* En anglais uniquement
Hillsong United began as the youth ministry band of Sydney, Australia's Hillsong Church. Originally dubbed United Live, the group was first led by singer/songwriters
Reuben Morgan and
Marty Sampson. Their 1999 debut,
Everyday, established their creative template: each album was recorded live at the annual October youth conference Encounterfest -- enabling contributions from a variety of church members, friends, and supporters, including the popular Christian folk chanteuse
Brooke Fraser -- and released on CD and DVD early the following year. When
Morgan left United Live in 2002 to mount a solo career,
Joel Houston took his place, prompting the name change to
Hillsong United.
In the years to follow, their popularity snowballed on both sides of the equator, with 2006's United We Stand emerging as the year's best-selling Christian LP at Canadian retail. All of the Above found similar success in 2007, as did 2009's a_CROSS//the_EARTH: Tear Down the Walls and its accompanying live album, Faith + Hope + Love. The CD/DVD set We're All in This Together showed up in 2011, with the double-disc
Live in Miami: Welcome to the Aftermath arriving a year later.
In 2013, the group released
Zion, their third studio album proper. It became their first Australian number one, and also hit the Top Five of the Billboard 200 in the U.S. Organic versions of the album's songs landed on the EP
Zion Acoustic Sessions later that year, while 2014 saw the group offer something more dancefloor-oriented with
The White Album: Remix Project. The year 2015 brought the full-length
Empires, which returned them to the number one spot at home. The live LP
Of Dirt and Grace: Live from the Land followed in 2016. The group later headed to Los Angeles to record their fifth studio record.
Wonder was released in 2017, and featured worship leaders
Joel Houston and
Matt Crocker delivering a collection of uplifting and inspirational pop- and rock-infused tracks. Another live effort,
People, arrived two years later. ~ Jason Ankeny & Steve Leggett