News

Renee Basel sings in the parking lot of Gulf Stream Town Hall, where she is clerk. She says her car is a convenient place to sing and send out her image via phone (below). Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Hannah Spence

Renee Basel wears many hats, but her role as the Hump Day Hymn Lady has made her popular on social media.

Every Wednesday (or hump day), Basel graces people’s screens via TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, singing hymns a cappella. She mostly records herself in her car because it’s convenient.

Basel said the hymns “bring hope, and we need that in the day and age we live in. Music is healing and sometimes says things when you can’t. I think the hymns are good at filling a void that might be out there right now.”

She also sings in an effort to uplift listeners in the middle of the week.

“They’ve had Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and I come on and try to be joyful,” she said. “I go into the hymn and then I tell them to have a blessed rest of their week.”

Basel, 59, who lives in Boynton Beach, was inspired to provide the weekly posts by her son, Daren.

After she and her husband, David, started their Delray Beach church, Worship and The Word Fellowship, Basel was asked by one of the members to sing Because He Lives. When she looked at her son while performing, she noticed he wasn’t singing. She asked him about it later, and he told her that he didn’t know the song.

Basel explained that with all the new technologies used in churches, many no longer sing hymns. She wants the younger generation to be exposed to them. So, in 2019, she started posting videos of herself singing hymns, shedding light on the older verses. Now, people from all over the world watch her content.

Basel said that the name Hump Day Hymn Lady was coined thanks to a young fan with special needs.

“I have some friends in Pennsylvania who called and said their autistic son would say, ‘it’s the hymn day lady,’ when I was on,” said Basel. “I just took it and ran with it.”

Basel is the town clerk for Gulf Stream. She started working for the town almost nine years ago as a temp and within two weeks, she was hired as an executive assistant before later ascending to her current position.

“I’ve a wonderful, fabulous place to work,” she said. “It’s something new every day.”

Basel was president of the Palm Beach County Municipal Clerks Association and is vice president of the Florida Association of City Clerks.

Recently, Basel was contacted by a Grammy award-winning composer/conductor, David T. Clydesdale, after he saw her videos on Facebook. Clydesdale invited her to collaborate on a hymn album with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Basel first thought it was a scam, but later agreed to it after a phone conversation with Clydesdale.

She raised money with help from family and friends before going to Prague to record in October.

“I could just tell from the hump day thing that Renee was going to be a character,” said Clydesdale. “I thought she had lots of personality and that proved to be true. While in Prague together, I think we laughed 90% of the time.”

Although Basel was familiar with Clydesdale’s work before meeting him, having done his songs at her prior church in Michigan, the two had not met until their European trip.

“There was just something special in her voice,” said Clydesdale. “You could tell she believed it and she was trying to communicate the song.”

Although Basel has gained celebrity within the past few years, she had experience singing for spectators before becoming the Hump Day Hymn Lady.

“I was a voice major in college, so I always wanted to do this,” said Basel. “And before I got married, I was a backup singer for Larnelle Harris,” a gospel singer.

This month, Basel will go to Nashville to record the background singers, and finally she will do her lead vocals in February to complete the album. Clydesdale orchestrated all the songs.

The album will be available on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon Music by next April.

Basel selected five of the 10 songs by asking her family what their favorite hymns were. The others are songs for which she developed a love throughout the years.

“I feel great when I’m doing this,” said Basel. “I feel like I am ministering Jesus to people. I want it to uplift their spirits and minister to their hearts, minds and souls.”

NOMINATE SOMEONE TO BE A COASTAL STAR
Send a note to news@thecoastalstar.com or call 561-337-1553.