Lauren Daigle

Background

Daigle grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana in an environment of Zydeco, Blues and Cajun music. Because she had an immune deficiency while in high school, she completed two years of homeschooling / distance education. Lauren attended Louisiana State University, while still focusing on music.

Early music career

Daigle started singing in her choir and continued to lead the choir while studying Child and Family Studies at Louisiana State University. She tried out for American Idol in 2010 and 2012 after her father encouraged her to compete in the singing competition. She was cut just before the final 24 contestants in 2010, did not make Hollywood in 2011, made it through the Hollywood round in 2012, but was cut in the first Las Vegas round in 2012.

Daigle was asked to sing background vocals on an EP for a local band called "The Assemblie" and the EP briefly hit #1 on iTunes. After the release of the EP, Centricity Music invited her to attend a workshop. When the singer for the main event at the workshop became ill, she was asked to fill in. This led to her singing on the Jason Gray single "Nothing is Wasted". Centricity Music signed her on the label in 2013.

Her first single, "Light of the World" came from the 2013 album Christmas: Joy To The World, a collection of holiday songs from various Centricity artists. Serving as Daigle's solo introduction to the Christian music scene, the single garnered an initial fan-base and much attention for Daigle. She released the EP How Can It Be in September 2014. That year, Daigle was asked to be a part of the Morning Rises Fall Tour with Aaron Shust and Mikeschair.

How Can It Be

Daigle's debut full-length album, How Can It Be was released April 14, 2015, debuting at No. 1 both on Billboard's Christian Albums Charts and the iTunes Christian Albums Chart. The album also broke Top 20 both on the Billboard Top Albums Chart for all genres (#16) and on the iTunes Top Albums Chart for all genres (#17). Daigle was named one of Christian music's break-out artists, and her album's first single "How Can It Be" was named by iTunes as one of the Top Christian songs of 2014. The single "How Can It Be" also reached Top 10 at NCA, AC Monitored, and AC Indicator. As a whole, the album logged six weeks at #1 on Billboard's Top Christian Albums Chart. Eighteen months after its release, How Can It Be achieved Gold Record status, a rare achievement for an artist's debut album.

The additional singles from How Can It Be also gained success for Daigle. "First" hit #1 on the Billboard Christian Airplay Chart, where it remained for 7 weeks; "Trust in You" also hit the #1 spot, remaining for 8 weeks. Both songs achieved the #1 spot on the NCA radio chart. "Come Alive (Dry Bones)" peaked at #5 on Billboard's Christian Airplay chart.

On June 1, 2015, Daigle accepted her first award, Worship Song of the Year, for her single "How Can It Be" at the K-Love Awards. This was also the first K-Love Fan Award for her label, Centricity Music. The album How Can It Be won the 2016 Billboard Award for Top Christian Album and was nominated for the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album. Along with being named Best New Artist at the 2015 Dove Awards, Daigle earned awards for Song of the Year and Contemporary Song of the Year (for "How Can It Be). At the next year's ceremony, she took home the top honor of Artist of the Year, plus Songwriter of the Year, and Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year (for "Trust in You"). That year she also won two K-Love Fan Awards, for Artist of the Year and Female Artist of the Year. She received another Grammy nomination in 2017, for Best Contemporary Christian Song, (for "Trust in You"). Daigle won Female Artist of the Year at the K-Love Fan Awards in 2017 for the second year in a row.

The album's overall success resulted in the release of How Can It Be: Deluxe Edition in May 2016. The deluxe version features the original album's tracks, along with two new songs, acoustic versions of singles "First" and "Come Alive," and a live performance version of "How Can It Be."

Tour and other projects

In the summer of 2015, Daigle was a member of the high-profile Outcry Tour along with Hillsong United. She was also part of the Winter Jam Tour 2016 in the central and eastern parts of the United States.

In fall of 2016, Daigle headlined her first tour, A Night With Lauren Daigle, which sold out. That winter she joined band For King and Country on their holiday tour. She will be part of the Outcry Tour again in the spring of 2017.

In October 2016, Daigle released her first Christmas album, "Behold: A Christmas Collection." The record gives homage to Daigle's New Orleans roots, with a soft jazz sound. The album features both religious and secular Christmas songs, along with a new version of Daigle's 2013 single "Light of the World." "Behold" hit #29 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart.

Discography