The Best of Jaci Velasquez

Despite a decade’s worth of top-selling albums and chart-topping hits, there has yet to be a best-of collection from Jaci Velasquez until now. On My Knees: The Best of Jaci Velasquez is a 17-song career retrospective spotlighting songs from the Platinum-selling debut, Heavenly Place, which established her as one of the fastest selling solo debut recording artists in the Christian genre, to the most recent applauded project, Beauty Has Grace. With over three million career album sales, Velasquez’ successful music career is further emphasized by seven Dove Awards, a Billboard/Latin Billboard Award and multiple Grammy, Latin Grammy and

American Music Award nominations.

“God’s been very good,” she says, but admits “I feel old. I was telling my mother the other day, I am 26 years old and when I tell people I’m 26 years old, I feel like I should be telling them I’m 46 because the life I’ve led. There’s been so much. It’s a blessing and a joy. I also feel like I’m looking back on somebody else’s life, like it’s a movie or something. It’s surreal actually.”

Velasquez entered music ministry at a very early age. She traveled with her parents and always loved to sing, dazzling people throughout her home state of Texas with a voice so mature for one so young. “I was traveling with my parents from the time I was 9 years old,” recalls Velasquez. “When I finally got heard by Word, I was 13.”

Soon Velasquez joined their ranks becoming a member of the Myrrh roster and recording her first album with producer Mark Heimermann. She was only 15. The project immediately took off and Velasquez became the newest sensation in Christian music, winning the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award for Best New Artist in 1997, an award her father had won years earlier.

“I remember the Newsboys gave it to me,” she says, still marveling at the fact that she claimed the prize over such competitors as Sarah Masen, Jamie Slocum and Third Day. “They called my name and I remember I was in hog heaven. It was the most exciting moment in my life and to this day, that’s probably the award that I’ve won that means the most.” Now it’s a lot harder to get new artists on radio. So, it was a very different time and I’m very glad and thankful that I came out during that time.”

In discussing her success, including acclaim in Latin markets – as evidenced by her “God So Loved The World” being made an anthem of hope in Central and South America following Sept. 11, 2001—Velasquez modestly deflects any credit for the impact she’s had. Instead she cites the songwriters who have provided her with great songs that have touched the lives of believers and nonbelievers.

What has Velasquez learned during her career? “I’m more aware of what I want musically,” she says. “I’m pretty picky and I’m not going to settle for what people want me to do because that’s what they want me to do. At 26, I know I’m not going to look for a song that is what everybody else is wanting to hear. I have to believe it. When I get on that stage every night for the next 10 years, I want to believe in what I’m singing. I think that’s one of the things I’ve learned from the very beginning.”

She’s learned a lot over the past decade about life and art. Her music has been the canvas where’s she continued to paint a vibrant self-portrait. Through it all, one truth has re-emerged in her work and in her life over and over again. “The fact that God loves us, in spite of who we are,” Velasquez says. “God’s love is never dying. All these things have happened in my personal life and God’s real love has stayed true and true time and time again.”