Phil Wickham

Phil Wickham crafts fervent rock songs grounded in faith as a modern singer and songwriter, yet his profile had already risen steadily inside Christian music by the point his fourth studio effort, Heaven & Earth from 2009, crossed over onto Billboard’s pop rankings. A run of strong-selling LPs followed until a vocal injury abruptly halted his momentum in 2014. After regaining his voice, Wickham experienced a dual revival in spirit and sales with the 2016 album Children of God. He then notched three straight Billboard Top Christian Albums chart leaders via 2018’s Living Hope, 2021’s Hymn of Heaven, and 2023’s I Believe, the last of which supplied the chart-topping single “This Is Our God.”

Born in San Diego, California, Wickham grew up in a faith-centered home alongside his brother and sister. Both parents, themselves musicians and one-time members of the group Parable, nurtured his early interest in music. He launched his career in 2003 by touring behind the independently produced debut Give You My World. Three years later he joined Simple/INO Records and issued his self-titled sophomore album. Cannons followed in 2007, an album shaped by C.S. Lewis’ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and highlighted by the track “Jesus Lord of Heaven.” Heaven & Earth, his fourth release, entered the Billboard Hot 100 Christian Albums survey at number four in 2009 while simultaneously registering on the pop side. Response appeared on Fair Trade Services in 2011, and Ascension, Wickham’s fifth studio album, arrived in 2013 as a conceptual work drawn from Psalms 120 through 134, the sequence known as the Psalms of Ascent.

The next year he canceled multiple concerts after developing throat pain and hoarseness; doctors diagnosed a vocal polyp that required surgery and an extended period of complete vocal rest. That health crisis and the recovery that followed prompted a renewed artistic and spiritual outlook, reflected in the encouraging sixth album Children of God, released by Fair Trade Services in early 2016. Starting with the single “Living Hope,” Wickham issued several tracks ahead of the 2018 album Living Hope. An acoustic reinterpretation, Living Hope (The House Sessions), surfaced the following year and was later accompanied by Singalong, Vol. 4: Live, which showcased guests Brian and Jenn Johnson together with Matt Redman, plus a collection of holiday standards titled Christmas.

Wickham’s eighth album, Hymn of Heaven, surfaced in June 2021, featuring production contributions from Jonathan Smith, Kyle Lee, Jason Ingram, and others alongside a guest turn by Brandon Lake. Powered by the singles “Battle Belongs” and “House of the Lord,” the project ascended to number one on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart. In 2022 he returned to the Christian pop rankings with “Worthy of My Song (Worthy of It All),” recorded with Maverick City Music and Chandler Moore featuring the Mav City Gospel Choir. January 2023 brought “This Is Our God,” which led three separate Billboard Christian charts; the song joined the Easter release “Sunday Is Coming” on his ninth studio album, I Believe, issued that August and marking Wickham’s third consecutive Christian chart-topper.