Israel & New Breed

Israel Houghton (pronounced, hoh'-tin) (born May 19, 1971) is a Grammy Award-winning American Christian singer and worship leader, mostly known for his cross-cultural style of Christian music that fuses elements from gospel, jazz and rock. Houghton is usually credited as Israel & New Breed and currently signed to Integrity Music. Houghton is a worship leader at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. "All Around" is on the Digital Praise PC game Guitar Praise. Career edit: Recording edit: Houghton has earned two gold-selling albums, six Dove Awards, two Stellar Awards, a Soul Train Award, and four Grammy® Awards--for "Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album" for The Power of One, "Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album" for A Deeper Level, "Best Traditional Gospel Album" for Alive In South Africa, and "Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album" for Love God, Love People. Production edit: Houghton produced an album by Michael Gungor called "Bigger Than My Imagination". This album was described as "one of the year's best worship albums" in a 2003 Christianity Today review. Other performances edit: This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. (February 2009) Houghton has served as worship leader for the Promise Keepers and Champions for Christ events, as well as the Hillsong Conference 2006--2010, and Hillsong Conference Europe 2008-2010. Israel currently serves as a worship leader (alongside Cindy Cruse-Ratcliff, Steve Crawford and Da'dra Crawford-Greathouse) at Lakewood Church in Houston, TX, pastored by Joel Osteen. Israel and New Breed accompanied Alicia Keys at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards for a performance of George Michael's "Freedom '90." Israel and New Breed performed at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, taking part in a segment saluting Gospel music, alongside the likes of Aretha Franklin and BeBe Winans. Houghton also sang with Michael W Smith on his 2008 Album, "A New Hallelujah", recorded at Lakewood Church in Houston, TX. Personal life edit: Houghton's mother is white and biological father is black. His mother was 17 when she got pregnant. It was suggested she have an abortion, but she refused. Houghton and his wife Meleasa, and his three children, Mariah, Israel, and Milan 'Lillie' reside in Kingwood, Texas.

Source: Wikipedia

Text from this biography licensed under creative commons license