Ricardo Sanchez

Music was practically taught from birth for Atlanta-based worship leader and Christian recording artist, Ricardo Sanchez. As the youngest of six-children, Ricardo cultivated a love and natural ability for harmonies that began to flourish while a part of his traveling sibling trio, “Los Hermanitos Sanchez”, translated “The Sanchez Kids”. At the tender age of 5, the family band toured the West Coast with a hit single peaking the charts on Spanish radio stations at #1. Ricardo’s life was deeply multicultural long before he even knew the meaning of the word.

The young band was an anomaly to seasoned musicians and, yet, this soon-to-be 6’5” Mexican-American would prove to challenge the odds in all areas of his life. Although church stopped being encouraged early in Ricardo’s upbringing, he would find himself walking alone to Catholic mass in search of peace and serenity in the midst of an, often-times, turbulent household.

Ricardo’s search for God would come full-circle when he was invited to a Christian summer camp his senior year of high-school and heard the salvation message preached. “For the first time,” Ricardo says, “I realized I was a sinner and in desperate need of a Savior.” This life-changing summer not only radically altered how Ricardo viewed life, but also how he interpreted music. As a new-Christian at the age of 17, Ricardo would find himself spending the majority of his free time with seasoned Christian men who mentored him in Biblical foundations and encouraged his talent in music. This friendship led to many opportunities to play as a guitarist and singer in local-Arizona bands. Note-ably, the roots of a song-writer began to develop.

As Ricardo continued to mature as a musician, his paths crossed with now - Stellar, Dove, and multi-Grammy-Award-winner, Israel Houghton. The two would become roommates and cultivate a life-long friendship that carries on today and is expressed in many outlets of songwriting and album collaborations such as the title cut on Israel’s latest release, The Power of One.

Through the years, Ricardo’s resume of experience would grow to include such mantles as Youth Minister, Associate Pastor, and Worship Leader at a number of large churches across the nation. “The local church,” says Ricardo, “is the heartbeat of God.” With this mantra as his anchor, Ricardo was signed to an independent record label with International distribution through Word Records, and his debut release, “Unmerited”, was launched in 2005. Though a freshman in the Christian music scene, Ricardo received many accolades and much radio airplay with the inspirational ballad, “I Call Your Name” landing at #3 on Christian radio. Additionally, Unmerited opened the door for Ricardo to tour along side many award-winning artists including: Salvador, By the Tree, Rebecca St. James, Anointed, New Song, and many others.

After recording his second studio record, Oh What a God, Integrity Music released Ricardo’s first live-worship record, Moving Forward in 2007, recorded at Ricardo’s now-home church, Free Chapel both in Gainesville, Georgia, and Irvine, California, under Pastor Jentezen Franklin, where Ricardo currently serves as the Worship Leader to a congregation of more than 14,000 each week. Moving Forward resonated profoundly with the church at large, and breathed a fresh-message of second-chances. The title cut continues to be sung in churches all over the world and has since been recorded by gospel-Grammy-Award winner, Hezekiah Walker, Lakewood Church (Pastor Joel Osteen), and on co-writer, Israel Houghton’s latest release, The Power of One.

Ricardo’s vision to “put songs in the hand’s of worship leaders” has been catapulted with the recent live-worship release, Power of the Cross (Integrity Music 2009). Co-produced by Israel Houghton and Mark Townsend, Power of the Cross, is progressive modern worship with songs like I'm Not Ashamed and the title-cut, Power of the Cross, along with powerful ballads like Very Same Power and For Who You Are. Ricardo’s Latin heritage can also be seen with the song, Eres Todo Para Mi (You Are Everything To Me). “Sometimes, even as followers of Christ, we need to be reminded of the true source of power…the cross”, says Ricardo.

Ricardo continues to serve as one of the nations most preeminent worship leaders and is called upon not only for his gift of music and songwriting, but also as an inspirational speaker at conferences and churches across the country. Together with his wife Jennette, Ricardo is raising three sons and serves as the founder of Ricardo Ministries, recently launched as the vehicle to help meet the practical and spiritual needs of the lost, hurting, and those without hope.