Retro Insider - "Delirious?"

Next we look at a band who has gained international attention and arguably ushered in the modern day praise and worship movement. They are from the UK and were huge there before North America even knew them. Who are we talking about... Delirious?.
Delirious? began in 1993 as a worship band for the youth outreach event in England called The Cutting Edge. As their popularity rose, venues had to get larger, but they remained Cutting Edge’s house band. In 1996, they played to 4,000 people on Littlehampton’s beach. The event was filmed as a documentary. The last Cutting Edge was performed in 1997 at the same location. Through this, their music became well known in Christian circles. They released four EPs (Extended Play, single record music downloads) under the Cutting Edge name. They sold 70,000 through mail orders. Some of the band’s greatest hits were written during this era. The Cutting Edge was released to Canada and went gold.
In 1995, Martin Smith (lead singer), his wife, and Jon Thatcher (bass guitar) were involved in a car accident. During recovery, Smith made a decision to become a full time musician and Delirious? was born. There have been membership changes but the most complete Delirious? lineup is vocalist Martin Smith, lead guitar Stu Garrard, keyboardist Tim Jupp, bassist Jon Thatcher, and drummer Stew Smith.
In 1997, the band released King of Fools. This contained "Historymaker", and "Deeper". The album went silver. Their record label EMI handled their UK releases, while Virgin and Sparrow Records served them in North America. In 1998, they released their second live album, d:tour. The 1999 release Mezzamorphis drew fire from the mainstream as they were targeted for being "Christian", and equal slack from the Christians claiming they just "sold out" for going mainstream. Possibly to compensate, in 2000, they released Glo (short for glorious). The album was number 1 on Christian charts for 8 months. They played to 55,000 people at the Creation Festival (Chicago, IL).
In 2001, they released Audio Lessonover. Sales were lower and claims of selling out rang out again. That year they opened for Matchbox 20 and headliner Bon Jovi on their Crush world tour. The album was later re-styled as Touch for North American audiences.
2002 saw the release of Libertad, a Spanish album and Assess:D, a live album. 2003 saw the release of World Service. A very successful record thanks to digital downloads. In 2005, they released Mission Bell, receiving very positive reviews. In 2006 they released a live album/DVD called Live at Willow Creek. A very powerful concert and tour, and then in 2008, they released Kingdom of Comfort.
The band announced in 2008 that they would be taking a break at the end of 2009, but they gave fans another live album/DVD set in the spring of 2009 called My Soul Sings, recorded in Columbia. Their farewell tour will be in the UK this fall (2009) and will cease as a band at the end of November.
For more information, check out their website at www.delirious.co.uk