Lauren Daigle

Growing up in Lafayette, Louisiana surrounded by gospel, zydeco, blues, and Cajun music, Christian praise & worship singer/songwriter Lauren Daigle was always singing around the house as a child, but it wasn't until a serious illness kept her out of school for nearly two years beginning when she was 15 that she turned completely to music as both solace and a profession. Home-schooled during that time, music became Daigle's hedge against social isolation, and she began singing at her local church as a praise & worship leader. Blessed with a striking and smoky alto singing voice, she was encouraged to try out for the American Idol television series, which she did in both 2010 and 2012. The stressful and demanding process of trying out for the show taught her a lot of valuable lessons, and she returned home determined to sharpen her writing and singing skills. She began pursuing a child and family studies degree at Louisiana State University, and while there, was asked by a local band to help with vocals on an EP recording project. A demo of the EP somehow made it to the Centricity Music label and, impressed with her vocals, the label signed Daigle as a solo artist in 2013. Her five-song debut EP, How Can It Be, produced by Paul Mabury, was released in late 2014 and was an immediate success on the Christian charts. In the spring of 2015, How Can It Be was expanded into a full-length LP and became both a critical and commercial success, crossing over to reach number 30 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and eventually going gold. Daigle followed up in October 2016 with an album of soft jazz-inspired Christmas standards called Behold. The following year saw her contribute the single "Almost Human" to the soundtrack for Blade Runner 2049. In early 2018, Daigle issued the single "You Say" ahead of the release of her sophomore full-length Look Up Child, which arrived later that September.