Newsboys

Newsboys has recently been named Australian Christian music’s “Artist of the year.”

After scoring international success and fame, former Queensland band Newsboys has been named Australian Christian music’s Artist of the Year.
The band, which started in a garage at Mooloolaba, Queensland, and played one of their fi rst gigs at the Woombye Pub, has sold well in excess of six million records, had four Grammy nominations and scored more than 25 number-one hits.

But despite being based just out of Nashville in Tennessee, the Newsboys still consider themselves very much an Aussie band, with lead singer Peter Furler delighted to be given the Australian accolade after so many years.

"It’s something we are proud of (being Australian),’’ he said from his home in the US. “Aussies have done some fantastic things and from such a small nation, there have been so many achievements. It’s where we cut our teeth and you can’t forget your roots.’’ In recent years, Newsboys has been a regular entry on Business Review Weekly’s list of top-earning Australian overseas artists.
Three of the band, including former Woombye resident Duncan Phillips (drums) and Melbourne guitarist Paul Colman, formerly of Paul Colman Trio, are Australian while the fourth member, Jeff Frankenstein, on keyboards, is from Detroit.
Newsboys also picked up the award for “Song of the year” for “Something beautiful,” one of three number-one hits off the new album Go.

The honours were announced by Australia’s national Christian music charts, The Rock Across Australia (TRAA). The charts report airplay from more than 20 Christian stations throughout the country, representing more than a million listeners each week.
In March, Newsboys will return to Australia for a national tour, which will include the huge Easterfest in Toowoomba (March 22), RezFest in Melbourne (March 23) plus concerts in Adelaide (March 27) and Sydney (March 29).

Furler said he was keen to bring the hugely successful “Go” show down under, with every song in the setlist having been a numberone hit.
In recent years, the band’s fame has spread well beyond the huge US Christian music market, with shows in China, Russia, Morocco, Israel and even northern Ugandan, where they helped highlight the plight of child soldiers.

Furler revealed he is working on a new studio album, which he hopes to be out later this year. Fans can expect the album to take the latest Go album to a new level, with a continuation of the strong Europop sound featured on “Something beautiful” and the latest hit “Stay strong.” “It has better songs than Go. It’s got more consistency than Go.
Every song feels like it’s meant to be there.”