Audrey Assad

Audrey Nicole Assad (born July 1, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released six studio albums and four EPs.

Early life

Audrey Assad's mother was from Virginia and her father is a Christian Syrian-born refugee. She was raised Protestant, as part of the Plymouth Brethren denomination.

Assad started playing the piano at age two, and spent her youth moving around New Jersey before settling in Scotch Plains from ages 7 to 18.

Music career

Assad's musical career began in contemporary Christian music. Her debut album, ''The House You're Building'', was released through Sparrow Records in July 2010 and went on to be named on Amazon.com's list of Best Christian Music of 2010,The following source cites this same Amazon list, but misstates it as an apparent award rather than an entry on a list. See as well as the Christian and Gospel Breakthrough Album of the Year on iTunes. She has worked and toured with other CCM artists such as Chris Tomlin, Tenth Avenue North, Matt Maher and Jars of Clay. In 2018, she released ''Evergreen.''

Early career in Florida

In 2002, when Assad was 18, her family moved to Florida and she spent the next six years there. At 19, she briefly attended college and supported herself with odd jobs while beginning her musical career, writing and composing songs for the first time. Assad spent the next five years playing at various venues, performing original songs and covers. Venues ranged from restaurants, weddings, and coffee shops to leading and organizing worship concerts at church. In 2003, Assad recorded a four-song demo with Drew Middleton, a member of the CCM band Tenth Avenue North at the time. Assad toured with the band occasionally during that time.

Nashville and the ''Firefly'' EP

In 2008 when Assad was 24, she decided to move to Nashville, Tennessee, to continue focusing on her music career. She raised $7,000 from friends and fans to support her move from Florida. In Nashville, she worked with producers Paul Moak and Phillip LaRue and recorded a five-song EP, ''Firefly'', which sold at shows and featured a handwritten cover made of a brown paper bag. She supported herself by working as a nanny before meeting fellow Catholic musician Matt Maher. Maher took Assad under his wing and brought her to various gigs, where she sang back-up vocals and played sets during his shows. The time they spent together around Maher's home base of Phoenix, Arizona, would later prompt Assad to move there from Nashville. During this time, Assad also signed on to work as a staff writer for EMI Christian Music Group Publishing, doing songwriting work with other artists.

Sparrow Records

In 2009, Assad signed with Sparrow Records, who had been talking to Assad after the release of her EP. For her first album, Assad then met and played for producer Marshall Altman, who eventually agreed to produce what would become ''The House You're Building''. Altman and Assad recorded the album at the Galt Line Studio in Los Angeles. ''The House You're Building'' was released on July 13, 2010, and the title track was featured as a free download on iTunes Discovery Download. The album performed well commercially and critically, going on to become the Amazon.com's "Best Album of 2010" in the Christian Music category, as well as being the best selling new artist in the Christian Music category of 2010 according to SoundScan. The album reached No. 12 on the Billboard Christian Albums chart and No. 6 on its Heatseekers chart.

Her second album, ''Heart'', was released on February 14, 2012. The album sold 7,300 units in its debut week, an increase of 185 percent over her previous album, and reached No. 18 on the overall iTunes chart. For the most part, the new album was a further development of the "piano-driven style and lyrical depth" that ''The House You're Building'' had shown. The track "Sparrow", was released as a single, and similarly did well. "Sparrow" was based on the classic gospel hymn, " His Eye Is on the Sparrow", which Assad said she loved seeing and hearing in ''Sister Act 2'' when she was young.

Fortunate Fall Records

Wanting to steer her music closer to liturgical and worship music and attracted by the economic advantages of independent production, Audrey Assad parted ways with Sparrow Records "on good terms". Assad ran a Kickstarter campaign with the help of her husband that reached double its goal by its finish on April 15, 2013. The proceeds paid for Assad's third studio album, '' Fortunate Fall'', which Assad produced herself under the name "Fortunate Fall Records", as well as a live concert EP, ''O Happy Fault'', and a film of the concert.

Assad released her second independent album, ''Inheritance'', on February 12, 2016. Besides two original songs, both co-written with Matt Maher, the rest of the album contains new renditions of traditional church hymns such as "Holy, Holy, Holy" and "Be Thou My Vision," as well as a new rendition of the Latin-language hymn "Ubi caritas." "Holy, Holy, Holy" saw radio airplay after its release as a single on March 15, 2016. In early 2018, her next album, ''Evergreen'', became available for pre-order via PledgeMusic, with 5 percent of campaign proceeds going towards Preemptive Love Coalition.

Musical style and themes

Assad grew up in a religious household but listened to secular music through her mother's influence, including The Carpenters, James Taylor and Celine Dion, as well as to French and Middle Eastern music through her dad's influence. Later, she discovered and began listening to Christian music, such as Newsboys, Nichole Nordeman and Cindy Morgan. She began using her piano talents at 19, when she led worship and began writing and performing her own music. Assad played in local Florida venues with a style she described as folky and "average girl with a guitar/piano stuff". The ''Firefly'' EP that she recorded with Paul Moak was also described as folky and rootsy.

In 2010, her style of music was a mix of religious and non-religious themed songs that draw from her Catholic faith as well as from her love of literature and poetry. A majority of her religious songs are written in a way that emphasizes being sung to God rather than about God.

Personal life

Assad was raised in an Evangelical Protestant religious household; she reconfirmed her faith at the age of 19. Assad converted to Catholicism in 2007 in Florida.

Assad met her future husband in Arizona while on tour with Matt Maher in 2008; the couple married on February 19, 2011, in Phoenix. In October 2017, Assad gave birth to their second child, a daughter named Camila St. Clare. The couple divorced in 2019.

Assad has spoken in public (including in her concerts) about her past addiction to pornography and masturbation, while recommending "confession, accountability and counseling" to overcome them.

On March 3, 2021, Assad announced that she was no longer a practicing Christian, despite continuing to work with and platform groups such as Porter's Gate, which is considered to be a progressive Christian band.

Discography

Albums

*''The House You're Building'' (Sparrow Records, 2010)
*'' iTunes Live from SoHo'' (Sparrow Records, 2011)
*''Heart'' (Sparrow Records, 2012)
*'' Fortunate Fall'' (independent, August 13, 2013)
*''Inheritance'' (Fortunate Fall Records, February 12, 2016)
*''Evergreen'' (Fortunate Fall, Records, February 23, 2018)
*''Peace'' (2019)
*''Eden (Live)'' (2021)
*''That Kind of Love'' (2025)

Extended plays

*''Firefly'' (independent, 2008)
*''For Love of You'' (Sparrow Records, 2010) (digital)
* ''O Happy Fault'' (Fortunate Fall Records, March 18, 2014) (soundtrack of the film ''O Happy Fault'': 5 of these 6 live songs are from the previous album ''Fortunate Fall'', with 1 unique song, "Open the Eyes of My Heart")
* ''Death Be Not Proud'' (Fortunate Fall Records, May 20, 2014) (5 unique songs)

Singles

The following are peak position on the ''Billboard'' Hot Christian Songs chart:
*"Winter Snow", featuring Chris Tomlin, peaked at number 14, on January 8, 2010;
*"For the Love of You", peaked at number 25, on June 11, 2010;
*"Restless", peaked at number 31, on January 14, 2011.
In addition:
*"Lord, I Need You" from Matt Maher, featuring Audrey Assad, peaked at number 4, on October 26, 2013.

References

Further reading

* As quoted, notes four songs to break Billboard 200 as of January 2020.
* Interview by a Catholic apologist that is referenced in the subject-related sources appearing.

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Assad, Audrey
American people of Syrian descent
Christian music songwriters
Contemporary Catholic liturgical music
Former Plymouth Brethren
Singers from New Jersey
Singers from Florida
Sparrow Records artists
Living people
People from Scotch Plains, New Jersey
1983 births
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Evangelicalism
Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee
Musicians from Phoenix, Arizona
20th-century American singers
Singers from Arizona
20th-century American women singers
Catholics from New Jersey
Catholics from Tennessee
21st-century American women singers
21st-century American singers
20th-century Protestants
21st-century Protestants
21st-century Roman Catholics
American former Christians
American performers of Christian music