In just a few short years , Anne has amassed an impressive impact upon music . Unconventional and quite remarkable , her story is one for aspiring songwriters and artists to take note of . Timid to sing in front of her family and the public , she was thrust into the role unexpectedly . Her debut full-length , project , My Jesus , releases on April 22 .
[ WM ] Anne , what a pleasure it is to visit with you today . This is our first meeting !
[ Anne Wilson ] Yeah , it ' s so good to be here with you . I ' m glad this worked out .
[ WM ] Your story is a truly remarkable one . As I understand it , your dear brother Jacob tragically passed away several years ago in an auto accident . When you agreed to sing at his memorial service , it was just your first time to sing in public . The service was captured on video and circulated via the internet , culminating in a record company contract . That ’ s not how things are normally done .
[ Anne ] One thing I never dreamed of doing as a little girl was wanting to be an artist . Anyway , you hear a lot of musicians say , " I grew up singing and I grew up wanting to be an artist , and I wanted to be famous ”, or , " I wanted to whatever ." Those were not my goals or aspirations . I actually wanted to work for NASA , and I wanted to be an astronaut , and go to space eventually . And so , when I was a little girl , I was very good in math and science , and God was trying to get to me in that area . Throughout my whole high school and middle school , and even my elementary school years , it was just a really , big passion of mine .
And so , the summer going into my sophomore year of high school , my brother passed away in a car accident . And , he died in downtown Lexington , Kentucky , and when that happened . my life just flipped upside down . I was a Christian and I loved Jesus , but I had never had this strong desire to worship Him before . And so , for the first time ever , I just wanted to worship the Lord deeply and just sing to Him and praise
His name . So , I started just worshiping the Lord and sitting down at the piano , and on day four after my brother had passed away , and watching all the details , my mom came into the family room where our piano is . And she asked me if I would be willing to sing at the funeral . She had never heard me sing before and I ' d never sung in front of people . She said , " Anne , I didn ' t know that you could sing . Would you be willing to sing at the funeral for Jacob ?"
After praying about it , I felt like God was calling me in that direction . And so , I sang at the funeral for the first time in front of everyone , and that was what led me to the song that I sang , which was “ What A Beautiful Name ” by Hillsong . I wanted to make a video of that song and put it on YouTube , so I could reach people for the Lord , but then also just have something to look back on . And so , that video ended up going viral at the time , and that ' s kind of how the whole Nashville process started .
[ WM ] That ’ s unbelievable ! Your single , “ My