Early life

Gokey started singing with his family in church, but stated he would rather record mainstream music than perform solely Christian/gospel music. He was the worship director at his church in Milwaukee, Faith Builders International Ministries, for several years.

He is the fifth of six children. He has a brother named Charles, and four sisters: Angela, Janell, Gina, and Tracey.

He has acknowledged the influence of Jeffrey and Robin Pruitt, who are the pastors of the church he worked at, and also Matthew Barnett the founder of the LA Dream Center. He has stated that his faith is the "key to who I am". Gokey was a church music director while also driving a semi truck (18 wheeler) for a local logistics company for two years.

American Idol

Overview

Gokey rose to national fame with his participation in the eighth season of American Idol. On August 8, 2008, he auditioned in Kansas City, Missouri, along with his friend Jamar Rogers, whom he met in Milwaukee. Both made it through to Hollywood, but Rogers was eliminated from the competition prior to the semifinals. (Rogers later appeared on the second season of NBC's The Voice.) Gokey's American Idol audition occurred only four weeks after his wife's death in July 2008.

During Rock Week (Top 4 week), Gokey's take on Aerosmith's "Dream On" was panned for the extended scream with which he finished the song. Gokey was the only contestant in that season who was never in the bottom two or three, but he was eliminated in third place on May 13, 2009, after his performance of Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful."

During the season 8 finale on May 20, 2009, Gokey performed a duet with R&B superstar Lionel Richie. The performance opened with Gokey singing a true-to-the-original soulful ballad solo of Richie's "Hello," and then Richie joined Gokey for a duet of his hits "Just Go" and "All Night Long".

Performances/results

Week #	Theme	Song choice	Theme-related artist	Order #	Result
Audition	Auditioner's Choice	"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"	Marvin Gaye	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood	First Solo	"Kiss from a Rose"	Seal	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood	Group Performance	"Somebody to Love"	Queen	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood	Second Solo	"I Hope You Dance"	Lee Ann Womack	N/A	Advanced
Top 36/ Semi-Final 1	Billboard Hot 100 Hits to Date	"Hero"	Mariah Carey	12	Advanced
Top 13	Michael Jackson	"P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"	Michael Jackson	3	Safe
Top 11	Grand Ole Opry	"Jesus, Take the Wheel"	Carrie Underwood	8	Safe
Top 10	Motown	"Get Ready"	The Temptations	9	Safe
Top 9	Top Downloads	"What Hurts the Most"	Rascal Flatts	3	Safe
Top 8	Year They Were Born	"Stand by Me"	Mickey Gilley	1	Safe
Top 7	Songs from the Cinema	"Endless Love" - Endless Love	Diana Ross & Lionel Richie	5	Safe
Top 7 1	Disco	"September"	Earth, Wind & Fire	3	Safe
Top 5	Rat Pack Standards	"Come Rain or Come Shine"	Frank Sinatra	4	Safe (Top 2)
Top 4	Rock and roll Duet Solo	"Renegade" with Kris Allen "Dream On"	Styx Aerosmith	3 5	Safe 2
Top 3	Judge's Choice (Paula Abdul) Contestant's Choice	"Dance Little Sister" "You Are So Beautiful"	Terence Trent D’Arby Billy Preston	1 4	Eliminated

• ^1 Due to the judges using their one save to save Matt Giraud, the Top 7 remained intact for another week.
• ^2 It was only announced that Allison Iraheta received the lowest number of votes this week. The other member(s) of the bottom two or three were never revealed.

Post-Idol career

Gokey was nominated in his home state of Wisconsin for a WAMI (Wisconsin Area Music Industry) Award for Best Christian/Gospel Artist of the Year.

As of September 2009, Gokey finished his tour with the other idols on the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2009, and he worked on his foundation, Sophia's Heart, which was set up to help disadvantaged children.

Gokey, known for his many pairs of eyeglasses that he often wore on the show, had stated he might start an eyewear line to help raise funds for his foundation and Match Eyewear teamed with him for the Danny Gokey Eyewear collection. Launched in March 2012, the collection has exceeded sales projections with over 1.7 million in net retail sales.

2009-2010 : My Best Days

On September 1, 2009, Gokey signed with 19 Recordings/RCA Nashville, becoming the first third-place finisher to record with 19 and the first male Idol to be signed to a major country label. On November 19, 2009, 19 Recordings and RCA Records announced the release of the debut single "My Best Days Are Ahead of Me". Gokey's debut album, My Best Days, was released on March 2, 2010. It debuted on the Billboard charts at number four, and it netted Gokey the best opening-week sales by a debut country male in 18 years and the highest debut of digital downloads sold by any new country artist ever. In support of the album, Gokey was the opening act on Sugarland's Incredible Machine tour which began in April. Gokey also performed at country singer Darryl Worley's ninth annual Tennessee River Run festival in Savannah, Tennessee along with other artists such as Joe Diffie and Lee Brice. The event helped raise $200,000 for the Darryl Worley Foundation.

On October 18, 2010, Gokey earned a nomination for Best New/Breakthrough Artist at the first annual American Country Awards. He revealed in an interview released on October 26, 2010, that he had recently recorded his own version of the Amy Grant song, "Tennessee Christmas," to be released to country radio as a holiday single.

On November 21, 2010, Gokey was a part of ABC's pre-show event at the American Music Awards.

2011-2013

Gokey released the single "Second Hand Heart" penned by Cary Barlowe, Shane Stevens and Josh Kear on July 4, 2011.

He was one of opening acts on Taylor Swift's Speak Now World Tour. He also made an appearance in a TV movie with Candace Cameron Bure called Truth Be Told.

Gokey left RCA Nashville in November 2011.

Gokey released his EP Love Again in May 2012. It was self-released limitedly via his official website only as physical CD format.

Gokey released his memoir Hope in Front of Me: Find Purpose in Your Darkest Moments on October 1, 2013.

2014-2016 :Hope in Front of Me and Christmas Is Here

Gokey kicked off 2014 with the release of his new single "Hope in Front of Me" under BMG.

Gokey's second album, Hope in Front of Me, was released on June 23 and debuted at number one on the Billboard Christian Albums chart.

In late August, "Hope in Front of Me" topped both the Billboard Christian Airplay chart (lasted 3 weeks) and Mediabase Christian Adult Contemporary chart. For the week ending of September 20, it also topped the Billboard Christian AC Songs chart.

On December 5, the official lyric video for the second single "More Than You Think I Am" was released.

In the spring of 2015, Gokey joined Natalie Grant's Burn Bright tour as a special guest, followed by The Bible Tour 2015 with Steven Curtis Chapman, Brandon Heath and Francesca Battistelli.

"Hope in Front of Me" was nominated for Song of the Year at K-LOVE Fan Awards 2015, held on May 31 and one of award winning songs at 2015 BMI Christian Awards, held on June 23.

In July, "More Than You Think I Am" peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Christian Airplay chart.

Gokey finished recording whole Hope in Front of Me album in Spanish and now is working on distribution in Latin America. In August, Gokey earned nominations for New Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for "Hope in Front of Me" at 46th GMA Dove Awards.

On September 25, Gokey released the lead single "Lift Up Your Eyes" from his holiday album, Christmas Is Here, which was released on October 16. In October, Gokey joined NewSong's Beating Hearts Tour with Mandisa. In December, Gokey joined the 2015 K-LOVE Christmas Tour as a special guest.

From February to March 2016, Gokey joined the Rock & Worship Roadshow Tour 2016. The official music video for "Tell Your Heart to Beat Again", the third single from Hope in Front of Me, was exclusively premiered at K-LOVE online on March 28. On May 6, Tell Your Heart to Beat Again was released as EP at digital retailers including original, Spanglish, Spanish, remix, instrumental versions.

Personal life

Gokey married his high school sweetheart, Sophia Martinez, on May 15, 2004. The two had been together since 1997.

On July 9, 2008, four weeks before he auditioned for American Idol, Gokey's wife died from complications during her third surgery to treat her congenital heart disease. The couple had been together for 12 years, and Gokey credited her for his success. Sophia was a fan of American Idol and encouraged Gokey to be a contestant, and Danny started a foundation in her name, Sophia's Heart Foundation, with some of her family members who are also musicians. With branches in Milwaukee, Nashville and Sacramento, the organization's goals are to provide hope and help to homeless families, provide scholarships to deserving students and operate a thriving inner-city music and arts program. The facility in Nashville, opened in late 2011, has helped rescue over 60 families from life on the street.

In 2011, Gokey began dating Leyicet Peralta. The two announced their engagement on December 25, 2011 on the Sophia's Heart website. They were married on January 29, 2012. Their son Daniel Emanuel was born on January 20, 2013. Their daughter Victoria Isabella was born on November 28, 2014.

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Result
2009	Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI)	Best Christian/Gospel Artist of the Year	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Summer Tour	Nominated
2010	Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI)	Male Vocalist of the Year	Won
	American Country Awards	New/Breakthrough Artist of the Year	Nominated
2015	GMA Dove Awards	New Artist of the Year	Nominated
		Song of the Year	Nominated

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions				Sales
		US	US Country	US Christian	US Holiday
My Best Days	Release date: March 2, 2010 Label: RCA Nashville/19 Format: CD, digital download	4	3	—	—	US sales: 204,000
Hope in Front of Me	Release date: June 23, 2014 Label: BMG Format: CD, digital download	40	—	1	—
Christmas Is Here	Release date: October 16, 2015 Label: BMG Format: CD, digital download	—	—	9	1

Singles

Year	Title	Peak chart positions					Album
		US	US Country	US Christian	US Christian AC	US AC
2009	"My Best Days Are Ahead of Me"	82	24	—	—	—	My Best Days
2010	"I Will Not Say Goodbye"	—	32	—	—	—
	"Tennessee Christmas"	—	—	—	—	—	N/A
2011	"Second Hand Heart"	—	48	—	—	—	Love Again (EP)
2014	"Hope in Front of Me"	—	—	4	1	27	Hope in Front of Me
2015	"More Than You Think I Am"	—	—	17	8	—
	"Lift Up Your Eyes"	—	—	17	4	—	Christmas Is Here
	"Mary, Did You Know?"	—	—	14	5	—
2016	"Tell Your Heart to Beat Again"	—	—	2	2	—	Hope in Front of Me
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Other charted songs

Year	Title	Peak positions	Album
		US Bubbling
2009	"You Are So Beautiful"	25	Non-album song

Music videos

Year	Title	Director
2010	"My Best Days Are Ahead of Me"	Wes Edwards
	"I Will Not Say Goodbye"
2014	"Hope in Front of Me"
2016	"Tell Your Heart to Beat Again"	Kristin Barlowe

As featured artist

Year	Title	Album
2013	"Great I Am" (Paul Wilbur feat. Danny Gokey & Sharon Wilbur)	Your Great Name
	"Sovereign God" (William Mcdowell feat. Danny Gokey)	Withholding Nothing
2014	"Hallelujah Song" (Scott MacIntyre feat. Danny Gokey)	Lighthouse
2015	"You Are My Rest" (Karyn Williams)	Lettinig Go of Perfect

Compilation appearances

Year	Title	Album
2009	"Stand By Me"	American Idol Season 8
2011	"O Holy Night"	Have Yourself a Merry Little Country Christmas - Kohl's Cares
2013	"I Still Believe"	Country Faith
2014	"Great I Am"	I've Seen Heaven
2015	"Great I Am"	iWorship Now/Next 2015
	"Great I Am"	Worship Anthems Inspired By A.D. The Bible Continues

Other releases

Title	Details	Track listing
Love Again - EP	Release date: May 2012 Format: CD	1. Gimme a Kiss 2. Love Again 3. Everything Works Together feat. Beckah Shae 4. Second Hand Heart (New Vocal & Arrangement) 5. Faith, Hope & Love 6. I Still Believe feat. Sophia's Heart Choir (New Vocal & Arrangement) 7. Gimme a Kiss (Remix)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]