Phil Wickham remembers the first time his father heard him play a song he’d written.
He wasn’t looking for an audience, but it nevertheless caught the attention of his father—a worship pastor in their San Diego church.
“That’s actually a good worship song,” Phil remembers his father telling him. “Can I play that in our sanctuary?”
It was the first worship song Phil ever wrote. It would not be the last.
In the ten years and nine records since Phil recorded his first worship album, whatever his father noticed has caught the attention of the world at large. Wickham has a passion for using music to create a community—a place where hearts and minds are inclined as one.
Phil Wickham is, at his core, a humble and sincere artist who writes songs and worships God using the medium of music. It is with that brush that he paints images of a loving and creative God across the canvases of listeners’ hearts and minds.
The evidence of this gift has been apparent on all five of his critically acclaimed efforts: Phil Wickham (2006), Cannons (2007), Heaven & Earth (2009), Response (2011) and The Ascension (2013).
And Phil’s latest album, The Ascension, is full of such beautiful moments. Though the title calls to mind bodies gently levitating towards the stars, Phil says the inspiration was much more grounded. This latest release debuted at the No. 2 spot on the SoundScan Christian Albums Chart and in the Top 40 on the Billboard 200.
The first single off the album, “This Is Amazing Grace,” gave Wickham his first career No. 1, claiming the top spot on Billboard’s National Christian Audience Chart for thirteen consecutive weeks. On Billboard’s 2014 Year End Charts, the song was the No. 1 Christian Airplay Song, and Wickham himself claimed the No. 2 spot on the Christian Airplay Artists chart.
Not only has “This is Amazing Grace” achieved great radio success, but it has become a beloved anthem in the modern church, increasing Phil Wickham’s recognition as a gifted artist and songwriter with a true heart of worship.