Hillsong United (band)

The Hillsong United band is an Australian praise and worship band, a part of Hillsong Church. the band tours the world, around its various different churches and also many other venues. The band makes albums and CD's, and are usually the guys who tour the world performing songs that they created. Those songs are then played by worship teams (other bands in Hillsong Church) at the nearest church.

Talking about Hillsong band in general - there are many members of the Hillsong band as a whole, because of the various churches there are around the world. There are bands who perform on regular Sundays, and some bands who perform at venues for youth which in London happens once a month. The youth band also performs at summer-camps, which happens in almost every city which has Hillsong Church.

The band was originally formed by close friends from within the youth ministry called 'Powerhouse Youth' that was led by Donna Crouch for many years. As the house band for the youth meetings of Powerhouse, the band played covers of Hillsong Church and various other ministries' music, sometimes members contributing to Youth Alive and its' albums (Darlene Zschech was involved in Youth Alive before Hillsong Church). Dr. Mark Evans (Macquarie Uni) states in his Ph. D thesis, "A youth band was formed from the Hillsong music team, which took what was happening in the church musically and played it louder and rockier, appealing directly to a youth demographic". Steve McPherson, Deb Ezzy and Donia Makedonez were significant members. Powerhouse grew and was split in the late 1990s into two youth groups, 'Powerhouse' (18–25 years of age) and 'Wildlife' (12-17 yrs). Reuben Morgan, assisted by Marcus Beaumont and Tanya Riches were placed in charge of the Powerhouse band, with the former Channel V Leg-Up competition winner 'Able' band boys, Joel Houston and Marty Sampson in charge of Wildlife, while Luke Munns was the main drummer, and Michael Guy Chislett the main guitarist. In the Summer of 1997, the new team made a huge impact at their youth ministry's Summer Camp. After coming back from Summer Camp, the many youth ministries in Hillsong Church joined together as one, and started to call the nights, "UNITED" Nights.

Delirious?' Martin Smith's song 'Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble' was the theme song of the camp, and the momentum of youth carried well beyond the camp into church services. Reuben Morgan wrote 'My Redeemer Lives' as a way for the youth to continue worshipping, along with many other songs that appear on the album 'By Your Side' written by Marty Sampson and Luke Munns 'Stay'.

Darlene Zschech suggested to Reuben that they make an album in 1998 after many songs were written in the youth ministry, and the EP 'One' was recorded. The album was packaged with the Hillsong annual album, and both achieved Gold sale status in Australia. 'Everyday' was recorded in 1999. The band continued to release an album each year, rebranding asHillsong United in 2002 after Reuben Morgan stepped down as co-worship leader of the band. Joel Houston, the eldest son of the church's senior pastor Brian Houston, stepped up to lead the group together with Marty Sampson.

Current members of the Hillsong United band include Jonathon Douglass (J.D.), Jadwin "Jad" Gillies, Joel Houston, Annie Garratt, Matt Crocker, Dave Ware, Sam Knock, Dylan Thomas, Joel Davies, Braden Lang, Peter James, Matthew Tennikoff plays bass guitar, Simon Kobler & Brandon Gillies play drums. Former original drummer Luke Munns made a transition from the drums to front the rock/indie band LUKAS. Popular New Zealand artist Brooke Ligetwood (aka Brooke Fraser) recently joined the band when she joined the church, first appearing onUnited We Stand.

The annual Hillsong United CD/DVD was recorded over many years during their October youth conference Encounterfest, with the album released in the first quarter of the following year. The 2007 album All of the Above was the first album to be fully studio recorded, containing videos of songs on the DVD. The band has toured in a number of countries, leading worship to thousands in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Following his marriage to Michelle on November 2006, Marty also stepped down as one of the main worship leaders of the band. He contributed two more songs with United, 'Devotion' (which he wrote & sang on the album) & 'Saviour King' (which he wrote w/ Mia Fieldes), before he officially stepped down. These songs were part of the 2007 release All of the Above . Brooke replaced Marty as one of the principal worship leaders of the band, while Marty moved on to join the main band to serve as one of main Hillsong worship leaders alongside Darlene and Reuben.

Hillsong United posted on their Facebook page March 28, 2010 that they were in the studio recording. It is being recorded at 301 Studios in Sydney, Australia. The name is Aftermathand will release in February 2011.

credits to :     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsong_United_(band)