Joel Timothy Houston (born 19 September 1979) is an Australian musician, songwriter, pastor, and leader in the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

-based band Hillsong United, a worship band of

Hillsong Church Hillsong Church, commonly known as Hillsong, is a charismatic Christian megachurch and a Christian association of churches based in Australia. The original church was established in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, as Hills Christian Life Centr ...

. He was co-pastor at Hillsong NYC between 2010 and 2017. He is the head of the Christian worship band Hillsong United, for which he sings, plays guitar, and writes songs. In 2008, he became the creative director at Hillsong Church. He is the oldest son of the church's Founding Pastors

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan (given name), Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish language, Irish and Breton language, Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan language, Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. ...

and Bobbie Houston and grandson of Frank Houston. Houston was also the bass player for the band Able, which was composed of Marty Sampson, Michael Guy Chislett and Luke Munns, which won the Channel V Leg Up competition in 2001.

Biography

Early life

Joel is the oldest child of the former Hillsong Church's founding pastors Brian and Bobbie Houston and grandson of pastor Frank Houston. He has two siblings. Houston wanted to play the piano at the age of seven. However he found an inclination to play bass and this led him to play the bass guitar for a number of Hillsong Worship albums instead.

Hillsong United and Hillsong

Houston's debut with the Hillsong United as a vocalist was in 2002, however he had been playing

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

with the band for several years prior to this, and contributing various songs, including the title track from the group's debut full-length live album, '' Everyday''. As part of Hillsong United music team, Houston has helped lead worship conferences in North America, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. He has also contributed to the main Hillsong album recordings as well, which are led by worship pastor Reuben Morgan. His music has been on Hillsong albums that have quickly risen on both the Australian and American Christian music charts. In March 2007, Hillsong United's eighth album '' All of the Above'' debuted at No. 6 on the ARIA charts. Joel Houston has been the creative director of Hillsong since 2008. Joel was co-pastor of Hillsong NYC with Carl Lentz until Lentz's employment was terminated by Brian Houston for unnamed "moral failings".

Personal life

Joel married Brazilian model Esther Lima in 2012, and they had a son in 2013.

External links

Christianity Today interview

SongDiscovery.com
interviews Joel Housto

Fresh 103.2 Interview

BBC ''Heart-throb rock gods united in song''
* The Bulletin (Australian periodical), The Bulletinbr>interviewand photo gallery
*

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houston, Joel Hillsong musicians Christian music songwriters Living people Australian people of Tongan descent Australian people of New Zealand descent Australian male songwriters Australian Christian Churches people Australian performers of Christian music 1979 births Musicians from Sydney