The band yFriday started out in 1994 leading a local worship event called whyfriday? in Newcastle with the Youth For Christ (YFC) movement. At this event many young people attended and eventually they had to move out of their original premises and move to the Newcastle City Hall. This event gave the band the opportunity to develop their own style and sound also helping them create a song writing style with a strong and dynamic ministry focused on salvation and healing through Jesus. Though out the period of 1994-99 yFriday were mainly in the Newcastle region involved in worship events and evangelistic events in the North-East.
In 1999 everything began to happen for the band; In June with the help of Neil Costello yFriday recorded and released the Rainmaker album containing all of their own material. Later on in August yFriday were approached by Kingsway to see if they would like to join with them on a 3 year recording contract. Just a month later the band agreed to the contract and signed up on their Survivor label. Kingsway distributed the Rainmaker album throughout the UK and the world where it received a good welcome and very good reviews from magazines such as the Worship Together magazine. In November of 1999 yFriday confirmed that they had been booked to play at Spring Harvest, Easter People, Cross Rhythms Festival, Celebration 2000 and Worship Together.
Throughout 2000 yFriday played their songs at many venues and even managed to do some TV interviews. The following year (2001) yFriday released their second album Open which included tracks such as Creator, Rain and Head over Heels which they released as an EP.
While working on a third album they released the EP “Songs of Heaven” containing 6 tracks they felt didn’t fit on their previous 2 albums or the upcoming LP.
The Revolution album, released in 2003, saw yFriday album that was very raw and made you feel that yFriday were actually playing in your room! The album was accompanied by a tour across the UK, aptly named the Revolution tour. The music showing the need to start a revolution in Jesus’ name to change the world!
During April 2006 the band’s fouth album was released; Universal. Produced and mixed by Nathan Dantzler the new album contained various tracks such as Universal and Gravity and also Shadow of the Cross which had appeared as a limited download from the band’s website in late 2005. Through out 2006 the band will be touring across the country including their Universal Tour.
In 2007 the band recorded a live CD and DVD at the Riverside Centre in Derby, ‘The Universal Broadcast’ was released in 2008 containing songs from each album also the previously unrecorded track ‘How Can We Dance?’. Through out 2008 the band has toured across the country and had a busy summer doing many festivals including Greenbelt.
Part of their plans for 2009 were to release a second worship EP to follow on after Songs of Heaven. Ken Riley, lead singer, collaborated with Tim Hughes to write one of the tracks ‘Alive’.
The band performed a final sold out concert in Newcastle City Hall on October 31st 2010, and they all left to pursue other Christian interests.
More information about the band can be found on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/**YFriday**
