Raised in a Christian family active in the local Mennonite church, 3VAN got his confidence in his musical ability after being asked to play for Sunday worship on cajon by a church worship leader upon learning that he was taking drum lessons. This would lead to learning music theory and the piano basics that he would rely on for music production in the early stages of his career in 2015. Throughout high school, 3VAN would move on to serving on worship team for his high school worship team before transitioning to the Sunday morning worship team.
However, demons from various seasons of his life would continue to plague him, especially following his baptism in 2018, as he stumbled heavily into sexual sin in the early years of his tenure at university. He would hide these actions in the shadows, burying it underneath his continued service in worship team and nascent career as a music producer.
He would finally confront these actions in 2019 following the release of “Jesus Is King” by Kanye West, confessing his struggles with lust to a few close friends and beginning to take active steps to get his life back in control. 3VAN would go on to get more involved in his local church and coasting in his faith, until the passing of an uncle in 2023 would force him to truly reflect on the authenticity of his faith. After re-dedicating his life to Christ in the wake of this moment, 3VAN was convicted to walk away from a pending deal with Cash Money Records, a relationship with both his girlfriend at the time and best friend of over seven years.
Floating without any professional direction for nearly a year would allow 3VAN to continue growing closer to and trusting God. His patience would finally be rewarded in 2024 after meeting newly emerging Christian rapper and professional basketball player Anthony Lee Jr., as the duo quickly developed professional chemistry - developing Ant’s first single “Light Up The City” in the parking lot of a Sobeys grocery store in Kitchener, Ontario - prior to the inaugural Light Up The City worship night at the top of October. Working with Ant would not only give 3VAN the guidance and motivation to fully rebranding as a Christian artist, but also the reigniton of his passion to consistently release music once again.
2025 would prove to be a crucial year for 3VAN, as he released his first full-length EP “Sounds Of My Testimony” at the start of January after audibly hearing the voice of God challenging him to fully use the skills he had been blessed with to build up the body of Christ in his community of Kitchener-Waterloo in December. This new surrender to the will of God would give 3VAN the strength, confidence and courage to dive into music full-time in June after quitting his 9-5 job and racking up connections with industry professionals at RadioPushers and Very Rare Cinema.
Thanks to Ant once again, 3VAN would make his live debut in July at a outdoor event in Guelph, performing the track “Oh He Good Good” alongside Ant. Following another show in Milton, the pair would venture to the electric Kingdom Bound Music Festival outside of Buffalo, NY at the end of the month, arming them with a deeper passion to serve and deliver more engaging performances at the Jesus Festival in Hamilton, the second annual Light Up The City in Kitchener and rounding the year off at worship night at 3VAN’s alma mater University of Waterloo.
Today, 3VAN continues to push forward and explore where God has called him to, either within or outside of the church. He continues to serve actively at his home church on worship team, as well as releasing his own solo music, running his own record label UNPROMOTED SOUNDS and most recently, bringing CrossOver Everything to life to affirmatively share the Gospel of Christ wherever he goes - especially into the music space.
