Selah

Contemporary Christian vocal group Selah deliver worship music with a signature warmth that blends traditional hymns, contemporary pop, world music, and Gaither-esque Southern gospel in balanced proportions. The trio first drew notice through their 1999 release Be Still My Soul, which earned a Dove Award for Inspirational Album of the Year. By the time Hiding Place appeared in 2004, Selah ranked among the leading acts in inspirational music, climbing to number three on the Top Christian Albums Chart while achieving success with the single “You Raise Me Up.” Subsequent projects such as 2006’s Bless the Broken Road: The Duets Album, 2011’s Hope of the Broken World, and 2017’s Unbreakable each reached the Billboard Top Five, keeping the group visible on the charts. Firm Foundation, issued in 2019, brought the trio their ninth and tenth Dove Awards, among them a sixth win in the Inspirational Album of the Year category. With Step Into My Story in 2020 they introduced their own 3Cre8tive imprint, then returned in 2022 with the globally minded EP One Name.

Siblings Todd and Nicol Smith joined friend Allan Hall to form Selah during the late ’90s. Born in Detroit, Michigan, the Smiths passed much of their childhood in Zaire, Africa—later known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo—while their parents served as Christian missionaries. Early exposure to hymns and worship music shaped lasting interests that carried into adulthood. After signing with Curb Records, the group achieved immediate traction with their debut, 1999’s Be Still My Soul, which reached number 24 on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart and captured the Dove Award for Inspirational Album of the Year. The same honor followed for 2001’s Press On, and a Christmas collection, Rose of Bethlehem, arrived in 2002.

Hiding Place, released in 2004, marked a commercial breakthrough by peaking at number two on the Christian charts and featuring the hit “You Raise Me Up.” Nicol Smith, who had maintained a solo career under her married name Nicol Sponberg since 2000, departed shortly afterward. Melodie Crittenden first filled the vacancy, appearing on 2005’s Greatest Hymns. The following year Bless the Broken Road: The Duets Album topped the Christian albums chart and secured another Dove Award for Inspirational Album of the Year. Guest vocalist Amy Perry soon joined permanently, succeeding Crittenden.

With Todd Smith, Allan Hall, and Amy Perry now in place, Selah reinforced their standing in contemporary Christian music through 2009’s You Deliver Me and 2011’s Hope of the Broken World, both of which reached number four on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart; the latter also received the Dove Award for Inspirational Album of the Year. Their 2014 album You Amaze Us became the ninth Curb Records release and the sixth consecutive project to land in the Top Five. In 2016 the group issued the EP O the Blood along with a second volume of Greatest Hymns. Unbreakable followed in 2017, another Top Five Christian album supported by the single “I Got Saved.”

Firm Foundation arrived in 2019 and yielded the ninth and tenth Dove Awards, including a sixth for Inspirational Album of the Year. The trio launched their 3Cre8tive label the next year with Step Into My Story. In 2022 Selah acknowledged their worldwide audience through the EP One Name, performing songs from various countries rendered in English.