Parachute Band was a

Christian worship In Christianity, worship is the act of attributing reverent honour and homage to God. In the New Testament, various words are used to refer to the term worship. One is ("to worship") which means to bow down to God or kings. Worship in the N ...

band from Auckland, New Zealand, formed out of the New Zealand–based organisation

Parachute Music Parachute Music is a not-for-profit music organisation from New Zealand. It was formed in 1989 and runs a hub of studio facilities and artist/producer support programmes in Kingsland, Auckland. From 1992 to 2014, the organisation ran the annual ...

. The band made pop/rock music and spanned over two generations of musicians.

1995–2006

The first Parachute Band line-up was formed in 1995 to lead

worship Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity or God. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition of a God. An act of worship may be performed individually, in an informal or formal group, ...

at Parachute Festival. Parachute Band began recording

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

–written

contemporary worship music Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a distinct genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has evolved over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are of ...

, performing it both in New Zealand and worldwide. The original line-up, led by Wayne Huirua, Libby Huirua and Chris de Jong, released seven studio albums, toured extensively in the U.S., won numerous New Zealand Music Awards for Best Gospel/Christian Album, and won the Gospel Music Association's International Achievement award (in the U.S.). In 2006 the original members retired from the band and a generational changeover took place. This was marked by a ceremony at the 2007 Parachute Festival.

2006–2013

The second generation Parachute Band (formerly known as Victor Rose) released four studio albums; Roadmaps and Revelations (September 2007),

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

(September 2008), Love Without Measure (February 2011), and Matins : Vespers (released at Parachute Festival in January 2012). The band toured the United States, Canada, Asia, South Africa, UK, Europe, New Zealand and Australia, including performances at

Creation Festival Creation Festival, commonly shortened to Creation, was an annual four-day Christian music festival in the United States. According to its organizers, it was the "Nation's Largest Christian Music Festival." Average attendance was between 50,000 ...

Kingdom Bound Kingdom Bound is an annual Christian music festival held at Darien Lake Theme Park Resort near Buffalo, New York. The festival takes place over a span of three days and has hosted a variety of Christian speakers and artists since the late 1980s. ...

Festival and also being the house band for the annual Parachute Festival. The band won the 2008 VNZMA Peoples Choice Awards. Love Without Measure was the first recording that the band self-produced. In 2012, the band announced frontman Omega would be leaving the group in order to "have more time to enjoy marriage and to invest more into his local church community." Without Omega, Parachute Band collaborated with American Christian rock band Leeland at the 2013 Parachute Festival and The Almost frontman Aaron Gillespie in 2014 for worship sets.

Awards and recognition

;1995–2006: * Five gold albums in NZ * Three NZ Music Awards (Tuis) * Winners of 2006 GMA International Award * ''All the Earth'' debuted at No. 12 on US Billboard Gospel Chart * ''All the Earth'' No. 1 US Gospel radio hit single * Over 120,000 units sold in NZ ;2007–2009: * "

" debuted at No. 12 on the NZ iTunes mainstream album charts, No. 10 on the U.S. Christian/Gospel charts and No. 1 on the NZ iTunes inspirational charts. * Parachute Band won the coveted mainstream'' Peoples Choice Award'' at the 2008

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New Zealand Music Awards and was a finalist for the Best Gospel Album award. * The band was a finalist at the 2009 VNZMA's, for Best Gospel/Christian Album, with its album ''

''. ;2010–2013 * The band won the 2011 VNZMA Award for Best Gospel/Christian Album with their album ''Love Without Measure''. * The band won the 2012 VNZMA Award for Best Gospel/Christian Album with their album ''Matins: Vespers''.

Discography

Albums

* 1997 – ''You Alone'' * 1998 – ''Always and Forever'' * 1999 – ''Adore'' * 2000 – ''The Collection V1'' * 2000 – ''Love'' * 2000 - ''Love & Adore'' * 2001 – ''Amazing'' * 2003 – ''Glorious'' * 2005 – ''All the Earth'' * 2007 – ''Roadmaps and Revelations'' * 2008 – ''

'' * 2011 – ''Love Without Measure'' * 2012 – ''Matins : Vespers''

References

External links

*
CMnexus profile
{{ , title=Parachute Band To Release New Album , publisher= NZ Music Commission, url=https://nzmusic.org.nz/news/artist/parachute-band-to-release-new-album-matins-vespers/ , accessdate=7 September 2022 New Zealand musical groups Performers of contemporary worship music