Following a five-year hiatus, Israel and his group New Breed have returned with three new projects this year; Feels Like Home, Vol 1 Feels like Home Vol 2 and recent release, Project LA: Alive in Los Angeles.

In a recent interview with The Reals  Jeannie Mai and Adrienne Houghton, Israel shared that he privately retired from music about three years ago. When prompted by Jeannie to explain what he meant by retiring, Israel said: . like when I say retired, Im still gonna be creative, Im still gonna be writing every day and producing a bunch of records for other people.

The difference is when I first started out it was all about chase chase chase. It was like Ive got goals that I gotta reach. the difference is Im very very very satisfied and fulfilled, and so anything Im doing right now is just for the love. Its not for the money, he added.

Israel isnt the only gospel artist to retire from the music industry yet still continue to release music. In 2005 Donnie McClurkin announced his pending retirement from the music industry citing the desire to concentrate on his pastoral responsibilities. McClurkin has since gone on to release four albums.

Israel fans will probably agree that granted he continues to release music, he is allowed to peacefully retire.

Listen to Israel and New Breeds latest album here.

Written by Akosua DF, Premier Gospel Presenter

Thursday, 28 October 2021

Multi award winning gospel artist Israel Houghton has been churning out hits for the last 20 years. With songs like Alpha and Omega, Friend of God and You are Good, Israel has been pivotal to the evolution of modern-day worship in our local churches.