Christy Nockels

Christy Nockels is a Dove Award-winning singer/songwriter and worship leader known for her heartfelt lyrics and uplifting sound. She began her career as part of Sons & Daughters and the acclaimed duo Watermark before launching a successful solo journey in the late 2000s. From her 2009 debut, Life Light Up, she steadily climbed the charts and has maintained a strong presence on both the secular and Christian scenes with acclaimed efforts like Let It Be Jesus (2015), This Is the Hour (2023), and King Who Never Sleeps: Anthems for Rest (2025). Christy Lynette Hill was born in Ft. Worth, Texas, and raised in Oklahoma, the daughter of a pastor and a piano teacher. She met her future husband and musical collaborator Nathan Nockels in 1993 at a Christian artists seminar. The two married in 1995 and began writing the songs that would make up their debut album, Holy Roar, recorded with longtime friends Charlie and Kimber Hall and released under the billing Sons & Daughters.Upon relocating to Texas, the duo was championed and eventually signed by Rocketown Records, a small label owned by Grammy Award-winning CCM artist Michael W. Smith. They moved back to Nashville in 1998 and formed the highly successful Watermark, releasing five albums that resulted in both significant chart success and a handful of Dove Awards. In 2009, Christy launched a solo career with her debut album, Life Light Up, on Six Steps Records. Into the Glorious, her follow-up, arrived in 2012 and reached number two on Billboard's Christian Albums chart. After 2015's live offering Let It Be Jesus, Christy returned to the studio to record her third album, The Thrill of Hope, which was released on the Nockels' own imprint, Keepers Branch Records. In 2017 she delivered the full-length Be Held: Lullabies for the Beloved, featuring songs that originated as lullabies sung to her own children. An instrumental version landed in 2018, while a "Renewed" iteration of The Thrill of Hope was issued the following year. A five-year hiatus preceded the arrival of her next studio effort. Released in 2023, This Is the Hour saw Nockels deliver a life-affirming 14-song set that included the CCM hits "Valor," "Home," and "Come Magnify." Two years later, she released King Who Never Sleeps: Anthems for Rest, a deeply personal collection of songs produced by her husband.
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