Brandon Lake
Michael Brandon Lake, known professionally as Brandon Lake, is an American Christian worship singer-songwriter and guitarist. He writes songs at Seacoast Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and is a former member of Bethel Music and Maverick City Music. Lake began his recording career in 2015 with a successful crowdfunding campaign to produce an album, which resulted in the independent release of his debut studio album, Closer, in 2016.
Lake signed with Bethel Music in January 2019, and made his debut on the record label by releasing his version of Tasha Cobbs Leonard's hit single "This Is a Move". For his contributions as a songwriter on "This Is a Move", Lake received the GMA Dove Award Gospel Worship Recorded Song of the Year in the 2019 GMA Dove Awards. "This Is a Move" also earned Lake his first Grammy Award nomination for Best Gospel Performance/Song in the 2020 Grammy Awards. In 2020, he released his second studio album House of Miracles, which contained the singles "I Need a Ghost" and "Just Like Heaven". House of Miracles peaked at number six on Billboard's Top Christian Albums chart in the United States. In 2022, Lake released Help!, his third studio album, which is about mental health. Help! debuted at number 18 on the Billboard Top Christian Albums chart in the United States. He released "Gratitude" as his third single from House of Miracles, which became his first solo Hot Christian Songs number one single. He collaborated with Brooke Ligertwood on the single "Honey in the Rock" and with Maverick City Music, Kirk Franklin, and Chandler Moore on "Fear Is Not My Future". He released his fourth studio album, Coat of Many Colors, in 2023.
Lake is featured on Elevation Worship's hit single "Graves into Gardens", which became the first number one Hot Christian Songs chart single for both acts, and peaked at number two on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart in the United States. In 2021, he released the single "Too Good to Not Believe" with Bethel Music, as well as notable collaborations with Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music on "Talking to Jesus" and Chris Tomlin on "I See You". Lake garnered seven nominations at the 2021 GMA Dove Awards and won in two categories, Songwriter of the Year and Worship Recorded Song of the Year for "Graves into Gardens".
Early life
Brandon Lake grew up in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where his father was a pastor of a church plant. He developed a passion for playing the guitar in childhood, which was nurtured by his father who taught him to play a few basic chord progressions. Lake taught himself how to play the guitar using YouTube, learning songs by Third Day and Chris Tomlin. During his teenage years, Lake accompanied the worship team at his church and was later hired by Seacoast Church as a worship leader for their college ministry.Career
2015–2019: ''Closer'' and Bethel Music signing
On April 15, 2015, Brandon Lake launched a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to raise $23,000 to produce a new album. The campaign was a success, with 101 donors pledging $23,100. In 2016, he made his career debut with the release of "Run to You", the lead single to his debut album, Closer. He independently released Closer on May 20, 2016. In 2018, he released "Pour Me Out" as a standalone single.In January 2019, Bethel Music announced that Lake had joined their artist collective and that they had signed him to their record label. He led worship with Bethel Music on their Victory Tour, which featured special guests Tasha Cobbs Leonard and Housefires. On June 28, 2019, Lake released his rendition of Tasha Cobbs Leonard's song "This Is a Move", which he co-wrote with her. The song was released as a standalone single. "This Is a Move" was Lake's first charting single, debuting at number 36 on Billboard's Hot Christian Songs chart. Lake received a 2019 GMA Dove Award for Gospel Worship Recorded Song of the Year due to his songwriting contribution on "This Is a Move" by Cobbs Leonard. "This Is a Move" also received a songwriting nomination at the 2020 Grammy Awards in the Best Gospel Performance/Song category for Lake.
2020–2022: ''House of Miracles'' and ''Help!''
In early 2020, Lake was featured on several singles. The first collaboration single was Matt Redman's "We Praise You", released on January 11, 2020. On March 6, 2020, Bethel Music released a live rendition of "We Praise You" with Lake as the second single to Bethel's album Revival's in the Air. This was shortly followed by Lake's feature on Elevation Worship's "Graves into Gardens" released on March 13. "Graves into Gardens" debuted at number twelve on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart. It went on to peak at number one on the Hot Christian Songs chart, becoming Lake's first chart-topping hit single. "Graves into Gardens" won the Billboard Music Award for Top Christian Song at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards.On May 25, 2020, Bethel Music released the song "Come Out of that Grave " with Lake as a promotional single. "Come Out of that Grave " peaked at number 38 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart. On June 12, 2020, he was featured on Rebecca St. James' single "Battle Is the Lord's". "Battle Is the Lord's" went on to debut at number 48 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart.
On July 24, 2020, Lake released a new single titled "I Need a Ghost", as the lead single to his second studio album, House of Miracles, slated to be released in summer. "I Need a Ghost" debuted at number five on the Billboard Christian Digital Song Sales Chart. On August 14, 2020, Lake released "Just Like Heaven" as the second single from House of Miracles. "Just Like Heaven" peaked at number 36 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart. On August 17, 2020, Lake announced that the album was slated for release on August 28. The album was released on August 28, 2020, containing the singles "I Need a Ghost" and "Just Like Heaven". The album peaked at number six on Billboards Top Christian Albums chart.
On January 22, 2021, Lake released his first live album, House of Miracles , which contains live versions of some of the songs that initially appeared on House of Miracles studio album, as well as new songs. The album debuted at number 29 on the Top Christian Albums Chart. On February 6, 2021, Lake released a five-track EP titled Almond Eyes on digital platforms, the EP being his surprise tenth anniversary gift to his wife, Brittany Lake. Lake featured on "Talking to Jesus" by Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music, which was released as the second promotional single to their collaborative live album, Old Church Basement, on April 9, 2021. "Talking to Jesus" debuted at number nine on the US Hot Christian Songs chart and at number one on the Hot Gospel Songs chart, both dated April 22, 2021. Lake and Bethel Music released the song "Too Good to Not Believe" as a single on May 21, 2021. "Too Good to Not Believe" peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart. On August 6, 2021, Lake and Chris Tomlin released the song "I See You" as a single. "I See You" peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart.
Lake received seven nominations for the 2021 GMA Dove Awards in October, in categories such as New Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year for "I Need a Ghost," Song of the Year and Worship Recorded Song of the Year for his feature on "Graves into Gardens", and Long Form Video of the Year for House of Miracles , and he won the GMA Dove Award for the Songwriter of the Year and Worship Recorded Song of the Year for "Graves into Gardens". His 2020 song "Gratitude" featured in the 2021 Christmas special of Christian television series The Chosen, as a performance specifically for the special.
On March 25, 2022, Lake and Brooke Ligertwood released "Honey in the Rock" as a single to Christian radio in the United States. "Honey in the Rock" peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart. On April 11, 2022, Brandon Lake announced his first headlining tour, dubbed the Miracle Nights Tour, joined by Blessing Offor and Joshua Silverberg as special guests and set to visit twelve cities in the United States during the fall of 2022. On May 13, 2022, Brandon Lake released his third studio album, Help!, via Tribl Records. Help! is a concept album centered on mental health. Help! debuted at number 18 on the Top Christian Albums Chart. Lake released the radio version of "Gratitude" on June 3, 2022, making it the third and final single from House of Miracles. "Gratitude" peaked at number one on the Hot Christian Songs chart, marking his first number one single on the chart as a lead artist.
Lake received five nominations at the 2022 GMA Dove Awards, being nominated for Songwriter of the Year – Artist, songwriting nominations in the Song of the Year category for "Rattle!" by Elevation Worship and Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year category for "I Need You" by Gable Price and Friends, as well as producer nominations in the Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year and Christmas/Special Event Album of the Year categories for Maverick City Music albums Jubilee: Juneteenth Edition and A Very Maverick Christmas, respectively.
On October 28, 2022, Lake and KB released "Graves" as a single. "Graves" peaked at number 33 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart. On November 4, 2022, Lake featured on the radio version of "Fear Is Not My Future" released by Maverick City Music and Chandler Moore. "Fear Is Not My Future" peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart. On November 14, 2022, Lake announced the spring 2023 leg of the Miracle Nights Tour, with Benjamin William Hastings joining him as a special guest, spanning twelve cities across the United States.