Francesca Battistelli

Blending elements of soul, alternative rock, gospel, and mainstream pop into her Billboard-charting songs, Grammy Award winner Francesca Battistelli began writing and performing her own material at age 15. A childhood immersed in music, dance, and theater prepared her for a future career on the stage. She was still a teen when she released her debut album, Just a Breath, in 2004. Her second long-player, 2008's My Paper Heart, topped the Billboard Christian albums chart with help from the Christian number one song "Free to Be Me." By 2014, Battistelli had sung her way into the mainstream, peaking just outside the Billboard 200 Top Ten with her fifth set, If We're Honest, which featured a pair of gold-certified singles: "He Knows My Name" and the Grammy-winning "Holy Spirit." In 2020, she returned to the Billboard holiday albums chart with her second seasonal release, This Christmas. The soundtrack entry "God Is Good" from the film God's Not Dead: We the People arrived in 2021.

When she was six years old, Battistelli, a New York native, attended a Broadway performance of The Secret Garden and walked away with her sights set on the stage. Both of her parents were experienced theater performers who supported getting her into acting classes and dance lessons. By the age of 15, Battistelli had earned a spot in the Orlando-based teen pop group Bella. After the group disbanded, she attended a youth ministry and began shifting her focus toward Christian pop music. The future Dove Award winner began learning how to play guitar, which helped her to write her own songs.

Battistelli released an independent album, Just a Breath, in 2004. An EP titled I'm Letting Go followed in early 2008, marking her first release for the contemporary Christian label Fervent Records. Later that year, the label issued her full-length debut, My Paper Heart, which cracked the Billboard 200's Top 40 and produced the Christian number one "Free to Be Me." The follow-up single, "It's Your Life," landed on the Hot 100, reaching number 95. In 2010, she won a Dove Award for Female Vocalist of the Year.

Battistelli's next album, 2011's Hundred More Years, garnered even more success, debuting at number 16 on the Billboard 200 while topping the Christian albums chart. She also scored her second consecutive win for Dove's Female Vocalist of the Year Award. Following the release of 2012's Christmas, she rose to a career-high 13 on the Billboard 200 with her fifth album, 2014's If We're Honest. It produced four Top Ten Christian hits, including "Write Your Story" and "Holy Spirit." The latter won Battistelli a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song in 2016.

Battistelli returned to the Christian charts in 2017 with Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years and then in 2018 with the single "The Breakup Song" from Own It, her sixth studio LP. It became her fifth consecutive album to reach the Billboard Top Christian Albums Top Five. She peaked at number 12 on the holiday albums chart in 2020 with her second Christmas release, This Christmas. A song for the God's Not Dead film franchise entry We the People, "God Is Good," appeared in 2021.