Hillsong United

Originating as the youth ministry ensemble of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia, Hillsong United first appeared under the name United Live under the guidance of singer/songwriters Reuben Morgan and Marty Sampson. Their opening effort Everyday, released in 1999, fixed the working method whereby each collection was captured live during the yearly October youth conference Encounterfest, drawing contributions from assorted church members, friends, and supporters that included Christian folk chanteuse Brooke Fraser before appearing on CD and DVD early the next year. Morgan’s exit in 2002 to launch a solo career brought Joel Houston into the leading role and produced the name shift to Hillsong United. Over the following period the band’s reach expanded on both sides of the equator, as United We Stand became the best-selling Christian LP of 2006 at Canadian retail. All of the Above repeated the pattern in 2007, joined by 2009’s a_CROSS//the_EARTH: Tear Down the Walls and its live companion Faith + Hope + Love. The CD/DVD set We’re All in This Together arrived in 2011, followed a year later by the double-disc Live in Miami: Welcome to the Aftermath. Zion appeared in 2013 as the group’s third studio album proper, securing their first Australian number one while also entering the Top Five of the Billboard 200 in the United States. Acoustic treatments of its songs formed the EP Zion Acoustic Sessions later that year, whereas 2014 brought the more dancefloor-oriented The White Album: Remix Project. Empires followed in 2015 and returned the act to the top of the domestic chart, succeeded in 2016 by the live album Of Dirt and Grace: Live from the Land. The group then traveled to Los Angeles to cut its fifth studio record, Wonder, issued in 2017 and spotlighting worship leaders Joel Houston and Matt Crocker across a set of uplifting and inspirational pop- and rock-infused tracks. Two years afterward the live album People was released.