Bio : Tasha Cobbs Leonard

“I like to think of these songs as hymns from the future,” says Tasha Cobbs Leonard. “They’re meant to live on for generations, to reach people I’ll never meet, to spread the gospel for years and years to come.”

Indeed, there’s something utterly timeless about Leonard’s extraordinary new album, HYMNS, something at once both warmly familiar and breathtakingly fresh. Captured in front of a live audience of more than 3,000 at The Greenwood Oasis on the campus of New Life Southeast in Chicago, the record is a larger-than-life reimagining of classic hymns of love and grace, one that speaks to our modern world even as it reaches far beyond it. The arrangements are sweeping and cinematic here, drawing on worship and gospel and even hints of country, pop, and R&B at times, and the performances are electrifying to match, radiating an undeniable sense of joy and fellowship at every turn. Along with her all-star band, Leonard was joined by a series of iconic special guests for the recording (including Jennifer Hudson, Ricky Dillard, Mary Mary, Natalie Grant, Kierra Sheard Kelly, and The Walls Group), and the results are bolder and more ambitious than anything else in the powerhouse vocalist’s already-outsized catalog, a once in a lifetime performance captured for the ages in all its heartfelt glory.

“When I was dreaming this whole project up, the word big kept coming to me over and over again,” reflects Leonard. “I wanted to push myself make something bigger and more inspiring than anything I’d ever done before because that’s what these songs and these messages really demanded.”

A pastor’s daughter born and raised in Georgia, Leonard first emerged to widespread acclaim with her breakout 2013 release, Grace, which garnered a GRAMMY, three Doves, and three Stellar Awards on the strength of its chart-topping, platinum-selling lead single, “Break Every Chain.” In the years that followed, Leonard would go on to establish herself as one of her genre’s most celebrated voices, racking up more than two billion streams across platforms, landing three more #1 singles and five #1 albums, performing with everyone from Common and Nicki Minaj to Ne-Yo and Ciara, and making national television appearances on Good Morning America, CNN's Fourth of July, BET's Black Girls Rock, CBC’s A Day Of Healing, and the Super Bowl Gospel Celebration. Billboard named Leonard the Top Gospel Artist of the Decade, while NPR declared her a “gospel sensation,” and Forbes hailed her as “by far one of the most successful contemporary gospel artists of our time.” A tireless advocate for empowerment and positivity, Leonard also broke new ground as an author, actress, entrepreneur, and executive pastor at The Purpose Place Church in her adopted home of South Carolina, where she co-pastors with her husband and producer, Kenneth Leonard, Jr.

“When I go back and listen to those early albums of mine, I hear someone who’s eager and joyful and rushing into their faith with a kind of childlike wonder,” says Leonard. “But as I got a little older, you could start to hear the growth and the challenges I was facing as I struggled with starting a family and losing my father and battling depression. I think this new album is the sound of me emerging from all of those experiences with a greater perspective and appreciation for God’s love, with the intention of being a beacon of light and hope for anyone else on their own journey.”

For Leonard, the hymnal was a lifelong source of comfort and strength, both in times of hardship and celebration, but in recent years, she found herself contemplating what a more modern take on some of her favorite hymns might sound like, and how such an update might help spread the gospel to future generations of listeners.

“The messages of those songs, of God’s love and grace, that’s relevant to everyone at every age,” says Leonard. “So I started thinking about ways I could deliver them that would be as appealing to my eleven-year-old daughter as they would be to my 65-year-old mother, and that’s how this whole project really began.”

Working from a list of 15 classic hymns, Leonard and a host of her favorite collaborators gathered together for three days of intensive songwriting, diving deeper than ever before into the source material and utilizing it as a springboard toward crafting their own entirely new compositions.

“Most of us had been singing these hymns since we were little kids,” Leonard explains, “so this project was really refreshing because it forced us to pause and reconnect with the words, to ruminate on what the writers were going through and tap into the emotion behind the music. It was a challenge, but it was one we all faced with hope and the trust that this was what God wanted us to do.”

As the recording date drew nearer, Leonard leaned on the strength of the community she’d built around her, entrusting some of the early musical preparations to her husband and band while she focused on readying her voice for what was sure to be her most challenging performance to date.

“I knew this album would require more from me vocally than I’d ever given,” she explains, “so I went back to my voice instructor to really push myself. I spent my days doing vocal sessions before joining up with Kenneth and the band for rehearsals at night, so when you listen to this album, you’ll hear a lot of melismatic singing, a lot of new and different vocal runs that I’m really proud of.”

While Leonard’s explosive vocals and charismatic delivery are certainly the centerpiece of HYMNS, Leonard herself would be the first to tell you that the album is truly a group effort. Opening track “The Moment” sets the stage, with a 12-person backing ensemble imploring, “Don’t miss this moment / You’ve been waiting for a long time.”

“My friend Deon Kipping sent me that song three days before we were set to record, and right away it just felt like this puzzle piece that we’d been missing,” Leonard recalls. “It’s one of only two songs on the record that aren’t based off of old hymns, but it laid the groundwork so perfectly for everything to come that I knew we needed to capture it. It’s a promise that we’re going to take you somewhere in worship and praise, that this a journey you don’t want to let pass you by.”

HYMNS more than lives up to that promise. The ecstatic “Burdens Down” revels in the lightness that comes from trusting God to see us through times of darkness and doubt; the soaring “Jesus Lover Of My Soul” celebrates the healing power of the Holy Spirit with an assist from the spectacular harmonies of The Walls Group; and the rafter-raising “Power” finds Leonard reuniting with longtime collaborator Kierra Sheard Kelly for a show-stopping vocal tour-de-force.

“I recorded my last album inside an empty Ryman Auditorium during the pandemic,” says Leonard, “but whether I’m performing by myself or for a packed house, it’s always the same for me because I’ve always got an audience of one in my heart: God. I’m doing this all for His glory, so if you put me onstage, it’s impossible for me to give anything less than everything I’ve got.”

Elsewhere on the album, Leonard and Jennifer Hudson bring the house down on a jaw-dropping performance of “It Is Well,” while Natalie Grant lends her captivating voice to the rousing “Jesus What A Friend,” and Mary Mary lights up the R&B-tinged “Counting My Blessings.” As spectacular and irresistible as some of those marquee moments are, though, it’s often the album’s most hushed tunes that linger on long after listening. The tender “Jesus Is Mine,” for instance, celebrates the intimacy of our relationship with our savior; the stripped-down “At The Cross” (featuring just Leonard and her husband on vocals and piano) meditates on the power of His sacrifice; and the heartwarming “The Church I Grew Up In” honors the roots that ground us and shape the people we become.

“‘The Church I Grew Up in’ is really what this whole album is about,” says Leonard. “While we were performing it, we had a video playing behind us with footage of the very first church my father built in Georgia, and I wanted to share that with people to remind them that the church matters, that they matter. I think coming out of the last few years, we’ve all had our faith shaken a bit, but God’s church is still alive and His power is still here.”

With HYMNS, that power is on full display for all to share and celebrate, now and forever.