Rebecca St. James
The new millennium sure has gone well for Australian singer Rebecca St. James. On its eve, she won the Grammy for Best Rock Gospel Album. In 2000, Amazon.com named her "Top Christian/Gospel Artist." She was 2001's "Most Influential Woman In Christian Music" according to Crosswalk.com and "Best Female Artist" of 2002 in CCM and Campus Life magazine readers polls. Now, following a decade-spanning Best Of release in 2003 (pretty impressive for a girl in her mid-twenties), Rebecca St. James goes forward with her first concert recording, Live Worship: Blessed Be Your Name.
Generously packing nine songs and 40 minutes of music onto a value priced extended play disc, Live Worship encapsulates many facets of Rebecca's talent. "Lamb Of God" and "Quiet You" highlight her passion for modern, urgency-energized rock. Debut performances of Matt Redman's "Blessed Be The Name" and self-penned "I Adore You" showcase joyful praise-pop enthusiasm. "Here I Am To Worship" defines her genuine humility; the song is given over to the audience to sing well before the track is over. A Euro-flavored new studio take, "The Power Of Your Love," points to always maturing artistic relevance.
There are other sides to Rebecca St. James as well. In recent months, she has co-starred in the !Hero rock opera, co-written a forthcoming book for women, and voiced a major character in the new VeggieTales project, An Easter Carol. She's co-headlining a sold-out concert tour with Newsboys in spring 2004 and will start recording another studio album later this year.
Summing up her inspiration for doing Live Worship: Blessed Be Your Name, the singer-actor-author says, "Growing up in Australia – where we've had a live worship revolution going on for nearly 20 years – has greatly influenced me. I grew up around live worship, and my dad was involved in some of the early Hillsong live worship albums. This album fulfills a part of my ministry that I've hoped for a long time. There’s something special that happens through live worship projects – we’re able to join hands with other Christians around the world in the experience." |
