About

Gospel Origins

David grew up surrounded by great music. He is the son of Brian and Christine Willersdorf. His father has been a prominent crusade evangelist, often labelled “Australia’s Billy Graham”. Many world-renowned gospel artists of the day would come to Australia to share the platform at Brian’s rallies, including Larry Norman, Andrae Crouch and “Santana” front-man Leon Patillo. David’s mother, Christine Willersdorf, was one of the first gospel artists to sing on Australian television in her groups the “Kaid Trio” and also “Young World Singers”.

“I was raised in a culture of faith and with a great appreciation for music,” recalls David.

After performing music as a child with his family and then later in a band with his high school friends, David moved from Sydney to study songwriting in Lismore, a regional town in the Northern Rivers of Australia.

“Lismore was a great experience,” says David. “Not only was I immersed in the music scene, I was also part of a vibrant community of friends. I lived in a house full of people which was owned by the local veterinarian. As well as attending university, we were also busy helping out a number of the locals who were battling drug and alcohol addiction. It was such a fulfilling time.”

While at university, David continued writing songs. One of his gospel songs he taught to a group of friends just before he left to move back to Sydney.

Youth Worker, Music Columnist, Radio Host

Once back in Sydney, David worked as a youth worker in Sydney’s Kings Cross, and shortly after he began working as a youth worker at Hills District Youth Service working for Christine Caine. He also joined the music team at Hillsong.

“I started working as a youth worker. The youth centre where I was working decided to start a youth magazine and asked me to take on the role of graphic designer and eventually Creative Director in addition to my youth worker duties,” David remembers.

The magazine was distributed straight to high schools and became the third-highest youth magazine readership in Australia. Soon David was juggling the roles of Creative Director of the magazine, as well as being its music columnist. He was flooded with music to review from all the major record companies. Soon he added Radio Host to his roles and studied radio announcing at Max Foley Media Academy at night after finishing work.

“It was a crazy time,” says David. “I was designing the magazine to epic deadlines, doing in-person and telephone interviews with a huge range of artists from Peter Garrett through to Peter Andre. I was also attending album launches, hosting radio programmes, attending police stations and courthouses with young offenders and then rushing off at night to attend media school. All this in addition to joining the music team at Hillsong, which led to me playing up to six times a weekend with the Hillsong band and helping administer their youth band. It was a hugely busy yet invigorating time.”

Hillsong

During this time, David was mentored in songwriting by Geoff Bullock, the worship pastor of Hills Christian Life Centre (now Hillsong) and the writer of some of Australia’s greatest praise and worship gospel songs such as “Power of Your Love”, “I Will Never Be The Same Again”, “The Great Southland” and many others.

“Geoff Bullock asked me to catch up with him at his piano every couple of weeks and go through the songs I’d been writing,” recollects David. “It was like an oasis in a crazy time. I learnt so much from him.”

“David is a passionate communicator, a fine musician and one of the best songwriters I have ever come across… He has enriched my life.”

— GEOFF BULLOCK

In the midst of all the busyness of this time of his life, David was approached by Russell Fragar, one of the music pastors at Hillsong. Russell had been on holidays not far from Lismore where David had been studying songwriting. Unbeknownst to David, one of his gospel songs which he’d taught to his friends was now being sung each week by one of the local churches. Russell Fragar had visited the church, enjoyed the song and thought that he’d recognised the writer’s name on the bottom of the overhead screen.

“Russell Fragar approached me and showed me a copy of my handwritten chart for my song, ‘Let Your Presence Fall’. I didn’t realise that anyone had been singing it! Then Russell went on to ask me if Hillsong could record it on their next album! I was truly blown away,” says David.

Hillsong did go on to record David’s song on their album “The Stone’s Been Rolled Away” where it was sung by Dove Award® nominee Darlene Zschech. It was later re-released on their album “Simply Worship”.

Worship Pastor, Speaker

After David’s time with Hillsong, he went on to become the worship pastor of another church in north-western Sydney where he continued to write gospel songs. These songs started to be sung by other faith communities and artists. Soon after, David was invited to be the main gospel music presenter at six Alpha conferences over three weeks across every state of Australia. These major conferences saw people from almost every denomination attending and soon David was being invited to sing, encourage also train music teams in a wide variety of denominational settings right across Australia.

“I was truly amazed that so many leaders of such a variety of church backgrounds would invite me in to share and encourage,” marvels David. “Over the course of any month, I would be sharing in a range of meetings across the country from conservative to pentecostal congregations and groups. I always just tried to be me and to genuinely encourage people irrespective of church culture.”

David was now so busy travelling that he took it on full-time. In-between his ongoing conference and concert touring, he and his Sydney band were holding regular gospel music nights in Crows Nest in Sydney.

Recording and Touring Artist

David took time out to record his first solo album Freedom’s Pages on which he was joined by Steve Apirana, Diana Holt and a number of established and up-and-coming gospel singers. His touring life continued and he was also asked to hold many music and songwriting workshops.

Soon he was invited to England for a three-month residency in Salisbury. He was also travelling often to the US to catch up with music friends there in Los Angeles, Texas, Colorado and Tennessee.

Back in Australia, David recorded a follow-up live EP with his Sydney band titled Glorious which was recorded live in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney.

As he was preparing to return to the US, David was asked to take on the role of Worship Pastor by a church on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia.

“Moving to the Sunshine Coast felt so right,” remembers David. “This coastal church had around 1300 people attending and my music team had around 130 people in it, from singers through to dancers. It was a precious time.”

Meanwhile, David’s songs continued to be recorded and sung by a range of artists, including Grammy Award® winner Bishop T. D. Jakes and Grammy Award® nominee Vernessa Mitchel.

The Sound of Heaven

With all the gospel songs he was writing, David recorded and filmed a live praise and worship album titled The Sound of Heaven. It has since gone on to be aired across the world on television and radio. The songs have included many favourites, including “With My Life (Loaves and Fishes)”, “Such a Day”, “All You Have Given” and “Greater”.

“David is a songwriter in the truest sense of the word. Taking time to craft each piece of art into something of value and depth, David’s songs will stay with you long after the CD or concert is finished, and keep you humming and thinking for days to come.”

— JARED HASCHEK

David was invited back to Hillsong to share as part of their songwriter’s showcase with Paul Baloche (“Open the Eyes of My Heart”, “Hosanna”, “Above All”). And His new “The Sound of Heaven” album, saw David and his band touring extensively.

Songwriting Mentor

David created the “Adore Worship Songwriter’s Course”, where thirty songwriters would spend three days learning their craft from some of the key people in the gospel music sector. This became very successful and helped to launch the careers of a few key songwriters. David continued to tour and travel to encourage people through song.

Fire This Love

Over time, David realised that in addition to his many gospel songs, he had developed a large catalogue of love songs and what he would call his “songs about life”. These songs had been on the back burner as David’s gospel music had been taking so much of his time.

In 2015, after a chance email from one of his favourite musicians, David’s music journey took a remarkable turn.

“I was just pondering all my songs outside the gospel genre and what I should do with them when I had an email come in from Rick Price (‘Not a Day Goes By’, ‘Walk Away Renee’, ‘Heaven Knows’),” says David. “Rick was simply announcing his new ‘Tennessee Sky’ album project to his fans. Before thinking too hard about it, I sent Rick a simple email asking him if he was interested in producing an album for me. I didn’t expect much to come from the email, so was surprised when I received a quick reply from Rick himself asking for some songs to listen to.

“So I emailed a bunch of my song files to him and within the hour Rick had replied with the suggestion that I record with him over in Nashville. I was stunned and excited.”

David recorded Fire This Love with Rick Price at Sputnik Sounds Studios in East Nashville. They were joined by multi-Grammy Award® winning engineers Vance Powell and Richard Dodd. The musicians who played on the album have been bandmates of the likes of some of the most iconic artists of our time, such as Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello, Kenny Rogers, Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Robert Plant, Ricky Skaggs, Johnny Mathis and George Strait to name a few.

“David is an incredibly talented and unique artist, singer and songwriter.”

— RICK PRICE

David returned to Australia to tour the album, which he did over three national concert and media tours.

“The songs were so well received by audiences, from my much-loved gospel audiences through to a much wider audience. Suddenly I was playing not just in churches but also in jazz clubs and outback pubs. Once again, I was just trying to be genuine and to encourage people and to give everyone my best,” recalls David.

One of the tours was called the “Waiting for Love Tour”, after David’s song, writing about his time as a youth worker in Kings Cross. The tour benefitted the Salvation Army.

Outside the Inside

David followed the “Fire This Love” album up with his album Outside the Inside which Rick Price also produced, this time in his own Harpeth Trace Studio. “Outside the Inside” features David’s original songs around resilience.

Once again David was joined by a raft of the world’s greatest musicians and engineers, including drummer Fred Eltringham, bass player Steve Mackey, electric guitarist and two-time CMA guitarist of the year Rob McNelley, Aubrey Haynie on fiddle, bass fiddle and mandolin, Kristen Rogers on backing vocals, Jimmy Wallace on organs and one of David’s favourite people in Nashville, Jeff Taylor on accordion and piano for one track.

The first single from the album, Outside Yourself reached 14th position on the Apple Music singer/songwriter charts.

“David Willersdorf's creative catalogue speaks to the soul. The richness of his voice and soaring capacity within his range is the envy of many a performer. He oozes joy and connection with his audiences who eagerly applaud and await his next composition... A highly accomplished musician.”

— DONNA DYSON, ASA-APRA Songwriter of the Year

David’s “Outside Yourself Tour” saw him once again tour Australia, performing to a wide range of audiences across a wide variety of venues, from churches, schools and halls to jazz clubs and outdoor amphitheatres.

“I’ve been amazed at the emotional response to ‘Outside the Inside’,” says David. “We have a lot of laughs on tour, however, there have been some emotional moments for people as they connect with the lyrics of the songs. I wrote the album from a place of vulnerability and overcoming hard times. For some people, the songs have helped them sing their way out of some hard places.”

David continues to write and sing and mentor writers and musicians. He is also blogging often about some of the awkward moments across his tour life which he calls “Tour Tales”. These posts have seen many people laugh at the awkward mistakes David has made over many years.

David is based on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia.