Parachute Band is a worship band from Auckland, New Zealand, formed out of the New Zealand-based Christian organisation Parachute Music The band makes pop/rock music and is currently in its second generation, with the current line-up regularly topping the mainstream MySpace NZ Music Charts for acts on a Major Label, and it also won the coveted People's Choice Award at the 2008 New Zealand Music Awards.

The first Parachute Band line-up was formed in 1995 to lead worship at Parachute Festival, and has since grown into a full-time endeavour. Parachute Band records New Zealand-written contemporary worship music, and performs it both in New Zealand and worldwide.

The original line-up, led by Wayne Huirua, Libby Huirua and Chris de Jong, released seven studio albums, toured extensively in the U.S., won numerous New Zealand Music Awards for Best Gospel/Christian Album, won the Gospel Music Association's International Achievement award (in the U.S.) and paved the way for what the band is today.

In 2006 the original members retired from the band and a complete generational changeover took place. This was marked by a moving ceremony at Parachute Festival 07.

The second generation Parachute Band (formerly known as Victor Rose) has released three studio albums; Roadmaps and Revelations (September 2007), Technicolor (September 2008) and Love Without Measure (February 2011). The band has toured extensively in USA, Canada, Asia, South Africa, UK, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. Highlight performances have been: Mainstage slots at Creation Festival east to 65,000 people, Mainstage at Kingdom Bound Festival in NY to 50,000 people and also being the house band for the annual Parachute Festival to 25,000 people.

This new face of Parachute Band carries a passion to influence their generation through worship music that is relevant. Five young musicians in their 20s have been passed the mantle and an exciting synergy has quickly formed to create a new guitar-driven sound.

Winners of the 2008 VNZMA Peoples Choice Awards, the band's sophomore release Technicolor was a finalist for 2009's Best Gospel/Christian Album.

Parachute Bands latest album Love Without Measure has already been in the Top Ten of many charts since its release at the Parachute Festival in February 2011. Love Without Measure shot to No. 3 in the New Zealand iTunes on its first week of release, debuted a No. 2 on the official RIANZ chart and No. 1 on the IMNZ charts.

Love Without Measure was also the first recording that the band has self-produced, and drummer/producer Sam de Jong says, “The process for this album has been one non-stop learning curve. I feel like we’ve pulled together something that reflects where we’re at.

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Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is a Billboard top ten Billboard Hot 100 recording artist and Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. He is one of the best-selling and most influential artists in Contemporary Christian music. Smith also has achieved a considerable amount of success in the mainstream music industry. Smith is a three-time Grammy Award winner, and has earned 40 Dove Awards. Over the course of his career, Michael W. Smith has sold more than 13 million albums and recorded 29 No. 1 Hit songs, fourteen gold albums, and five platinum albums. Smith is an American Music Award recipient; he was also named one of People magazine's "Most Beautiful People".

Michael Whitaker Smith was born to Paul and Barbara Smith in Kenova, West Virginia. His father was an oil refinery worker at the Ashland Oil Refinery, one of the top ten largest oil refineries in the world, in nearby Catlettsburg, Kentucky and his mother was a caterer.He inherited his love of baseball from his father, who had played in the minor leagues. As a child, he developed a love of music through his church. He learned piano at an early age and sang in his church choir. At the age of 10, he had "an intense spiritual experience" that led to his becoming a devout Christian. "I wore this big cross around my neck," he would recall, "It was very real to me." He became involved in Bible study and found a group of older friends who shared his religious faith.

After his older Christian friends moved away to college, Smith began to struggle with feelings of loneliness and alienation. After graduating from high school, he gravitated toward alcohol and drugs. He attended Marshall University for a few semesters while developing his songwriting skills. He also played with various local bands around Huntington, West Virginia. During that time, his friend Shane Keister, who worked as a session musician in Nashville, encouraged him to move to Nashville, the Country Music capital, and pursue a career in music.

In 1978, Smith moved to Nashville, taking a job as a landscaper to support himself. He played with several local bands in the Nashville club scene. He also developed a problem with substance abuse.
“I really started losing touch when I moved to Nashville, around April of '78. I was smokin' marijuana, drinking, doing some other drugs; just being crazy, you know. My mom and dad knew what I was doing. But they never hassled me, they just prayed for me. And I felt convicted by God. Every time I'd wake up I knew: This isn't me. But I couldn't change myself. ”

In November 1979, Smith suffered a breakdown that led to his recommitment to Jesus Christ. The next day he auditioned for a new Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) group, Higher Ground, as a keyboardist and got the job. It was on his first tour with Higher Ground, playing mostly in churches, that Smith was finally able to put the drugs and alcohol behind him.

In 1981, Smith was signed as a writer to Meadowgreen Music, where he wrote a number of gospel hits penned for artists such as Sandi Patty, Kathy Troccoli, Bill Gaither and Amy Grant, to the effect that some of these popular worship songs can now be found in church hymnals. The following year, Smith began touring as a keyboardist for Grant on her Age to Age tour. He would eventually become Grant's opening act and recorded his first Grammy-nominated solo album The Michael W. Smith Project (which he also produced) in 1983 on the Reunion Records label, a label started by Grant's brother-in-law, Dan Harrell, along with Michael Blanton. This album contained the first recording of his hit "Friends", which he co-wrote with his wife Deborah. They wrote it one afternoon for a friend who was moving away.

By the time Smith's second pop album was released in 1984, he was headlining his own tours. In 1986, Smith released The Big Picture, produced by Johnny Potoker. Smith intros "Tearing Down the Walls" with an Amy Grant recording of "Emmanuel" played backwards via the CD search button. He has explained that he and Potoker were trying to come up with a different way to go into the song.

After the release of his 1988 effort, i 2 (EYE), Smith once again teamed up with Grant for her "Lead Me On World Tour". The following year, Smith recorded his first Christmas album..........

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