Christian Music Online

Delirious band taking a break

August 16, 2008 – 2:10 pm

The UK-based, RIAA Certified Gold-selling, GRAMMY-nominated and Dove Award winning, globally relevant band Delirious recently announced to its fans worldwide that it is taking a break from recording and touring after 2009. Known as one of the industries best live bands, Delirious will keep its commitments through 2009, continuing to inspire music lovers worldwide while carrying on its tradition of spiritually challenging lyrics and pointing people to see the wonders of what God has done for them.

“We are all so deeply grateful to our incredible fans who have sung the songs and allowed Delirious the privilege of providing the soundtrack to many lives over the years,” said the band members collectively.

“From the school hall in Littlehampton to the stadiums of the world, we have many stories to tell our children’s children. Delirious also would not be what it is without our amazing wives and families, and our gratitude to them is immense. We will now move forward to the next part of our lives where new challenges unfold and greater stories will be written. “We want to make it absolutely clear that although this decision has been extremely difficult, we are still great friends and our respect for each other is unquestionable. We love playing in this band together and know that even though 2009 will bring an end to this current journey, there will be more adventures together in years to come.”The decision for the band to take a break from touring and recording was sparked by lead vocalist Martin Smith’s request to be released from the band to pursue his work with CompasssionArt and to be at home more with his wife, Anna, and his children. After traversing the world for more than a decade, the band honoured this request and made a decision together to end this chapter of their lives.

Delirious is regarded internationally as the galvanizing force that changed the face of worship worldwide and currently has 14 songs on the CCLI charts, including such international classics as “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever,” “Shout To The North,” “Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble” and “Majesty.”“For more than 15 years, Delirious have been one of the most influential and phenomenally popular bands in Christian music,” says Soul-Audio.com in a recent story. “With their signature blend of U2-style musicianship and poetic but accessible lyricism [Delirious] are responsible for one of the richest discographies in recent musical achievements.”

The band grew out of the “Cutting Edge” youth meetings in the early 1990s and was introduced to the American audience with its Gold-selling album, Cutting Edge (1998), sparking the huge radio hit “Deeper” followed by the hit single “Rain Down” from World Service in 2004.

The success of the songs carried the band around the globe. Over the last decade, Delirious has closed for the Pope in front of a million people in Germany, played in front of hundreds of thousands in India, headlined the 2004 Olympic Celebrations at the Omonia Square in Athens, Greece, toured with Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams and Matchbox 20, and was a headline performer at SWR3’s Arena of Sound 2004 music festival, where more than 80,000 fans filled the Schlossplatz in Stuttgart, Germany.Having released 14 albums and sold nearly three millions recordings, with its music being played and sold in over 100 countries, the band received its second Gospel Music Association International Award last year. Delirious traveled to at least 25 countries in 2007 alone, and has traveled this year to Colombia, Brazil, India, Australia, Slovakia, Portugal, Holland, France and US.

Recent tours have taken Delirious to some of the poorest countries on earth where they’ve faced encounters with life that made poverty personal and forced hard questions to be asked by each member of the band. It sparked a newfound commitment to social justice and compassionate ministry. Taking their renewed faith, thoughts and questions about these journeys into the studio for its current album, Kingdom of Comfort, the band emerged with an album full of songs that encompass every aspect of highs and lows they faced in their travels.Kingdom of Comfort is “conically adventurous” says the Lexington Herald-Leader, as About.com claims “Kingdom Of Comfort makes it easy to see why Delirious became such a hugely popular group.” Delirious s lead vocalist Martin Smith, guitarist Stu G, keyboardist Tim Jupp, bassist Jon Thatcher and drummer Paul Evans. Original band member and drummer Stew Smith left the band in May, but remains an integral part of the history of Delirious.

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