Christian praise & worship singer/songwriter Cindy Cruse Ratcliff became widely known in the 2000s for her role as worship leader at Lakewood Church, a Houston-based megachurch led by televangelist Joel Osteen. Following a childhood spent touring with her family's musical ministry, she released a pair of Christian-inspired AOR albums in the late '80s and early '90s before joining Osteen's staff in 2000, where she was deeply involved with the church's arena tours and recordings. Cruse Ratcliff resumed her own recording career in 2010 and eventually signed with Capitol Records' CCM arm Dream Label Group, which released her 2015 hit album, Heaven Raining Down, and its 2016 follow-up, Edge of the Universe.[RoviLink="MN"]


Cruse Ratcliff[/RoviLink] began her musical ministering at the age of six when she took the stage with her family, the Cruse Family, a well-known evangelistic vocal group who released some 25 albums, received two Dove Awards, and toured the world ministering in the '70s and '80s. Early in her singing and writing career (she became the youngest licensed ASCAP songwriter at the age of nine), though, Ratcliff took a slightly more secular approach, releasing a pair of melodic and spiritually based rock albums, The Edge in 1989 and Small Town Girl in 1991 (she had previously released two cassettes, Cruse and Cruse 2, both in 1984). In 2000 she was hired by Joel Osteen to become worship director at his Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, and in 2008 she was promoted to senior worship leader. By this point, Joel Osteen Ministries was one of the country's largest, and Cruse Ratcliff was a key figure in Osteen's arena worship tours and the live CDs that came from them. She released her first solo album in over ten years in 2010, Twenty Three, which featured a dozen new original songs. Produced by David Hanley and released by Capitol-affiliated Dream Label Group, 2014's Heaven Raining Down was recorded at Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston, and features Cruse Ratcliff-penned original praise & worship material based on Osteen's sermons and message. In 2015, she issued a Spanish-language version of that album titled Lluvia Celestial, followed later that year by Edge of the Universe, a live album again recorded at Lakewood Church. In time for the 2018 holiday season, Cruse Ratcliff released the Christmas EP Glorius. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi

Cindy Cruse Ratcliff

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