A Boca Raton worship leader beat out thousands of entries to win the fourth season of “Gospel Dream” – a talent search competition similar to “American Idol” featured on the Gospel Music Channel. Tony LeBron’s stunning dual-language performances of Bruce Hornsby’s “The Way It Is” and “I Surrender All” catapulted him to the crown.

“It’s so exciting, and it’s an honor,” says the gifted crooner and worship leader from Boca Raton Community Church (BRCC). “Personally, it’s a validation from God regarding His calling on my life to pursue music and Life .”

LeBron, 32, was encouraged by friends to try out for the show when auditions were held in Orlando.
“Close to 400 people were standing in line, and I was the last one to be seen,” he remembers. “It was a long day.”

The time LeBron invested while waiting patiently in line paid off when he won the title while taping the shows in Nashville, Tenn. in front of a live audience and judges including Michelle Williams from the Grammy award-winning group “Destiny’s Child;” one of Gospel music’s most prolific talents, J. Moss and music industry executive Mitchell Solarek. “American Idol” alumnae Kimberley Locke co-hosted the show along with Mike Kasem from “MTV’s Top 20 Video Countdown.”

“It was great to be with performers at that level,” says LeBron. “One of the vocal coaches was Michael Tait of DC Talk.”

LeBron, who was born in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and raised in Orlando, is fluent in both Spanish and English. His seemingly effortless transitions between both languages within the same songs helped drive him to the top of the competition and confirmed him as the first Hispanic to win the competition.

Prior to his full-time Life position as worship leader and director of the young adults group at BRCC, LeBron constantly pursued his dream of singing by performing on cruise ships and singing for Promise Keepers.

To watch clips of LeBron’s award-winning solos visit TonyLeBron.com.