Daniel Jay Gokey (born April 24, 1980) is an American singer and former church music director.

[1][2] After his placing on the show, Gokey signed to 19 Recordings and RCA Nashville at the beginning of a career in country music, releasing the single "My Best Days Are Ahead of Me."

After leaving RCA Nashville in November 2011, he gravitated his music towards an adult pop/contemporary Christian sound and subsequently made a record deal with BMG Rights Management in May 2013.

[5][6] He has acknowledged the influence of Jeffrey and Robin Pruitt, who are the pastors of the church where he worked, and also Matthew Barnett, the founder of the LA Dream Center.

[7] Gokey was a church music director, while also driving a semi truck for a local logistics company for two years.

[9] Gokey was the only contestant in that season who was never in the bottom two or three, but he was eliminated in third place on May 13, 2009, after his performance of Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful".

[10] During the season 8 finale on May 20, 2009, Gokey performed a duet with rhythm and blues singer-songwriter Lionel Richie.

[20] In support of the album, Gokey was the opening act on Sugarland's Incredible Machine tour which began in April.

[24] Gokey released the single "Second Hand Heart", written by Cary Barlowe, Shane Stevens and Josh Kear, in 2011.

[32] In 2014, Gokey released "Hope in Front of Me" as a single, under the record label BMG Rights Management.

[49][50] Gokey released "Haven't Seen It Yet" as a single, which has been a huge commercial success, peaking at the top three on the Billboard Christian charts and at number four in Cross Rhythms.

[58][59][60] In 2021, Gokey's eighth album, Jesus People, was released on August 20, 2022, which he experimented with singing with various genres, such as Latin pop, classical music and dance-pop.

[63][64] The album consists of five singles that achieved commercial success, which were "We All Need Jesus",[65] "Stand in Faith",[66] "He Believes in You",[67] "Agradecido"[68] and "Do for Love".

[71][72][73][74] Subsequently, he released "Live Up to Your Name" and his second EP, Brave, where he expresses his patriotic feeling for the United States from a religious perspective.

On July 9, 2008, four weeks before he auditioned for American Idol, Gokey's wife died from complications during her third surgery to treat her congenital heart disease.

[94][95][96] In January 2022, Gokey appeared at the event announcing Doug Mastriano's entry into the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race.

"[98][99] He also believes that vaccine mandates could lead to the Mark of the Beast, an end-times belief about the Antichrist espoused by many evangelical Christians.