Jaci Velasquez.

Jaci Velasquez was 16 when “Heavenly Place” (1996) came out and her voice was already on Christian radio in the United States. Nearly thirty years later, her songs draw more than a million monthly listeners on Spotify, and she holds three Grammy nominations and three Latin Grammy nominations. She was born in Houston, Texas, on October 15, 1979.

She grew up in a family that sang in church, started singing at age ten, and by thirteen had already performed at the White House. After years of touring with the family worship ministry, she signed with Myrrh in 1995. “Heavenly Place,” her debut produced by Mark Heimermann, gave her her first No. 1 on Christian radio and in 1997 made her New Artist of the Year at the Dove Awards. She has won seven of those awards and 16 No. 1s on Christian radio.

In 1999 came “Llegar a Ti,” her first Spanish-language album, produced by Rudy Pérez. The title track topped Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs and Latin Pop Airplay charts, the first time a Christian artist reached No. 1 on a Latin chart. That crossover earned her three Grammy nominations — for “Llegar a Ti,” “Crystal Clear,” and “Mi Corazón” — and one Latin Grammy nomination, also for “Llegar a Ti.” The other two, for “Milagro” and “Confío,” would come later, in a decade of albums in both languages: “Milagro” (2003), “Beauty Has Grace” (2005), “Love Out Loud” (2008), “Diamond” (2012), and the lullaby album “Buenas Noches Mi Sol” (2012).

In 2017 she released “Trust” and “Confío” on the same day: her first worship album, her first with Integrity Music, and the first to come out in English and Spanish at the same time. “Confío” earned her a Latin Grammy nomination, a Dove Award, and two Arpa Awards. After eight years without releasing music, she returned in September 2025 with “¡DALE! Praise,” alongside singer Evan Egerer.

Her music has a signature: she sings in English and Spanish with the same ease, and she speaks about faith without gloss or easy promises. There are radio ballads (“Como se cura una herida” still plays two decades later), church hymns, and lullabies for putting children to sleep. Which of her songs do you know by heart without even realizing it?