Darlene Zschech

Darlene Joyce Zschech (born Steinhardt on 8 September 1965 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) is an Australian Pentecostal Christian worship leader and singer-songwriter who primarily writes praise and worship songs. She is the former worship pastor of Hillsong Church and is currently a member of Compassionart, a charity founded by Martin Smith.
As a young adult Zschech sang jingles for a number of international companies including McDonald's, KFC and Coca Cola.
 
In 2003, Zschech released her first solo album in nine years, entitled Kiss of Heaven. She had earlier released a vinyl album in 1987 called Make The Choice and a cassette album in 1993 called Pearls & Gold. Change Your World followed in 2005. She has since released two albums in 2011 called Simply Darlene and You Are Love. In addition to writing songs, Zschech has written four books: Worship (1996), Extravagant Worship (2002), The Kiss of Heaven (2003) and The Great Generational Transition (2009).
 
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by John Bush
 
One of the international gospel community's best contemporary worship leaders, Darlene Zschech was nominated for Song of the Year at the Dove Awards for "Shout to the Lord." The album Shout to the Lord had been released in early 1996, and a slow build over the course of the next year made it one of the most popular songs of 1997. In early 2000 she released a live album, The Power of Your Love, that also featured Ralph Carmichael and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.