Taya Gaukrodger
Taya Gaukrodger (née Smith; born May 10, 1989), known professionally as TAYA, is an Australian singer-songwriter and worship leader best known for her vocals on Hillsong United’s global hit “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail).”
She spent a decade on staff at Hillsong Church, sang lead on some of contemporary worship’s biggest songs, and in 2022 stepped out as a solo artist under her own name. Taya is married to Ben Gaukrodger and is mother to their son, Bo.
Taya Gaukrodger at a Glance
| Personal | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Taya Gaukrodger (née Smith) |
| Born | May 10, 1989, in a small country town in northern Australia |
| Age | 37 (as of 2026) |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) |
| Spouse | Ben Gaukrodger (m. March 23, 2018) |
| Children | Bo Benaiah Gaukrodger (b. October 20, 2023) |
| Ministry & Career | |
| Known For | Lead vocals on “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” |
| Former Groups | Hillsong United, Hillsong Worship, Hillsong Young & Free |
| Church | Hillsong Church, Sydney (2010–2023) |
| Denomination | Pentecostal / Charismatic |
| Solo Debut | TAYA (self-titled album, May 27, 2022) |
| Notable Award | GMA Dove Award, Song of the Year, “Oceans” (2014) |
| Net Worth | Estimated $1.5–2 million (unofficial) |
Early Life and Background
Taya grew up in a small country town in the north of Australia, far from the stages she’d later fill. Music found her early, but faith shaped her more. She became a Christian at age 5, a decision she’s said grounded everything that came after it.
In 2010, at 21 years old, she made the move that changed her life: she relocated to Sydney to chase a career in music.
Not long after arriving, she found her way to Hillsong Church’s city campus and started volunteering, first in youth ministry, then with young adults. She wasn’t chasing a stage. She was just showing up.
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Ministry and Music Career
Joining Hillsong
Volunteering turned into something bigger fast. Within a few years of joining Hillsong’s creative team, Taya was recording lead vocals for Hillsong United.
In 2013, she sang lead on “A Million Suns” and, more significantly, on a track that would define her career: “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail),” released on the Zion album.
“Oceans” didn’t just do well. It became one of the most-played worship songs of the decade. The track spent 61 straight weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart, went four-times platinum, and cracked the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 83, a rare feat for a worship song. Taya’s voice became the sound most people associate with it.
Rise to Prominence
She followed “Oceans” with lead or featured vocals on other songs that became staples in churches worldwide: “Touch the Sky,” “Broken Vessels,” “Grace to Grace,” and “Even When It Hurts (Praise Song).”
She also joined Hillsong Young & Free, the church’s youth-focused pop and EDM-worship offshoot, lending her voice to that project’s early sound.
By 2016, she’d become one of the more recognizable faces in modern worship music. That year, Hillsong released the documentary Let Hope Rise, and Taya shared her personal testimony as part of it, giving fans their first real look at the woman behind the voice.
Over the following decade, between tours with United, Hillsong Worship, and Young & Free, she performed live for more than 10 million people across 12 countries and six continents. Tracks she led have crossed a combined one billion streams.
The 2017 Head-Shaving Moment (Not Cancer)
In 2017, Taya shaved her head, and the internet reacted the way the internet reacts. Speculation spread fast, including rumors tying it to illness.
The truth is simpler and has nothing to do with cancer. Taya has explained, plainly, that repeated bleaching had damaged her hair beyond what she was willing to keep styling.
She checked the shape of her head with her bandmates, decided a buzz cut made more sense than more damage, and went for it.
She’s never had a public cancer diagnosis. The confusion seems to trace back to people conflating her haircut with unrelated stories about hair loss from chemotherapy that circulated online around the same time.
If you’ve seen “Taya Gaukrodger cancer” as a suggested search, this is where that comes from, and there’s no evidence behind it.
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Going Solo as TAYA
After years of writing songs for the collective and setting her own voice aside, Taya started working on a solo project during the pandemic.
Hillsong United’s Joel Houston had been pushing her toward it for years. “I think you need to be writing,” he told her, long before she believed it herself.
She released her debut single, “For All My Life,” in March 2022, followed by her self-titled debut album, TAYA, on May 27, 2022.
The 14-track record, co-written with collaborators including Jon Guerra, entered the UK’s Christian and Gospel Albums chart at No. 20. She supported it with a U.S. run called the Introducing TAYA tour.
In 2025, she went further, announcing her first-ever U.S. headline tour, with support from artists including Joe L Barnes, Leeland, and Mack Brock. The same worship leader who once stood in a 14-person lineup was now filling rooms under her own name.
Why Did Taya Gaukrodger Leave Hillsong?
Taya resigned from her staff role at Hillsong Church in April 2023, after 10 years with the organization. The timing was notable: she submitted her resignation on the exact anniversary of the release of the Zion album, the record that gave the world “Oceans.”
In her announcement, she called the decision “bittersweet” and reflected on a decade of ministry rather than laying out a single reason for leaving.
She spoke about walking away with deep friendships, a stronger relationship with God, and “a conviction to always follow the voice of the Lord even when it doesn’t make sense.”
She hasn’t given a detailed public explanation beyond that, and it’s worth being upfront that no reliable source has one either.
Her departure came during a difficult stretch for the wider Hillsong network, which saw a wave of staff and leadership exits following a string of public controversies in the years before.
Taya’s exit fits that broader pattern of long-time staff moving on, though she’s never directly tied her decision to any of it. She’s not alone in that kind of transition either.
Naomi Raine, another prominent worship leader, made a similarly quiet exit from Maverick City Music around the same period, choosing her own words over public explanation.
Is Taya still with Hillsong? No. She left the church’s staff in 2023 and now records and tours independently as TAYA.
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Personal Life
Marriage to Ben Gaukrodger
Taya announced her engagement to Ben Gaukrodger in December 2017. They married on March 23, 2018, in a private ceremony officiated by her Hillsong United bandmate, Jonathon “JD” Douglass.
Taya has spoken about Ben’s faith as one of the things that drew her to him, calling him “nothing short of a wonderful gift from God.”
Ben has kept a low public profile by choice. He’s said openly, in a podcast conversation with Christian Huff, that he’s never felt compelled to use social media, not out of opposition to it, but because he’d rather be present than plugged in.
That choice has meant most of what the public knows about him comes filtered through Taya’s own posts, as a husband and, later, a father.
Motherhood and Family Life
Taya and Ben welcomed their first child, a son named Bo Benaiah Gaukrodger, on October 20, 2023. He weighed 9 pounds and measured 22.5 inches at birth.
Taya explained the name afterward: “Bo” comes from a Hebrew word meaning “go” or “come,” carrying a sense of calling and direction, while “Benaiah” means “Yahweh builds.”
She’s described early motherhood as humbling, writing that she felt “forever ruined in the best way” after Bo’s birth.
Family life now shapes how she structures touring and songwriting, a shift common among worship artists who lean on worship as a source of strength through major life transitions.
Theology and Ministry Philosophy
Taya has described worship as something meant to point people toward Jesus rather than toward the performer. Her stated hope, repeated in interviews, is to help people “worship more authentically and passionately” as they get to know God better.
That framing shaped her time in Hillsong’s Pentecostal, charismatic tradition and carries into her solo work, where songs still center on gratitude, surrender, and God’s faithfulness through hard seasons.
Influence and Legacy
Few voices in modern worship music carry the reach Taya’s does. “Oceans” alone changed how a generation of churches sang about faith during uncertainty, and it remains a staple on Sunday setlists more than a decade after its release.
Her time across Hillsong United, Hillsong Worship, and Young & Free put her at the center of three different corners of the same movement, pop-leaning, band-driven, and stadium-scale worship, all at once.
Her solo turn also matters beyond her own catalog. It’s part of a broader shift where worship leaders once known only as part of a collective, artists like William McDowell and David Dam in their own corners of the genre, step out to write and lead under their own names.
Taya’s path from volunteer to global vocalist to independent artist has become something of a template for that shift.
Criticism and Controversies
Taya herself hasn’t been at the center of major personal controversy. Most of the scrutiny she’s faced has come by association, tied to the broader scandals that hit Hillsong’s global leadership in the years before her 2023 resignation.
Her 2017 head shave also drew unfair criticism from some corners of the church community at the time, with a few leaders publicly questioning the decision before she explained the simple, non-spiritual reason behind it.
Net Worth and Financial Information
No official figure exists for Taya Gaukrodger’s net worth. Independent estimates place it in the $1.5 million to $2 million range, drawn from music royalties, live touring income, and her decade of ministry work at Hillsong.
She hasn’t discussed specific earnings publicly, and figures beyond this range should be treated as speculation rather than fact.
Awards and Recognition
- Oceans (Where Feet May Fail), GMA Dove Award for Song of the Year, 2014
- “Oceans” certified four-times platinum in the U.S.
- 61 consecutive weeks at No. 1, Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart
- TAYA debut album charted at No. 20, UK Christian and Gospel Albums chart, 2022
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Interesting Facts
- Taya was in a relationship with fellow Hillsong Young & Free member Aodhan King before she met Ben.
- She has both Jewish heritage on her mother’s side and Aboriginal Australian heritage on her father’s side.
- Her son’s name, Bo, was a subject the couple discussed years before he was born, since Ben preferred traditional names and “Taya” itself isn’t one.
- She racked up over 265,000 flying miles in a single year during Hillsong United’s Zion tour.
- Her resignation from Hillsong landed on the exact 10-year anniversary of “Oceans” being released.
Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1989 | Born May 10, in northern Australia |
| 2010 | Moves to Sydney; joins Hillsong Church as a volunteer |
| 2013 | Records lead vocals on “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” |
| 2014 | “Oceans” wins GMA Dove Award for Song of the Year |
| 2016 | Featured in Hillsong’s Let Hope Rise documentary |
| 2017 | Shaves her head due to hair damage; engaged to Ben Gaukrodger |
| 2018 | Marries Ben Gaukrodger, March 23 |
| 2022 | Releases debut solo single and self-titled album, TAYA |
| 2023 | Resigns from Hillsong Church staff; son Bo born, October 20 |
| 2025 | Announces first U.S. headline tour |
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Taya Gaukrodger?
Taya Gaukrodger was born on May 10, 1989, which makes her 37 years old as of 2026, still under 40.
Why did Taya leave Hillsong?
She resigned from her staff role at Hillsong Church in April 2023 after 10 years there. She hasn’t given a specific public reason, describing the decision as “bittersweet” and rooted in following God’s direction for her next season.
Is Taya still part of Hillsong?
No. She left Hillsong’s staff in 2023 and now records and performs independently as TAYA.
Does Taya Smith have cancer?
No. There’s no evidence Taya has ever had a cancer diagnosis. The rumor likely comes from confusion around her 2017 head shave, which she’s explained was due to hair damage from bleaching, not illness.
Why did Taya shave her head?
Repeated hair bleaching had damaged her hair. Rather than keep repairing it, she chose to shave it down to a buzz cut, a decision she made with input from her bandmates, not for spiritual or medical reasons.
Who is Taya Gaukrodger’s husband?
She’s married to Ben Gaukrodger. They married on March 23, 2018, in a private ceremony, and have one son together, born in 2023.
Does Taya Smith have a baby?
Yes. Taya and Ben welcomed their son, Bo Benaiah Gaukrodger, on October 20, 2023.
What was Taya Gaukrodger’s most famous song?
“Oceans (Where Feet May Fail),” recorded with Hillsong United in 2013, is her defining song. It spent 61 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart.
What does Taya do now?
She records and tours as an independent solo artist under the name TAYA, releasing her self-titled debut album in 2022 and continuing to headline U.S. tour dates.
