(April 29, 2022) - "I got my daughter together....and had my son record it" said Ellen Hayes about the title track to her new Christian album of the same name, "We Owe It All to You" (Song & Melodies Records). "I had songs I recorded in 2018...used a few of those songs on the album. The title song spearheaded the album. It was a song I had written in 2006. It was titled ‘I Owe It All to You," because of the big healing that's needed the Lord put the song back in my Spirit, so I changed ‘I' to ‘We'."

Hayes is a member of Word of Truth Church in Detroit. It was founded by her father and now pastored by her Uncle Rufus Hayes. She is choir director there.

"I started out as her (her sister) assistant. Then eventually I was head of the senior choir and then the junior and senior choir director," she said when asked.

Her sister was head of the youth and adult choirs.

"Over time I formed a mass choir in 2000," Ellen pointed out. "I had a sign in sheet; even held auditions...150 names were on it for the mass choir. I was shocked. It was really something. Over time it panned out to 60 people."

Ellen Hayes' talent for songwriting was nurtured when her father, the pastor at that time, allowed her to perform some of her own songs, like the title track "We Owe It All to You."

"We sang it in church and after so many years we put it in archive and moved on," she explained about why she brought the song back. "Then the whole church got sick...we lost members... and I suffered for three months. Then the Lord brought this song to me because those that made it knew it was God."

Hayes said her songwriting initially was just for the church then she started recording songs with her brother. In 2000 her church started recording more than the church services when they relocated to their newer building.

I asked if her songs for the church brought in more people and she said, "Surprisingly it did. I actually have a song on the current album from back in the 90s."

Ellen Hayes is also a pianist and has four Rhythm of Gospel nominations as a result of her 2012 debut album release "Step into Your Blessing." A graduate of the University of Phoenix Ellen is also a radio host at WDRJ 1440AM called "Beats and Blessings." She has been married for 40 years, has eight children and 20 grandchildren.

The "We Owe It All to You" project offers 13 selections and features assistance from A. Jeffrey LaValley on keyboards. www.MeetEllenHayes.com