Guest artists share more than just the stage with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Many appreciate the Choir’s feelings of hope, peace, and joy expressed in song. In both interviews and personal conversation, these new friends of the Choir speak of how they have felt at home with the Choir and blessed by the experience.

Laura Osnes, Pioneer Day concert guest artist and talented Broadway leading lady, was quick to explain how her husband, Nathan Johnson, and her Christian faith keep her grounded in a star-studded world. “He’s my rock,” she said of her husband, whom she introduced to the audience before singing “All the Things You Are.” “The job and the career are great,” she continued in an interview, “but my companionship with him, my marriage with him is just really important to us.”

She also described her Christian faith and its significance in her life. Admitting that her life has brought many trials, she said, “I’ve had some challenges in my life that I feel like I’ve been able to come out of stronger. … I think a lot of that is due to my faith and the strength and the joy and the peace and the wisdom that I think only God can bring.” Watch her full interview on YouTube. 

Alex Boyé is a guest artist who has crisscrossed the country with the Choir on tour. He is known for his stirring spirituals, including “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me.” A British native, his story of climbing out of poverty is touching. Once homeless, he freely speaks of his challenges and how scripture study and positive thinking helped him get on his feet. 

“My small vision of thinking, ‘One day it’s going to be so much better’ was what kept me going,” he explained in an interview in Boston on the Choir’s recent tour. He continued, “I used to just dream of me being on stage and picture me with big audiences and all that kind of stuff. I’d picture me in that situation all the time, and it took me out of my doldrums and what I was going through, and it really, really helped.”

At age 16 he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while working at McDonald’s. A gentleman approached him and asked, ‘Do you believe in God?’ Three weeks later he was baptized. Watch this compelling interview with Alex Boyé.

Editor’s Note: Sheri Dew interviews Laura Osnes in a new BYUtv special, Sheri Dew Presents: Believers in Hollywood.