Paul Layton Cardall (born April 24, 1973) is an American pianist known for his original compositions and arrangements of various hymns. His music is frequently categorized as New Age, Classical, and Religious. Cardall has had 2 of his works make it to number one on billboard charts.
Cardall's soothing, melodic style is born out of his compassion to help others endure hardship and connect to the strength of the soul. The passion he exudes during his performances is rooted in personal experience because the pianist has endured difficult challenges. He was born with essentially half a functioning heart, which required immediate surgery when Cardall was less than a day old. His life-threatening congenital heart disease and a series of difficult surgeries throughout his life, including a heart transplant, has given Cardall wisdom, depth and understanding that only music could express to heal hearts and minds of people all over the world.
Based in Salt Lake City, Paul has built a loyal – and ever growing – audience around the world through several social media channels. From Cairo to Chicago, Sydney to Madrid, Paul's fans live in more than 100 nations. He ads 200 new listeners per day, reaches more than 600,000 Facebook users per week and garners more than 15 million subscribers to his Pandora Radio station.
In addition to his recording career, Paul founded Stone Angel Music in 1999, which owns a catalogue of recordings by other similar artists. He launched cellist Steven Sharp Nelson's (The Piano Guys) recording career releasing three recordings which debuted on Billboard classical charts. As part of Stone Ange Music, Paul built one of Salt Lake City's premier recording studios.
In 2011, Utah State Board of Regents awarded Paul with an honorary doctorate because of his community service. As an executive board member of the Saving tiny Hearts Society 501(c)3, Paul actively promotes congenital heart disease medical research. Shortly after receiving a heart transplant in 2009, Paul established an endowment at Salt Lake Community College that awards annual scholarships for students affected by congenital heart disease. In addition to volunteer service related to healing hearts, Paul is an ordained lay-minister in his Christian faith and speaks and performs regularly to non-denominational congregations world-wide.