Harry Connick Jr. Rejoices Over Top 5 Christian Album Amidst Critical Acclaim

Harry Connick Jr. has amased 10 #1 Billboard Top Jazz albums and two top 10 Billboard 200 albums. However, this is the first time in his three decades long career to earn a top 5 Billboard Christian album. This week, Connick's first faith-based album Alone with My Faith enters the Billboard Christian Album chart at #4. The album moved 3,000 equivalent album units last week.

Connick tells Billboard: "My faith was such an important part of getting me through. What I wanted more than anything else was to have the music resonate with everyone else, as we were all going through a shared experience. I cannot begin to explain how happy and honored I am to have Alone With My Faith debut in the top five on the Top Christian Albums chart." 

Music critics are equally excited about Alone with My Faith:

"Connick achieves some transcendent moments on the record, thanks in no small part to his omnipresent virtuosity, playing every instrument on every track. " -- Allmusic.com

"My life has changed/My world is uncertain. Those are the first words sung by Harry Connick Jr. on his new album Alone With My Faith. They set the tone for a record that asks the questions that have been bedeviling all of us for the past year or so. Connick searched for those answers while doing bold reinterpretations of traditional gospel songs." -- American Songwriter 

"It's apparent that Connick is a musical craftsman. Press materials indicate that he recorded all vocals and instruments himself, showing just how impressive he is as a musical artist. This is notable on cuts like the stripped down "Be Not Afraid" (which was written by Richard Buford) with it's stacked vocal backgrounds and unique instrumentation."  -- Absolutely Gospel

 "Alone With My Faith isn't the most flamboyant album nor the biggest or grandiose; but there's raw emotion and honesty here. Isn't that what you would want the most from a worship album? And what better way to connect with this release than listen to this on Good Friday? Need I say more? How about sit and contemplate and reflect upon God's goodness while listening to this release?" -- 365 Days of Inspiring Media  

"`Alone with My Faith' may be Connick's first attempt into Gospel music, but it contains all of Connick's deft fingerprints. It's innovative, daring, fresh, and varied. Just as jazz music knows no bounds in Connick's hands, the same goes for this Gospel record.  -- Jubileecast

Born and raised in New Orleans, music and faith have been a part of Connick's life since childhood. "I was raised Catholic, but interestingly my mother was Jewish and did not want me or my sister to be baptized at birth," Connick shares. "She wanted us to decide for ourselves what religion we wanted to be, so I wasn't baptized as a baby, but I went to church with my dad every Sunday and my sister. Then not long after my mother died when I was 13, I decided I wanted to be baptized and confirmed in the Catholic church so I did. I studied my catechism and did all the things I needed to do and got baptized. I've been faithful my whole life but sort of officially as a Catholic since I was 14. My wife Jill is Methodist and we decided we wanted to baptize our children in the Catholic Church so we did that. All three of our girls are Catholic." 

 

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