Micah Stampley

Born on September 7, 1971, in Los Angeles, California, gospel singer, songwriter, choir director, and music minister Micah Stampley saw his family relocate to Baton Rouge, Louisiana soon after his arrival, the city where he spent his childhood. Music and singing surfaced as natural gifts in his earliest years, leading him to join his father’s choir at age four. By seven he had taken over its direction, standing on a table so the singers could follow his lead. At thirteen he began studying piano. The family shifted once more to Natchitoches just before his high-school graduation, and he completed his studies there. Endowed with a striking multi-octave voice and an instinctive gift for shaping harmonies while guiding vocal groups, Stampley committed to dual paths as musician and minister; those paths converged when he married fellow gospel singer Heidi Jones in 1998. Jones joined him as a songwriting collaborator, and he quickly secured a contract with evangelist T.D. Jakes’ label. On that platform he cultivated a contemporary gospel and praise approach that folded R&B, hip-hop, funk, and other influences into commanding musical statements, earning both critical praise and a growing audience. His first release, The Songbook of Micah, arrived in 2005, reached number three on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart, and also registered on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Subsequent Music World albums—A Fresh Wind…The Second Sound in 2006, Ransomed in 2008, Release Me in 2010, and One Voice in 2011—each landed inside the gospel Top 15. The sixth album, Love Never Fails, appeared in 2013 on EMI Gospel and likewise charted in the gospel rankings. In 2016, Entertainment One Music issued the live recording To the King…Vertical Worship, captured at Oasis Family Life Church in Dallas, Georgia.