Our Story

In 1980, with fifty dollars in the bank and a priceless amount of enthusiasm, close friends Trisha Watts and Monica O’Brien formed Willow Music.

In those days Trish was studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and beginning her ministry as a contemporary Christian singer/songwriter. Monica was studying nursing and was involved in Youth Ministry in her local church.

It was obvious to them and their friends that there was a need to introduce music for use in the church that would appeal to people their age.

During this time, out of the blue, Trish and Monica began writing songs together.

While Monica ironed her nurses’ uniform in preparation for an afternoon shift, Trish sat at the piano tinkering the ivories until she arrived at the melody for what was to be their first co-written song.

‘Do you have any lyrics for that melody Trish?’ asked Mon. ‘No, do you?” replied Trish.

Trisha Watts and Monica O’Brien

In 1986 Monica was Project Manager for the Papal Youth Gathering at the Sydney Cricket Ground which featured a cast of over 10,000. Over 30,000 young people gathered with Pope John Paul II to pray for peace and to praise God through song, led by the 100 voice youth choir.

The theme song, Covenant Peace which invited people to come aboard the
arc of peace’, echoed across the stadium as a dramatic presentation took
place on the screen and on stage.

Pope John Paul II took the hands of young people standing on either side of
him as the choir led the song Summoned by Love, also written by Trish and
Mon, which remains one of the all-time favourite Australian contemporary Christian songs of all time.

In the late eighties, they were approached by other musicians and companies who needed assistance in getting their music products to a wider audience. Oregon Catholic Press in Portland, Oregon USA, now known as OCP, became the first major company to be represented by Willow Music in Australia.

As the business grew, the partners realised that they were growing beyond their name and in 1990 Willow Connection Pty Ltd was registered as an incorporated company. The name change heralded the birth of a broader vision – to assist people in making the connection between music, spirituality and the creative arts.

The company embarked on numerous local publishing ventures and expanded its representation of international publishers to include Wild Goose Publications, SPCK, Church House Publishing, Printery House, Terra Sancta and a range of secular publishers such as Sheldon Press, Sounds True, Twin Sisters, Free Spirit Publishing, Barefoot Books and Prufrock Press.