Sunday Service Choir | |
Origin: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Years Active: | –present |
Current Members: |
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The Sunday Service Choir (commonly referred as Sunday Service) is an American gospel group led by artist and producer Kanye West and conducted by choir director Jason White. Beginning in January 2019, the group has performed every Sunday as well as on Friday, September 27, when West's album Jesus Is King was announced for release. Their debut album, Jesus Is Born, was released three months later on Christmas Day in 2019.
In September 2018, West announced that his ninth studio album Yandhi would be released later in the month. He later postponed the date to November 2018 in order to record in Uganda. The album was postponed a second time in November with no set release date. On the first Sunday of 2019, West began the first "Sunday Service" rehearsal, where he performed gospel iterations of his discography and other songs with a choir group, The Samples[1] and frequent collaborators like Tony Williams, Francis and the Lights, and Ant Clemons.[2] During Sunday Service rehearsals, several songs from Yandhi have been performed.[3]
On January 12, 2019, it was reported that West was replaced by Ariana Grande as a headliner for Coachella. West pulled out because a giant dome could not be constructed for the performance.[4] On March 31, 2019, West announced that Sunday Service would perform an Easter set at Coachella.[5] The first public Sunday Service performance was at Coachella for Easter on April 21, 2019.[6] On October 5, 2019, he brought Sunday Service to The Gateway in Salt Lake City, Utah.[7] His performance occurred on an already busier than usual weekend with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holding their semi-annual General Conference the same weekend.
West collaborated with pastor Joel Osteen, who hosted West at Lakewood Church located in Houston on November 17, 2019. Although the tickets were free for the event, those who had tickets began to sell them online for up to $500.[8] On November 21, 2019, Sunday Service announced that they would be a part of the youth Strength to Stand Conference, which would be held at LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee from January 18–20, 2020.[9] West's performance was added after comedian John Crist's performance was canceled after Crist was suspected of sexual misconduct.[10] On December 25, 2019, Sunday Service released Jesus is Born as West had said. Exactly a year later Sunday Service released the Emmanuel EP, featuring 5 new tracks composed and produced entirely by West in Latin, based on texts from the Roman Breviary and the Roman Gradual.
The group returned in 2024 on the Will Smith comeback single "You Can Make It", featuring the singer Fridayy. It was Smith's first new song in nearly two decades.[11]
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
US [12] | US Gospel [13] | |||
Jesus Is Born |
| 73 | 2 | |
Go Tell It |
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Title | Album details | |
---|---|---|
Emmanuel |
| |
My Lord Is Here |
| |
God Is the Lord |
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Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [16] | US Gospel [17] | AUS [18] | CAN [19] | FRA [20] | UK R&B [21] | ||||||||
"Father Stretch" | 2020 | — | 10 | — | — | — | — | Jesus Is Born | |||||
"Ultralight Beam" | — | 11 | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Rain" | — | 15 | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Count Your Blessings" | — | 16 | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"" | — | 17 | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Excellent" | — | 20 | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Follow Me / Fade" | — | 22 | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Lift Up Your Voices" | — | 24 | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"More Than Anything" | — | 25 | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NG [22] | US | US Afrobeats [23] | US Gospel | AUS | CAN | FRA | UK R&B | UK Afrobeats [24] | |||||
"Every Hour" | 2019 | — | 45 | — | 8 | 33 | 57 | 131 | 21 | — | Jesus Is King | ||
"Stand Strong" | 2022 | 6 | — | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | 9 | |||
"You Can Make It" | 2024 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Year | Other artist(s) | Notes | Album | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
"Every Hour" | 2019 | Kanye West | Featured vocals | Jesus Is King | |
"Selah" | Additional vocals | ||||
"Everything We Need" | Kanye West, Ant Clemons, Ty Dolla Sign | ||||
"Water" | Kanye West, Ant Clemons | ||||
"No Luck"[25] | 2021 | KayCyy | |||
"Jail" | Kanye West, Jay-Z | Donda | |||
"Hurricane" | Kanye West, The Weeknd, Lil Baby | ||||
"24" | Kanye West | ||||
"Donda" | |||||
"Jesus Lord" | Kanye West, Jay Electronica | ||||
"New Again" | Kanye West | ||||
"Lord I Need You" | |||||
"Finish Line"[26] | Elton John, Stevie Wonder | The Lockdown Sessions | |||
"Up from the Ashes" | Kanye West | Donda (Deluxe) | |||
"Fractions of Infinity" | 2022 | Quadeca | Featured vocals | I Didn't Mean to Haunt You | |
"My Soul" | 2024 | ¥$, Big TC | Additional vocals | Vultures 2 |