YFriday
| YFriday | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Newcastle upon Tyne, England |
| Genres | Christian rock |
| Years active | 1994–2010 |
| Labels | Survivor Records |
| Website | www |
| Members | Ken Riley Gav Richards Danny Smith Dez Minto |
YFriday were a British Christian rock and worship band from Newcastle upon Tyne. From their beginning in 1994 until they split in 2010, they gained popularity amongst Christian music fans around the world, particularly in the United Kingdom. In 2010, YFriday announced that they were commencing their final months before disbanding later in the same year, after releasing a number of successful albums.
The group was formed in 1994, originally as the house band for a monthly evangelistic outreach event run by Youth for Christ called WhyFriday?. The WhyFriday? outreach programme initially had a regular attendance of about 50–60 young people, but this steadily grew and the programme, now called IXth Hour, is currently held in the Newcastle City Hall, and has around 800 attendees each month. The band still played there regularly until 2010.
Following the 1999 release of the Rainmaker album, the band were approached by Kingsway with an offer of a 3-year recording contract. Bassist Danny Smith joined the band in 2001, in time for the Open album. It was at this time that the band members made the decision to leave their jobs to work together full-time,. They also released an EP.
From 2007 until 2010, the band supported the event Chesterfest, playing a number of gigs and performing at their "Funday on a Sunday". In February 2010, YFriday also performed alongside the worship team from Abundant Life Church, Blush and Kev Whitmore at the "Heart for Haiti" concert supporting the NXT ministries projects in Port-au-Prince after the January 2010 earthquake.
The band played at the first Big Church Day out in 2009.
YFriday played their final concert as a band in a sold out Newcastle City Hall on 31 October 2010.
Band membership has changed slightly since the original formation.
Riley was the lead singer and guitarist of Yfriday. He is a prolific songwriter and his most globally recognised song to is "Everlasting God" which was co-written with Brenton Brown. The song received a prestigious ASCAP Award in 2008. The song was also nominated for a Dove award. Riley has also collaborated with many other Christian songwriters including Matt Redman, Martin Smith(Delirious) and Tim Hughes.
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Wikipedia