Hillsong United

Hillsong United (stylised as Hillsong UNITED or UNITED) is a contemporary worship collective originating from Hillsong Church. Since forming in 1998 out of the church's youth ministry, the group has released fifteen live albums and six studio albums.

Band members are involved in Hillsong Church services and also play for the church. The band has toured in a number of countries, leading worship in various places and has an international influence.

History
Originally called United Live, Hillsong United was formed in 1998, originating from the youth ministry of Hillsong Church called Powerhouse Youth. The band released their first live album Everyday after Darlene Zschech—the worship pastor of the church—suggested for them to record their own CDs. Mentored by Zschech in their early years, the band was first led by Reuben Morgan. Joel Houston and Marty Sampson took over the leadership in 2002. The official UNITED logo was designed by drummer Luke Munns in 2002 for To the Ends of the Earth.

After several live albums in the 2000s, Hillsong United released their first full studio album All of the Above in 2007.

The band released their third studio album Zion in February 2013. The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and topped Billboard's Top Christian Albums. The album features "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)", which has been certified 4x Platinum in the U.S. and was awarded Top Christian Song at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards.

In 2014, Hillsong United was nominated for and won five GMA Dove Awards, including Song of the Year for "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)". The band also received its first ever American Music Awards nomination that year, for Favorite Artist – Contemporary Inspirational, but did not win. 2015 saw the band nominated for a second consecutive year in the same category at the 43rd edition of the show. It was also nominated for the first time at that year's Billboard Music Awards in the Top Christian Artist and Top Christian Song categories; it won the former. The band was nominated again at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards, and garnered four nods across all three Christian categories, winning its second consecutive Top Christian Artist award, and its first for Top Christian Song with "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)". The band won two Dove Awards, including Worship Album of the Year, for its fourth studio album Empires, at the 47th Gospel Music Awards held that October. In 2018, the band received four nominations at the 49th GMA Dove Awards including one for Artist of the Year—it won Recorded Worship Song of the Year for its single "So Will I (100 Billion X)".

Members

 * Joel Houston – worship leader, acoustic guitar, keyboard, percussion
 * Jonathon "JD" Douglass – worship leader, percussion
 * Jad Gillies – worship leader, acoustic guitar and electric guitar
 * Matt Crocker – worship leader, acoustic guitar, percussion
 * Michael Guy Chislett – electric guitar, keyboards, music director, producer
 * Dylan Thomas – electric guitar, keyboards, music director
 * Benjamin "Ben" Tennikoff – keyboard, programming, sampling
 * Benjamin William Hastings – worship leader, acoustic guitar, keyboard
 * Jihea Oh – bass guitar
 * Dan McMurray – drums, percussion (2023)

Former

Former members of the band are:
 * Reuben Morgan – worship leader, acoustic guitar
 * Marty Sampson – worship leader, acoustic guitar
 * Brooke Fraser – worship leader, acoustic guitar
 * Taya Gaukrodger – worship leader
 * Raymond Badham – electric guitar
 * Marcus Beaumont – electric guitar
 * Nigel Hendroff – electric guitar
 * Nathan Taylor – electric guitar
 * Timon Klein – electric guitar
 * Matt Tennikoff – bass guitar
 * Adam Crosariol – bass guitar
 * Simon Kobler – drums, percussion
 * Brandon Gillies – drums, percussion
 * Gabriel Kelly – drums, percussion
 * Rolf Wam Fjell – drums, percussion
 * Luke Munns – drums, percussion
 * David George – piano, keyboard, synthesizer
 * Peter James – piano, keyboard, synthesizer
 * Kevin Lee – piano, keyboard, synthesizer
 * Peter King – piano, keyboard, synthesizer
 * Dave Ware – worship leader
 * Tulele Faletolu – worship leader
 * Annie Garratt – worship leader
 * Sam Knock – worship leader
 * Holly Dawson – worship leader
 * Jill McCloghry – guitar, vocals
 * Michelle Fragar – worship leader

Timeline

Videography

 * 2004: More Than Life (bonus DVD with album)
 * 2005: Look to You (bonus DVD with album)
 * 2006: United We Stand (bonus DVD with album)
 * 2007: All of the Above (bonus DVD with album)
 * 2008: The I Heart Revolution: With Hearts As One (Music DVD)
 * 2010: The I Heart Revolution: We're All in This Together (Documentary DVD/Blu-ray)
 * 2012: Live in Miami (Music DVD/Blu-ray)
 * 2013: Zion Acoustic Sessions (Music DVD)
 * 2016: Of Dirt and Grace: Live from the Land (Music DVD/Blu-ray)

A documentary, Hillsong: Let Hope Rise, directed by Michael John Warren, chronicles the rise of the band, was originally supposed to be released by Warner Bros. during the 2015 Easter weekend. As Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. were unable to close a deal, the film was pulled out from Warner Bros' schedule. In March 2015, Relativity Media obtained the distribution rights and the film shifted to a 29 May release. In April, Relativity moved the film to 30 September 2015. However, Relativity Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July and let go of the rights to the producers. PureFlix acquired the film and it was released on 16 September 2016.

Awards
As of 2020 the group has received 11 Dove Awards.