Tanya Riches

Tanya Riches is a singer, songwriter, choir conductor, lecturer and pastor residing in Sydney, Australia.^[1] Originally publishing her works through Hillsong Church, she authored popular title 'Jesus What a Beautiful Name'^[2] at the age of 15, which reached the top #10 Christian congregational songs in Australia, charting also in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and many other nations.^[3] During her time at Hillsong she also wrote other songs such as 'Hear Our Prayer' recorded by the Hillsong United band on the album 'Everyday' and 'King of Love' recorded by the Hillsong Band on the album 'Hope'. Both albums reached gold status in Australia. She administrated Hillsong's United Live Youth Band along with Reuben Morgan and Marcus Beaumont until 2003 when Joel Houston became music director and lead singer of United.^[4][5] Her songs have been sung in Australian congregations since 1996.^[6]

In 2003 Tanya became the lead singer of popular Christian Indie band 'Speaking of Sarah', she toured Australia's main Christian festivals, main staging at Blackstump and Easterfest (formally known as AGMF) before the band broke up citing "... it was time for a few of the guys to get serious about their work and family commitments, and it was just impossible to put the hours into the band that they had been up until that point.".^[7] She attended North Shore Christian Centre as the creative pastor, releasing an EP 'King Above Us All' but returned to Hillsong in 2010 and is currently underway in production of a solo album. She is an occasional lecturer at Pentecostal Theological College Alphacrucis.^[8] and has written academic articles on Hillsong Music.^[9]

Tanya is married to singer/songwriter Tim Sheerman, and is now studying her PhD at Fuller Theological Seminary, L.A.

References