The Kingdom Choir

Having toured a sell-out show across 18 cities in the UK, The Kingdom Choir has performed at British Summer Time with Barbara Streisand, opened the Major League Baseball game, performed headline tours across the US and Australia, and headlined at Latitude, Hay Festival, Cornbury Festival, The Piano Guys, Fez Festival and this year enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime performance at The Coronation Prom at the Royal Albert Hall. They will celebrate their 30thanniversary this year with a sold-out Queen Elizabeth Hall show on November 30th and a performance at Trevor Nelson’s Soul Christmas at the Royal Albert Hall on December 18th.

The Kingdom’s Choir’s latest release ‘Be Alright’ is a particularly shining example of how The Kingdom Choir takes the stirring heart of the gospel tradition and with a rich array of modern soul touches, gives us music that’s both timeless and relevant to our era. It follows previous singles, ‘Let It Rain’, ‘Not Giving Up’, ‘Together Again’ and ‘Real Love’ (released in 2020) which was a UK summer radio hit, playlisted on Radio 2’s A List.

The choir was founded in 1994 by award-winning choir conductor Karen Gibson MBE who has been described as ‘Britain’s Godmother of Gospel’ by both the Guardian and the BBC and is recognised throughout the world as one of the best gospel music directors. Founder/conductor, Karen Gibson, was awarded an MBE in 2020 for her service to Music. Last year, the Choir celebrated 30 years as The Kingdom Choir.

Karen has conducted some of the most prestigious, large-scale choirs across the UK. The high standard of her work has taken her across Europe and further–Japan, Rwanda, Nigeria, Guyana, and the USA. Karen’s choirs are regular finalists or winners of choir competitions, including BBC Songs of Praise Gospel Choir of The Year. After eleven years of working in IT and a further seven years in teaching, the positive impact of gospel music has led to Karen’s current vocation. The Kingdom Choir is one of her many choirs that have spread the joy of the genre.

Following their show-stopping performance of ‘Stand By Me’ at the Royal Wedding on 19 May 2018, The Kingdom Choir signed a major record deal with Sony Music UK. The record label beat off stiff competition to sign the highly sought-after collective. 

The Kingdom Choir released their debut album 'Stand By Me' on 26th October 2018. The album included the choir’s much-loved rendition of ‘Stand By Me’, which went straight in at Number 1 on the Billboard Gospel Songs Chart, and showcased the pure joy and spiritual essence that runs through all of their performances. Since May 2018, their arrangement of ‘Stand By Me’ has also become a viral internet sensation receiving over 26 million views on YouTube. The Choir’s rendition of ‘Stand By Me’ went straight in at Number 1 on the US Billboard Gospel Charts for four weeks running.

Since then the choir have performed concerts all over the world including sold out shows at the Hollywood Bowl, the Royal Albert Hall, the Dubai 2020 Expo (in 2022) and the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney.

Collaborations to date include Gladys Knight, Gregory Porter, Emelié Sande,-Madness, Paloma Faith, Michael Ball, Alfie Boe, Katherine Jenkins and others. Performed at the Dubai Expo Closing Ceremony in partnership with Cartier.

Highlights this past year include: sold out US tour, sold out London Barbican, Cadogan Hall and Royal Festival Hall. They have also performed at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Brand partnerships/endorsements include British Airways, Cartier, Ralph Lauren, Coca-Cola, Facebook, Burberry, Marks and Spencer and others.