<P> "I Can Only Imagine" (sometimes shortened to "Imagine") is a single recorded by Christian rock band MercyMe . Written and composed by Bart Millard, the song, based around a main piano track, was inspired by the death of Millard's father and considers what it would be like in Heaven and to be standing before God . The song was first issued as a track on MercyMe's 1999 album The Worship Project, which was released on an independent record label . The song was re-recorded and included on their 2001 major - label debut album Almost There as the fifth song on the album . </P> <P> "I Can Only Imagine" was released in 2001 as the album's lead single . It gained significant airplay on Christian radio formats before crossing over to mainstream radio formats such as adult contemporary and Top 40 in late 2003 and into 2004; to aid in promotion to these markets, a double A-side physical single (combined with "Word of God Speak") was released in 2003 . It charted on several formats, including the Billboard Adult Contemporary (where it peaked at No. 5) and the Hot 100 (where it peaked at No. 71). In 2002, "I Can Only Imagine" earned the Dove Awards for' Pop / Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year' and' Song of the Year'; Millard earned the Dove Award' Songwriter of the Year' at the same ceremony . The song has been certified 2x platinum RIAA for sales of over two million digital downloads, and is the first (and so far only) Christian single to reach that milestone . </P> <P> "I Can Only Imagine" was the debut single for United States contemporary Christian and Christian rock band MercyMe . The father of Bart Millard, the band's vocalist, died in 1991 . Millard was 18 at the time . Millard began writing the words "I can only imagine" on items when he was thinking about his father . During the recording of the band's 1999 independent album The Worship Project, MercyMe needed one more song to fill out the album . Millard, alone on a bus in the middle of the night, finally wrote the lyrics to the song by drawing on his thoughts and personal faith about what one would experience standing before God in Heaven . Millard attests that "(' I Can Only Imagine') is one of the only songs I have ever written where there wasn't any mistakes, it was just written the way it is and left at that", and estimated that it took him only ten minutes to write the lyrics . </P> <P> In writing the music for the song, however, the band faced more difficulty; Millard noted that "at first it was a fast song...it was all these random ideas". Keyboardist Jim Bryson noted that "we were literally tearing down the stuff...(Millard) and I were talking about arranging it differently and doing a slower version, so we just tried out a piano intro...it was literally the first thing I played . It wasn't anything to do with me, I think it was just a God thing . (Millard) said' here it is, this is what's going to happen', and we laid the song down in about five minutes ." At that time, the other MercyMe members were Robby Shaffer on drums and percussion, Nathan Cochran on bass guitar and Michael Scheuchzer on guitar . This line - up recorded the first version of the song for The Worship Project . In 2006, it was included in the' Platinum Edition' of Almost There . </P>

Who sang the original i can only imagine