Darlene Zschech
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Darlene Zschech
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For over nine years Darlene Zschech and her husband, Mark, have been a vital part of the leadership team at Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. The church values contemporary Praise and Worship music and has a reputation for excellence with its choirs and musicians. Darlene serves as Worship Director for Hills and is responsible for vocals on all church projects and for Youth Alive New South Wales. Since childhood, Darlene has made music an integral part of her life. From the age of ten, she performed in a weekly children's television show - singing, dancing and hosting segments. As a teenager, Darlene continued in music, fronting various local gospel bands in Brisbane. Darlene is an accomplished performer with eight years of vocal training and nine years of dance training. She has toured as a background vocalist and has sung and arranged backing vocals on many successful Christian music albums. Darlene previously released two solo albums with sales success in Japan, Spain and Germany. In addition, she has performed throughout Australia, Great Britain and Europe at festivals such as Blackstump, Greenbelt, Flevo and DeBron. Darlene has considerable session experience and has worked on numerous commercials. Some of her most notable clients include McDonald's, Special K, KFC and Diet Coke. In 1994, Darlene also put choirs together for the Australian tours of Michael Bolton and Barry Manilow, both of which were received with great success. Darlene's contribution to Hills' annual Hillsongs Conference for worship/ministry workers is also substantial. Through daily seminars, she helps equip attendees to be more effective in local churches throughout the world, as well as inspiring thousands at the event's nightly rallies. Songwriting is also one of Darlene's passions. Her song "Shout To The Lord" became the title song for a Hosanna! Music project that topped praise and worship charts for over 30 weeks. The song, itself, garnered a nomination for Song of the Year at the 29th Annual Dove Awards while the album gave Darlene the distinction of being the first female worship leader in the long-running, critically-acclaimed music series from Integrity Incorporated. In addition, Darlene appears on the successful follow-up, Shout To The Lord 2000, which received a Dove Award nomination for Praise and Worship Album of the Year at the 31st Annual Dove Awards. She also appears on 12 Hillsong-label recordings, one independent project, I Believe The Promise and a double-CD compilation titled Shout to the Lord - The Platinum Collection. All total, the Hosanna! Music and Hillsong Music Australia albums featuring Darlene have sold over 2.25 million units in the U.S. alone. In addition to the music side of her ministry, Darlene serves as Executive Director of Mercy Ministries Australia, a Christ-centered residential program for girls and women who suffer from eating disorders, drug addiction and emotional/physical abuse. Awards/Recognition
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