<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 was n'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> `` 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 was n'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>
who sang the original i can only imagine
who sang the original i can only imagine
Bart Millard
Bart Millard