Australian singer and song-writer Darlene Zschech may not be a household name, but her songs are recognised around the world.
As the author of the church favourite Shout to the Lord, sung by over 30 million worshippers worldwide as well as praise and worship anthems including The Potter's Hand and I Will Bless You Lord, her music has sold 3 million units in America alone.
In her native Australia, she was the worship leader of mega-church Hillsong for 11 years and along with her choir has released numerous live albums including God is in the House and Hope.
Darlene Zschech's Biography
Born in Brisbane, Australia in 1944, Zschech had always been musical growing up: “I am so thankful to have been surrounded by the beautiful sound of music since birth and every day from then until now, it has had an incredible pull on my life. Everyone on my family sang and I learnt jazz, tap and ballet studied piano and voice from when I was five years old.”
By the age of 10 she was performing in a weekly children’s television show and hosting segments. As a teenager Darlene fronted various local gospel bands then worked on jingles for McDonalds, KFC and Diet Coke.
When she became a Christian at 15 and her passion for singing remained but was directed towards God. “Along my journey of discovery to date I have had many lessons to learn and countless religious ideas to ‘unlearn’.
"But more importantly, I have also come to understand and value the power of becoming someone who is committed to praising Him at all times, whose passion to worship the King is unquenchable.”
Zschech's Music Career and Shout to the Lord
Since then Zschech has produced best-selling albums and toured the world, but her most famous offering remains Shout to the Lord which was nominated Song of the Year at the 1998 Dove Awards.
“I never get sick of [the song] and never talk about it flippantly. It came out of a hard time; I didn't set out to write a song, I was crying out to God. I was at the end of myself and our ministry dreams were so far from reality. It was a tough time where I went to God and the song quickly took a life of its own.”
After being nominated for songwriter of the year, her status as an inspirational woman of God was crystallized. “Not long after the release of the “Shout to the Lord” album I was asked, “What's it like being a female worship leader?” What a strange question I thought. “I have never been a male worship leader,” I replied, “so I have nothing to compare it to.” It seemed, in the interviewer's mind that for God to use a woman was almost too much to get his head around, and a blonde one at that!”
Zschech's Family Life and Recipe for Success
Zschech is happily married to Mark, who is the director of the television ministry at Hillsong Church and they have three daughters Amy, Chloe and Zoe. “Getting older is a great gift because you start to work out what is truly valuable in life. That’s one of the reasons I don’t tour very much anymore, because I can’t bear to leave my kids.”
Darlene’s devotion to her husband was apparent when she wrote a song for him on one of her albums. “I’m so sick of hearing songs about love gone wrong, one night stands, my wife left me, my dog left me… I thought: I’m going to write a song to honour my husband.
"I just started writing a list of all the things I loved about him and had to condense it. We’ve been married over 20 years, and I come from a broken home so for me it’s such a miracle and a great tribute to the goodness of God.”
She had more to be thankful for when Hillsong’s 2004 live CD For All You’ve Done made global headlines when it reached number one in the secular Australian national music charts. But when all is said and done, the most important thing for her is that God is glorified in her life.
“This is my heart’s quest- that as God’s eyes search the earth, He would find me to be an extravagant worshipper. Many people think that if they can just get the look right, or if they can get the sound then they’ve got the formula for ‘success’. That’s a lie. We are excellent only because of Jesus Christ. This is not about striving or struggling- this is about living for the glory of God.”
Sources:
- Darlene Zschech: darlenezschech.com
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