Jaci Velasquez and Salvador’s Nic Gonzales are a match made in heaven. Though it’s been a long road to get to where they are today, 2008 finds the couple enjoying a year of all things new…

She says, “He is like Superman. He brings the best out of everyone he comes in contact with.”

He says, “[She] allows me to be honest about exactly who I am.”

She’s an international superstar who signed her first record deal at the age of 14.

He’s the lead singer of an award-winning band that’s known for its high-energy live shows.

Together, they have released 21 albums and amassed numerous accolades and chart-topping hits.

Jaci Velasquez and Salvador’s Nic Gonzales are quite the power couple. And since their marriage in December 2006, their lives have changed dramatically—both personally and professionally. On November 3, 2007, the couple welcomed their first child, Zealand David. Both will tell you that the past few years have been quite an eye-opening experience.

“After marrying Nic, things changed,” Jaci says. “We were learning to live together and trying to consider the other person in every choice we made.”

“Let’s just say that I understand what it means to feel God’s love more and more every day,” adds Nic.

It’s obvious that marriage and family have transformed both Velasquez and Gonzales, and the personal has no doubt slipped into the workings of their respective new albums. However, Velasquez is quick to point to the inward change as the catalyst for the growth in her life over the years of her already storied career. “If anything has changed, it’s been me,” she admits. “I used to find my whole and complete identity in music, and my life has taught me how dangerous that is. I honestly am grateful to have learned that there is more to me than music, career and success.”

NOTHING BUT SKY
The new perspective is evident on Velasquez’s face as she shares the story of how she and Gonzales reconnected after years of being apart with the giddiness of a schoolgirl. Though in relating the story of their courtship (she and Nic dated briefly years ago when they were younger and signed to the same label), she is careful to not dismiss her past marriage as simply a detour. She’s candid about the lessons she’s learned along the way and certain that she’s finally gotten it right.

Her first marriage ended in divorce in 2005, and Velasquez moved to London for a short time, admitting that she was trying to run away from her problems. It was across the pond that Velasquez recorded 2005’s Beauty Has Grace (Word), a departure into indie rock territory and quite a surprise to listeners who had been faithful followers of her previous Adult Contemporary pop fare.

Her brand-new release, Love Out Loud (A'postrophe), finds Velasquez basking once again in the center of her pop roots and writing songs about her current stage in life. “After ZZ came along, I found myself writing songs about he and his daddy. I’ve found that nothing is really as important as my two boys. Both music and ministry take a backseat to the family that God has put in my life now,” shares Velasquez.

“The record is a compilation of stories I’ve experienced over the past four years of my life,” she continues. “I think I hadn’t experienced much of life until now.”

For this, her 13th release, a pregnant Velasquez invited Mark Heimermann back into the studio—the same producer who worked on several of her earlier projects. Through the new songs, Velasquez invites listeners to “love out loud,” allowing actions to speak louder than words. The title track serves as a declaration for change. But it’s the worshipful “Jesus (The Way)” that the singer claims as her favorite cut: “It’s a reminder of His grace and the grace I also need to show.”

FREE TO BE
Velasquez isn’t the only one who’s been affected by the profound changes that come with life and love. “I believe that art is one half from your heart and one half from your brain… The birth of my son is a perspective change, to say the least,” says husband Nic Gonzales. His band, Salvador, recently released a new studio album titled Aware (Word). “Our new record has been a joy to be able to write as well as to play with my friends again,” offers Gonzales. “The difference this time is a new understanding about what it feels like to be called to spread the Good News through song.

“It was an eye-opening experience to see what the married guys in the band have been sacrificing over the last 10 years,” he adds. But Gonzales wouldn’t have it any other way. He says he’s learning “to be grateful in the big and small things.” And in this phase of life, he’s reveling in the freedom of becoming exactly who God intends him to be. New song “Free to Be” is a testament to this newfound independence uncovered through his life with Jaci and Zealand and also in his relationship with Christ. “[The song] speaks to the awkward and unsure person in me,” shares Gonzales. “It expresses what it feels like to be free in God’s love and that I’m OK if God is pleased with me.”

THE SIMPLE LIFE
Promoting two new releases and touring the country might make the art of juggling family life quite a challenge, but Velasquez and Gonzales take it all in stride. “Just like any other family with two working parents, we are trying to figure it out as we go. We are faced with a lot of the same challenges as the next couple,” says Gonzales.

Velasquez’s best advice in regard to the precarious balance is to simplify. “Anyone who knows me, knows how out of character that is for me!” she says. “I have to attack each and every task at hand and not let the rest of the world enter my mind until I finish.”

In the end, out of the limelight, this couple’s sentiments boil down to one thing: gratitude. “I have no idea why God has smiled upon me in such a way, but I do know that I am truly grateful,” says Velasquez. “I feel very undeserving of all this beauty in my life.”

Check out reviews of both Jaci’s Love Out Loud (A'postrophe) and Salvador’s Aware (Word). To learn more, visit jacivelasquez.com and salvadorlive.com.