Leanna Crawford Opens Up about Her New Album and Life with NBA Star Husband
- Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
- Updated Jul 18, 2024
The romance between Christian musician Leanna Crawford and her basketball star husband is definitely unique, blending the worlds of two careers that make their mark in the spotlight. Crawford, set to release her debut album on July 19, has had multiple songs enter the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart, including Mean Girls and Truth I’m Standing On. Her husband, NBA center Cody Zeller of the Atlanta Hawks, is a 6-foot-11, 11-year veteran who was a first-round pick in 2013.
Their 2023 wedding was featured in People Magazine. She even wrote a song for him, Vow to Be Yours, that she sang for him that day.
“It's been so much fun. I feel like it's been very sweet,” Crawford told Crosswalk Headlines about their marriage. “We were long-distance up until we got married. And then we got married. And we were still kind of long distance because we both travel a lot. But it's been sweet. He’s my best friend.”
Zeller, she said, is “very competitive” and enjoys making up games out of everyday events. That often puts the 5-foot-4 Crawford at a disadvantage.
“He’s a lot of fun,” she added, laughing.
Crawford’s debut album, Still Waters, includes 14 songs, including the title track—Still Waters (Psalm 23)—that she penned about her great aunt, a devoted woman of God who died at the age of 105. Crawford’s mother was led to Jesus, in part, thanks to the aunt's testimony and faith.
Crawford’s great aunt’s faith had a major impact on her life.
“She really was just an incredible woman who loved Jesus, loved people, and found out she was going blind in her 40s,” she said. “And with that diagnosis, she decided to memorize the Bible.”
Crawford wants her music to give people a “sense of hope,” reminding them “they're loved by just an incredible, incredibly loving father.” The title track is based on the comforting message of Psalm 23, she said.
“When I hear those words,” she said of the famous passage, “I have a sense of peace because I'm like, okay, God's got it. The Lord is my shepherd -- He's got it. He's in control. I don't need to be stressed.”
Crawford began sensing God’s call on her life at the age of 16.
“I went on a mission trip to Haiti with my church,” she said. “... That was like one of the first times that I really spent alone time with Jesus -- I would get up really early before anybody else on the trip.
“So, on that trip, I felt Him calling me to do music,” she said. “I had no idea what that meant. I had no idea how to do that. No one did music in our small town. I had been leading worship at church and writing songs. And that was about it.”
In 2016, she met a Christian artist who invited her to Nashville to write songs. In 2019, she signed with her label, Provident.
“God just continued to open doors, and I just kept walking through them,” she said.
She added, “If one person's impacted by my music, I'm so grateful.”
“I write a lot of my own story; I write a lot of my own experience. And my prayer is always that someone can feel seen in the music and the lyrics,” she said. “... Maybe when people hear that, they feel a sense of belonging; they don't feel so alone in whatever they're walking through.”
WATCH: Leanna Crawford Opens Up about Music and Marriage to NBA Star
Photo Credit: ©Provident
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
