William Irvin Matthews (born November 5, 1983) is an American

Christian music Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely aroun ...

ian. He started his music career in 2011, with the release of '' Hope's Anthem'', by

Bethel Music Bethel Music is an American music label and worship movement from Redding, California, originating out of Bethel Church where they started making music in 2001. Bethel Music has grown from being a local church music ministry to a global outreach ...

alongside Kingsway Music.

Early life

Matthews was born William Irvin Matthews on November 5, 1983, in the city of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

to a father who was a preacher and a mother who was a choir director. At 12 years old, he moved with his family to

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southe ...

, where he started honing his acumen as a songwriter. His baptism occurred when he was 18 years old. He moved to Kansas City, Missouri for the first part of 2007, where he attended worship services at

International House of Prayer The International House of Prayer (IHOPKC) is a charismatic evangelical Christian movement and missions organization based in Kansas City, Missouri, and the nearby suburb of Grandview that focuses on the inerrancy of scripture, and biblical ...

. Subsequently, he relocated later that year to Redding, California at the request of

Kim Walker-Smith Kim Walker-Smith (born December 19, 1981 as Kimberlee Dawn Walker) is an American singer, songwriter, worship leader, and recording artist. She produced her first solo album, ''Here Is My Song'', which was released in February 2008 through the Je ...

, where he met

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...

and Jenn Johnson. Matthews ended up loving the church for its worship program, and remained a member of Bethel Church for several years. In 2014, Matthews left Bethel Church after six years, citing creative exploration and a desire to move in a new direction. Matthews remained on the Bethel Music label post-departure contributing to the Bethel Music compilation album Have it All (Live). On November 29, 2016, Bethel Music released a statement via their November newsletter and also on their website communicating, "As of June 13, 2016, Bethel Music and William Matthews have agreed that William will no longer be affiliated with Bethel Music, and William will no longer be in leadership within any of the worship communities at Bethel Church." Matthews later explained, "As a worship leader, you have to be all things for all people; you're not an artist... I'd rather be an artist than a worship leader."

Music career

His music recording career commenced in 2011 with the album, '' Hope's Anthem'', released on July 26, 2011, by

alongside Kingsway Music. The album was his breakthrough release upon the ''Billboard'' charts, where it placed at No. 27 on the

Christian Albums Top Christian Albums is a weekly chart published in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the best-performing Christian albums in the United States. Like the ''Billboard'' 200, the data is compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly ...

chart and No. 19 on the Heatseekers Albums chart.Chart search for William Matthews
at billboard.com/biz

Discography

References

External links

*
Bethel Music profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, William 1983 births Living people African-American songwriters African-American Christians Musicians from Detroit Musicians from Raleigh, North Carolina Musicians from Kansas City, Missouri Musicians from California Songwriters from Michigan Songwriters from North Carolina Songwriters from Missouri Songwriters from California