Biography


CHILDHOOD

 

Born in Atlanta Georgia, raised in Central and East Africa, Cameron Cruce spent much of his early childhood bouncing from continent to continent, soaking in a wide influence of music, language and culture. By the time he was eighteen, he was native to fifteen different countries, fluent in three languages and understood first hand the harsh reality of living face to face with the third world.  But it was his unveiling passion for music that would soon take center stage in his life. At the age of twelve his family moved to Congo where he first began teaching himself to play the piano, writing and producing his very first music.  He quickly discovered the power of pouring out his heart into song and within a year found himself recording his first album from the comfort of his bedroom. Making his own tapes with a tape recorder and a keyboard, then designing the covers by hand, he began selling his first music at school and on the dusty streets of Congo and Rwanda.


But his life would soon take an abrupt and devastating turn. In April of 1994, the country of Rwanda would break out into one of the worst genocides in history, leaving over a million dead in its wake.  Cruce and his family found themselves on the front lines… a broken road of burning cars and mangled corpses the only path between them and safety. With nothing but a Bible in their hands and a prayer in their hearts the family pushed through the chaos, escaping with their lives under a hail of gunfire. Slipping through roadblocks of machete wielding mobs and back roads through dark mountains, the family finally made it safely into the country of Burundi, and began building a new life for themselves in Kenya East Africa.  But the images and memories from Rwanda would forever make a lasting imprint on the life and music of Cruce... and in time, music itself would become the only outlet to save him from the silent hurt that was slowly beginning to swell inside.

 

 

EARLY LIFE


At the age of sixteen his family returned to the States, and for the first time in his life Cruce felt lost and out of place. The images of death that tore at his mind were a burden no one could share, and he slowly found himself pulling further and further away from the world around him. His religious upbringing faded into the background as he slipped into a vicious downward spiral of drugs, gangs and violence. Until eventually he found himself homeless and strung out on the Southside of Atlanta. It was there, on the roach ridden floors of a filthy crack-house he began writing what would become his first album; A cry from the deepest part of his soul, at the darkest place in his life, to the God that had once delivered him from bloodshed of his childhood. With each song he climbed a little closer back towards redemption. 

 

By the age of 20 he was married with his first child, working full-time as a maintenance man, learning to navigate the balance between his reality and his dreams. He spent his days walking several miles to and from work for a job he hated, and his nights making music until he couldn't hold his eyes open. Within a few years he was performing live, but even local gigs were a roll of the dice. Being on call 24 hours a day was a nightmare, and most nights he found himself having to leave the venue to unclog a toilet before even hitting the stage.

 

MUSIC CAREER



It wasn't until 2005 that a little light finally began to flicker at the end of the tunnel. After several years of scraping together what little he had, buying one piece of equipment at a time, learning it then implementing it, he slowly dialed in his craft. From graphic design and music production, to audio engineering and video editing, teaching himself whatever skills he needed to create the something monumental from nothing, and finally give his voice to the world. “My Life’s Prayer” . A dark, painful and brutally honest picture of all the struggle it took to get to that point, My Life's Prayer was a compilation of songs stretching all the way back to his teenage years.

 

The controversial double disc debut took the southern underground by storm. With 28 songs, two 32 page booklets, hidden tracks and hidden messages, his no holds barred delivery and powerful visual presentation set his work apart from others fighting to dominate the underground scene. Slowly his audience began to grow, sealing his unique and fluid signature sound. Mixing fast-fire Southern Hip-Hop with smooth Rock vocals and a touch of Soul, he began to set a new standard for cross-genre music. But the road forward was rough. He had worked so hard for so long to complete this project, and now that it was done he had no idea what to do with it. So he hit the pavement right where he was at with some of the skills he had learned along the way.

 

VIDEO CAREER

 

In 2006 he was hired on as co-producer, editor and musical mind behind the shocking underground film “Crackheads Gone Wild”. A dark, guerrilla-style documentary about the terrifying underworld of crack cocaine in Atlanta Georgia. The film received national media attention from CNN, MSNBC and Fox News and his song "Cocaine", written for the film's soundtrack, landed on VH1's "The T.O. Show". With video editing quickly becoming the fuel behind his fire, he dove full force into the world of film, editing anything he could get his hands on, from projects with Outkast's Dungeon Family to Colt Ford's first music video.

 

2007 was the year everything changed. After seven years of trying to juggle family, bad habits, music and faith he finally reached his breaking point. In a sudden, sober moment, as clear as the voice of his own children, he felt the voice of God speaking to his heart, and knew he had to change. To somehow start shedding the sin in his life and start walking whatever road God would lay in front of him. Right then and there, taking hold again to an old promise he had made on December 12th 1985 at the age of five, he gave his life back to Jesus Christ and changed his name to Crucifix. A daily reminder that the man he once was would return to claim him if he failed to get up each morning put that man to death. So he began a new journey.

 

Then suddenly his newfound faith began to take a different and unexpected path forward. He started a Bible study in his living room, inviting the people he knew - people like him. Broken. Drug addicts, drug dealers, strippers, homeless and church folk alike all gathered under his roof as he began teaching the Bible. Week after week, until his small three bedroom apartment couldn't hold any more people. Seeking space in a local Baptist church, Cruce and his band of misfits lined the front rows, Sunday after Sunday. Smiles on their faces, tears in their eyes and hands lifted up... and this crazy group of broken people slowly discovered freedom from their chains, together, under the shadow of the Almighty, and it was beautiful.

 

Then, as if his new journey of faith couldn't take any stranger turn, it did. Leading the music in that church each Sunday was a man by the name of Mark Hall, from the multi-platinum, Grammy, Dove and American Music Award winning Christian band Casting Crowns, and in 2009 Cruce found his life story published in the book “Your Own Jesus” released with their album "The Alter and The Door". By 2010 his story was international, as “Your Own Jesus” was translated into its second language for release in Finland. As his faith grew so did his personal conviction towards the content in his own music, he couldn't deny the urge that he needed to clean it up, and quickly found himself back in the studio re-recording his follow-up album.

 

In July 2010 he released “Cruce Signati”, including classics like Fly Away, Cocaine, The Dreamer, and featuring Southern HipHop legends Sean P of Youngbloodz, Goodie Mob and members of Outkast's Dungeon Family. But it was his first single and music video, "Down 2 Die" (Feat. Sean P) that would rattle Atlanta and the Southeast. quickly became an underground anthem in the 1%er biker community, hitting radio for the first time and Crucifix began his first tours throughout the southeast. 


In 2012 Crucifix took the job as Creative Director of Average Joes Entertainment in Nashville. Began featuring on albums such as The Lacs "190 Proof" and Bubba Sparxxx "Pain Management".  In January of 2013 Crucifix hit MTV for the first time with the visually stunning music video "Splinter", then went on to release his first full length film "Road To Chernobyl".  A reality style documentary following him and three friends across the globe and into the radioactive Dead Zone of Chernobyl to shoot the music video "Chernobyl".  In September of 2013 he moved to Denver Colorado, forming his own record label Cruce Signatiindependently releasing his third full length album "Acid Reign". Produced by the Multi-Platinum Phivestarr Productions, featuring Bubba Sparxxx, Nappy Roots, Sean P of Youngbloodz and Big Rube of the Dungeon Family.  


In an effort to top his cinematic work on "Splinter" he followed up with the music video for "The Dreamer", which remains one of his most popular songs to date. Going into 2014, Crucifix launched his first clothing line The Cruce Signati Collection, driving even deeper the branding of his new independent movement.  I

By Spring of 2015 he was running his second and third nationwide tours, touching the Billboard Charts Top 20 for the first time with the Moonshine Bandits album "Blacked Out", and The Lacs' "Outlaw In Me". Going forward Crucifix continues to raise the bar in the world of cross-genre music, with the same stunning quality, heartfelt lyrics and dynamic visual presence.