemed set from an early age. Like many young boys, he spent his childhood shuttling back and forth between practices and games. He loved playing baseball and basketball, but it was on the soccer field where his God-given talent could really be seen and he took every opportunity to hone his abilities.

"It was the thing I put all my time into," he recalls. "I was on everything from high school teams to club teams to Olympic development teams." College recruiters were watching as well. Aaron thought he had his future all figured out until one fateful soccer match in Canada. A player on the opposing team delivered a rough blow and afterward the cocky athlete asked, "Did I break a leg?" When Spiro assured him he hadn't, the player said, "well I'll get it next time."

"That was a wake up call," Spiro says. "I began to be confronted with my own competitiveness. I started to ask myself, 'What am I doing?' and what was it doing in me as well. I loved being competitive-almost too much."

To curb his competitiveness, Spiro turned his attention to another budding passion where winning wasn't the goal: music. As with soccer, Aaron showed an immediate aptitude that wasn't surprising since he came from an extremely musically gifted family. His mom played piano, her parents were in a choir and her brothers were all musical while his dad's mother had been a member of several professional choirs as well. In addition, his uncle, Mark Spiro, was a successful songwriter and producer in Los Angeles, penning hits like "Mighty Wings," sung by Cheap Trick on the Top Gun soundtrack and songs for artists including Anne Murray, Julian Lennon and Margaret Becker.

As Aaron's interest in music grew, his uncle took him under his wing to help grow his gift. "Every time we got together he would show me how to play and what songs he was writing. He would let me come down to California and we would write together or I'd sit in on a session. That was a big influence." That didn't lessen the blow when Aaron broke the news to his pastor father. "It was hard because my dad had invested so much into me and my soccer. I traveled all over playing which wasn't cheap."

Eventually, his parents got behind his new venture and Spiro developed his skills as a member of the rock band I Am, I Am and then the more acoustic, singer-songwriter duo Spiro & Furlan. Touring in their native Pacific Northwest and playing camps and youth groups, the band's musical endeavors garnered attention, but the timing wasn't right. The partnership amicably ended and Spiro began exploring the more vertical side of songwriting. He eventually moved into a role as worship leader at the church where he grew up and where his father still pastors. In fact, it was an indie disc he recorded at a live, youth-oriented worship service there that made Nashville sit up and take notice.

His mentor, Brett Williams (formerly of In Reach), was recording a worship CD of his own and the Nashville producer he was working with heard Spiro's Step Into the Sun disc and asked to take a copy back to Music City. Within a few weeks the A&R guys came calling.

A record deal was the last thing on Spiro's mind. The 27-year-old was married and a new father and he felt he had found his niche leading worship. But this new opportunity would give Spiro a chance to continue to grow musically and challenge him to fuse his rock past with his worship present to make music that would reflect all aspects of who he is.

Growing up, Spiro had a wide array of musical influences. The Seattle native had a front-row seat for the meteoric rise of bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana and Spiro loved listening to The Beatles, U2 and The Police. He also admits to going through a "rap phase" and immersing himself in the guitar-heavy sounds of '80s rock. Then there was the heady spirituality of local heroes like Poor Old Lu, Pedro the Lion and Aaron Sprinkle's solo stuff.

Working with the legendary Charlie Peacock to produce his debut, Sing, proved to be a real growing experience for Spiro as he was challenged to merge all those influences into the vertical songs he was writing and create something uniquely his own. That included not just focusing on his sound but the words he used to express himself through music.

"We always go back to the language we've grown up with," Spiro says. "I was really challenged to look inside and explore what I was feeling instead of falling back on the familiar vocabulary I learned in Sunday school. Those words are important, but when we use them too much they begin to lose their meaning or power."

The result is a collection of deeply personal, passionate songs with a definitive rock edge and an honesty that gets beyond spiritual clichés. To further flesh out the music, Spiro had some help from new friends. Sarah Masen joins him on "You Are the One" and Peacock's son, Sam Ashworth, also lent his talents while Charlie himself co-wrote several songs and plays on the album as well.

So while his soccer dreams may be forever sidelined, all that training didn't go to waste. Spiro now uses the discipline he learned from sports to strive for excellence in his music, and the concept of teamwork is applied every time he steps foot in the studio or on stage. It's an attitude that's already taking him places. Before Sing even hits store shelves, Spiro's music is connecting with people through his participation on worship compilations including The Wonderful Cross, Discover '02 and Left Behind Worship as well as being a part of the Festival Con Dios tour in the fall of 2002.