Orlando, Florida based worship leader and gospel recording artist Martha Munizzi is known nationally and internationally as a singer and song writer, with her songs Shout, Glorious and Because of Who You Are, becoming modern day praise and worship anthems in churches today. Munizzi’s message crosses cultural, generational and denominational boundaries.

She has been nominated for Grammy, Dove and Stellar Awards as both a performer and songwriter, and was just recently awarded the 2009 Dove Award for Contemporary Gospel Album Of The Year for her latest CD release, Change The World Live!

Since the 2002 release of her first independent effort, Say the Name, Munizzi has expanded her ministry reach thanks to her commitment to cross-generational, multiethnic praise and worship music – a calling that began when she was eight years old in her family’s traveling music ministry.

Munizzi, a pastor’s daughter, was born in Lakeland, Florida, and from an early age was involved in day-to-day ministry alongside her parents, her twin sister Mary and her older sister, Marvelyne. Munizzi got her first taste of musical and ministry autonomy when, at sixteen, she and her sisters formed the group Testament, a praise ensemble that regularly held concerts at various church events and conferences across Florida.

It was during her time in Testament that Munizzi met her husband Dan, a bassist and keyboardist with the group, whom she married in 1987. It was Dan who introduced the fledgling worship leader to black gospel music from artists such as Andraé Crouch and Fred Hammond. Those singers’ ability to mix soulful arrangements with worshipful lyrics revolutionized the way Munizzi viewed her own artistry.

With a renewed vision for worship, the couple continued to minister until 1993, when they were asked to fill a music directors post at FaithWorld, a rapidly growing church in the Orlando area. As founding members of the church, they saw the 250-member congregation and 30-member praise band grow into a “mega church” of more than 5,000 with a music team almost the size of the early church.

Following the end of their tenure at FaithWorld in 2001, the Munizzis felt called to start a ministry of their own. Shortly thereafter, Martha Munizzi Ministries was born—a church-oriented music ministry and independent record label with strong roots in gospel and praise-and-worship music.

Of her heart’s passion for global worship expressions, Munizzi says, “My deepest desire is to transcend cultural, generational and denominational boundaries, and to bring all people together through worship.”