Gospel Singers, Choirs and Bands

Choir Jokes

2007-09-08T19:52:00.000+05:30

THE YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO THE SATB CHOIR In any chorus, there are four voice parts: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. Sometimes these are divided into first and second within each part, prompting endless jokes about first and second basses. There are also various other parts such as baritone, countertenor, contralto, mezzo soprano, etc., but these are mostly used by people who are either soloists, or belong to some excessively hotshot classical a cappella group (this applies especially to countertenors), or are trying to make excuses for not really fitting into any of the regular voice parts, so we will ignore them for now.

Each voice part sings in a different range, and each one has a very different personality. You may ask, "Why should singing different notes make people act differently?", and indeed this is a mysterious question and has not been adequately studied, especially since scientists who study musicians tend to be musicians themselves and have all the peculiar complexes that go with being tenors, french horn players, timpanists, or whatever. However, this is beside the point; the fact remains that the four voice parts can be easily distinguished, and I will now explain how.

THE SOPRANOS are the ones who sing the highest, and because of this they think they rule the world. They have longer hair, fancier jewelry, and swishier skirts than anyone else, and they consider themselves insulted if they are not allowed to go at least to a high F in every movement of any given piece. When they reach the high notes, they hold them for at least half again as long as the composer and/or conductor requires, and then complain that their throats are killing them and that the composer and conductor are sadists. Sopranos have varied attitudes toward the other sections of the chorus, though they consider all of them inferior. Altos are to sopranos rather like second violins to first violins - nice to harmonize with, but not really necessary. All sopranos have a secret feeling that the altos could drop out and the piece would sound essentially the same, and they don't understand why anybody would sing in that range in the first place - it's so boring. Tenors, on the other hand, can be very nice to have around; besides their flirtation possibilities (it is a well-known fact that sopranos never flirt with basses), sopranos like to sing duets with tenors because all the tenors are doing is working very hard to sing in a low-to-medium soprano range, while the sopranos are up there in the stratosphere showing off. To sopranos, basses are the scum of the earth - they sing too damn loud, are useless to tune to because they're down in that low, low range - and there has to be something wrong with anyone who sings in the F clef, anyway.

THE ALTOS are the salt of the earth - in their opinion, at least. Altos are unassuming people, who would wear jeans to concerts if they were allowed to. Altos are in a unique position in the chorus in that they are unable to complain about having to sing either very high or very low, and they know that all the other sections think their parts are pitifully easy. But the altos know otherwise. They know that while the sopranos are screeching away on a high A, they are being forced to sing elaborate passages full of sharps and flats and tricks of rhythm, and nobody is noticing because the sopranos are singing too loud (and the basses usually are too). Altos get a deep, secret pleasure out of conspiring together to tune the sopranos flat. Altos have an innate distrust of tenors, because the tenors sing in almost the same range and think they sound better. They like the basses, and enjoy singing duets with them - the basses just sound like a rumble anyway, and it's the only time the altos can really be heard. Altos' other complaint is that there are always too many of them and so they never get to sing really loud.

THE TENORS are spoiled. That's all there is to it. For one thing, there are never enough of them, and choir directors would rather sell their souls than let a halfway decent tenor quit, while they're always ready to unload a few altos at half price. And then, for some reason, the few tenors there are are always really good - it's one of those annoying facts of life.. So it's no wonder that tenors always get swollen heads - after all, who else can make sopranos swoon? The one thing that can make tenors insecure is the accusation (usually by the basses) that anyone singing that high couldn't possibly be a real man.. In their usual perverse fashion, the tenors never acknowledge this, but just complain louder about the composer being a sadist and making them sing so damn high. Tenors have a love-hate relationship with the conductor, too, because the conductor is always telling them to sing louder because there are so few of them. No conductor in recorded history has ever asked for less tenor in a forte passage. Tenors feel threatened in some way by all the other sections - the sopranos because they can hit those incredibly high notes; the altos because they have no trouble singing the notes the tenors kill themselves for; and the basses because, although they can't sing anything above an E, they sing it loud enough to drown the tenors out. Of course, the tenors would rather die than admit any of this. It is a little-known fact that tenors move their eyebrows more than anyone else while singing.

THE BASSES sing the lowest of anybody. This basically explains everything. They are stolid, dependable people, and have more facial hair than anybody else. The basses feel perpetually unappreciated, but they have a deep conviction that they are actually the most important part (a view endorsed by musicologists, but certainly not by sopranos or tenors), despite the fact that they have the most boring part of anybody and often sing the same note (or in endless fifths) for an entire page. They compensate for this by singing as loudly as they can get away with - most basses are tuba players at heart. Basses are the only section that can regularly complain about how low their part is, and they make horrible faces when trying to hit very low notes. Basses are charitable people, but their charity does not extend so far as tenors, whom they consider effete poseurs. Basses hate tuning the tenors more than almost anything else. Basses like altos - except when they have duets and the altos get the good part. As for the sopranos, they are simply in an alternate universe which the basses don't understand at all. They can't imagine why anybody would ever want to sing that high and sound that bad when they make mistakes. When a bass makes a mistake, the other three parts will cover him, and he can continue on his merry way, knowing that sometime, somehow, he will end up at the root of the chord.

Johnny Cash: The Maniac in Black

2007-09-01T15:13:00.000+05:30

Their love affair was immortalised in the film Walk The Line. But a new book about music legend Johnny Cash and his wife - by their own son - reveals the dark reality of life with...

Was this one of the most romantic proposals of all time?

Johnny Cash, with his rough-hewn outlaw image, was performing one of his legendary ballads before 7,000 people on stage in Ontario, Canada, when suddenly he stopped in his tracks and asked his petite co-star June Carter to marry him.

It was the union of two great musical legends - a union documented in the 2005 film Walk The Line, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon - and the start of a marriage that would last 35 years.

Cash, who with his deep brown voice invented rockabilly, and June, who wrote one of his greatest hits, Ring Of Fire, had performed together for many years on America's country music circuit.

Yet all the time they had battled against their growing love because both were married to other people and held deep religious convictions.

The story of how Cash finally left his first wife and four daughters in the Sixties just as June obtained her second divorce is part of music history.

June and Johnny moved in together to his idyllic lakeside house near Nashville, Tennessee, and were so happy there they christened the place Camelot.

Their idyll was complete when, in 1970, their only son was born. They called him John Carter Cash and doted on him - as he later did on them, growing up faithful to his musical heritage by becoming an award-winning record producer.

Now, just four years after his parents died within four months of each other, John Carter has written a poignant new book which offers a unique insight into the reality of living with these musical legends.

As John Carter reveals, there was a tragic downside to their enduring love story - the drugs, the infidelities and the slanging matches - a side which the public never saw.

While June threw her energies into retail therapy and prayers, her husband popped enough pills to fell anyone with a lesser frame, sometimes sleeping so deeply the family feared he was dead.

Fabulous wealth, fine homes, celebrity friends, nothing could deter the brooding Cash from his self-destructive urges.

For little John Carter, it was a see-saw existence.

On the one hand, his parents' money brought him a fairytale life; on the other, he was witness to his father's distressing binges.

Cash's musician friends claimed that, when they all took drugs together, Johnny was the life and soul of the party.

But John Carter says that at home Cash would either stare into space or sink into depression, yelling abuse.

Throughout it all June Carter remained astonishingly supportive. Yet as her son now reveals, even she was unable to escape the family curse in the end.

One by one, she watched her daughters by her first two marriages and then her beloved son with Johnny all descend into addiction alongside her husband.

She, too, succumbed to drug abuse in her final years, which hastened her death.

Yet throughout, the music continued. Cash was one of the best-loved country singers of all time and his wife was a star in her own right when they met.

Born in a remote country valley in Virginia, June Carter became a child radio performer, singing alongside her sisters and her mother Maybelle, who was known as the Queen of Country Music.

At the age of 14, she claimed she saw tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost and believed the Holy Spirit entered her body.

June's faith was one of the most important elements in her life and Cash, with his gospel singing background and his habit of dressing in black, resembled a country preacher. It was inevitable she would be attracted to The Man In Black.

They first performed together in 1956 - she was already married to Grand Ole Opry star Carl Smith and had a young daughter - and from the start June was in awe of bad boy Cash, even though he was so drunk the day after their first concert that he refused to carry on the tour.

When her marriage fell apart, she first went to New York to study acting. But she was soon drawn back to Nashville.

Before long she was making frequent stage appearances with Johnny Cash, who was now so famous he had his own television show. And in 1961 she made her own first appearance on the show.

Yet June was wary of getting personally involved.

Not only was she married again - this time to a stock car driver, with whom she had had a second daughter - but so was Johnny, albeit unhappily.

In 1954 Cash had tied the knot with his Catholic childhood sweetheart Vivian Liberto, who lived in California with their four daughters. They led almost separate lives and Cash rarely visited as he and his band performed on the road.

They were the original rock rebels, setting the record for wanton destruction on tours. They liked to trash hotel rooms with a chainsaw which Johnny carried in his car. He was also taking drugs.

Life on tour was so disorientating that he travelled with a bag full of magic potions to wake him up or send him to sleep.

And Cash consumed vast quantities. He was once arrested crossing the border into Mexico with 668 amphetamine tablets and 475 tranquillisers.

He finally became such a hopeless junkie that one evening on stage he smashed 60 footlights with his microphone, showering glass over his audience.

But if audiences were willing to forgive him, June wasn't. Whenever she caught Cash popping pills she would wait for him to fall asleep and then flush his stash down the toilet. Johnny would promise again and again to kick his habit but he always went back on the stuff.

Even when he bought an apartment in Nashville in order to be closer to her, he shared it with legendary hellraiser, bassist Waylon Jennings, and the two egged each other on in their drug-taking.

Cash divorced his wife in 1966 and finally bought the lakeside house he wanted to share with June. But still she wouldn't marry him unless he got free of drugs. The breakthrough came when she told him she would not work with him again unless he kicked his habit.

Cash used to tell a story of how, after that ultimatum, he went into a vast warren of caves intending to lie down and die.

With him he took his guitar, but when he put it down in the dark he couldn't find it again. Lost in the caves, he finally got down on his knees and prayed to God to show him the way out. And when his prayers were answered, he found the strength to throw off the drugs. He then asked June to marry him in 1968 on stage.

Life for June from now on would be very different. She moved both her daughters into Cash's house and her stepdaughters and parents were always welcome.

When Cash lived there alone, it had been sparsely furnished. June, who had a mania for collecting furniture, filled it with period pieces and with staff, who attended the couple's every whim.

She loved being Johnny's wife, even though their life held many surprises. Once he told her that 24 people would be coming for lunch. Instead 76 showed up.

And to begin with, Cash made it easy for her. Having adopted her Christian values, there was a brake on his wild behaviour, though as his son points out, his father was not above going to church and coming home to take drugs.

In public Cash wasted no opportunity to preach the gospel. He and June made a movie, Gospel Road, and their friends included TV evangelist Billy Graham.

The Cashes were at the high point of their fame when in the 1970 their son was born.

But they did not let the addition to the family slow them down. Little John travelled all over the world with his parents, who took him on stage even before he could walk.

By now the celebrity couple had homes all over the U.S.

They also bought a legendary old estate, Cinnamon Hill in Jamaica, built by an ancestor of the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Cash romantically copied out the Browning poem 'How do I love thee' and gave it to his wife.

But by the time John was seven his magical youth was at an end. Cash was heavily back on drugs and his eye was wandering.

He was fighting with June and she considered leaving him for good, running away to London to stay with her daughter, who was married to British rocker Nick Lowe.

Then just as it seemed they were set to divorce, they decided instead to reaffirm their love by renewing their marriage vows.

From now on the couple would never be apart, although Cash's drug-taking continued. At home the great man would sit for hours in a trance, barely functioning.

John Carter often shared his father's room when they travelled and he would listen to Cash's laboured breathing as he slept off an overdose. Once Cash stopped breathing for so long that John, aged 12, had to help his mother haul him into a cold bath to bring him round.

June bore the brunt of it all. No matter how much she tore the home apart trying to find where Cash had put his pills, there would always be another hiding place she could not find. By now her daughters were also consuming quantities of hard drugs.

In 1983 Cash had become so ill he required surgery for digestive problems in Nashville's Baptist hospital.

Then he overdosed on the pills he had smuggled into the hospital.

Finally, he agreed to treatment - and went into the Betty Ford clinic in California along with the whole family.

But this was not the end of the Cash family's troubles. By the age of 14, John Carter had started drinking himself into oblivion and was soon popping pills just like his father.

And Cash's own resolve did not last long. Within two years he was back on drugs and a victim of diabetes and a chronic nerve complaint.

Still, June was a tower of strength - until one day in 1993 she, too, succumbed to a drug habit. Just before she was due to go on stage in Missouri, John Carter found her collapsed in her dressing room.

The years of holding everything together had become too much.

From now on, she and Johnny often took drugs together.

Cash would spend hours just sitting silently with his wife. And though they were no longer the beautiful couple, their records were still popular.

For the son who was in thrall to both of them, there were still blissful moments.

One of his most treasured memories was the sight of his parents singing the Far Side Banks Of Jordan together, looking deep into each other's eyes, their heads almost touching.

Though Cash was now confined to a wheelchair, each morning he hauled himself over to his studio to record some of the best music of his career.

June still sang in public, often with her daughters and granddaughters, but time was taking its toll on her music-making, as arthritis and heart disease made it impossible for her to play the instruments she loved.

By now the Cashes were both so ill they kept their own suite on the top floor of the Nashville Baptist hospital.

It was there that June Carter Cash died unexpectedly at the age of 73 in 2003 after an operation for a heart valve replacement.

Two thousand people turned up to the funeral lovingly arranged by Cash, who afterwards steeped himself in work to obliterate the pain of his wife's death.

But it became obvious he could not go on for long without June. Tough man Cash was inconsolable. He refused to sleep in their bed and gave away all the furniture she had bought.

Fulfilling a pact with June, he made a couple of surprise performances at her home town in Virginia.

But it was almost too painful to watch as he read a tribute to his wife before singing their hit Ring Of Fire. Cash barely made it to the end of the song.

And, less than four months after June's death, his body finally gave up in the same hospital suite where she had died.

The love affair was over.

• Adapted from Anchored In Love by John Carter Cash, published by Thomas Nelson on September 10 and distributed by New Holland Publishers at £8.99. To order a copy (p&p free), call 0845 606 4213.

Selton Porter Jr., 65, gospel singer and social worker

2007-08-31T23:10:00.000+05:30

Selton Porter Jr., 65, of Lawnside, a gospel singer and retired social worker, died of complications from diabetes Tuesday at Pennsylvania Hospital.
Since his childhood in South Philadelphia, Mr. Porter had been performing with the Porter Family Singers. The gospel group included his mother, Evelyn, his sisters Darlene and Deborah, his brother, Tyrone, and later his wife, Brenda Robinson Porter.

His father, Selton Porter Sr., managed the group, which sang in area churches, and for 10 years, until 2000, on the Gospel Highway Eleven radio program on WNAP (1110-AM). The Porters recorded two albums in the 1980s, Follow You and Did You Stop to Pray This Morning. The albums included several of Mr. Porter's compositions, which received four-star ratings from Billboard Magazine. Mr. Porter graduated from Thomas Edison High School and attended Philadelphia Community College and Coombs College of Music in Philadelphia. He studied voice, piano and trumpet and was often a featured artist at concerts.

For 25 years, Mr. Porter worked as an employee of the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspection and then as a case manager for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. He retired eight years ago.

In addition to his sisters and brother, he is survived by a son, Sultan, and four grandchildren. He is predeceased by his parents and his wife.

A life celebration will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow at New Hope Temple Baptist Church, 711 South 12th St., Philadelphia. Friends may call at 8 a.m. Burial will be in Ivy Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Source : philly.com

Gospel legend Jack Toney honored

2007-08-05T22:33:00.000+05:30

By George Jones
The Reporter

Published August 4, 2007

In life, Sardis City born gospel singing great Jack Toney was named a “Living Legend” by his peers.

Recently, the state of Alabama and the community he called home honored Jack posthumously by naming the section of Alabama Highway 205 from the Etowah–Marshall County line to U.S. Highway 431 the “Jack Toney Memorial Highway.”

Thursday, his widow, Gail Toney, Boaz Mayor Tim Walker and long-time friend and fellow gospel singer Glenn Smith of the Southern Gospel group “The Fishermen” paused beneath the sign and remembered the man who authored more than 500 songs, received many awards and was inducted into both the Gospel Music and Southern Gospel halls of fame.

The sign, paying tribute to Toney, became a reality through the efforts of Mayor Walker and the Boaz City Council, and State Sen. Hinton Mitchem’s introducing it to the state legislature.

Gail Toney, who lives not far from the sign, said, “Every time I drive down this road to town and back, I am reminded how proud I am that Boaz did this to honor Jack.”

Smith said, “Jack, while he was alive, was at every one of our recordings. He sang and filled in with us whenever we needed somebody. He was just a good friend – I loved Jack and I miss him.”

Walker said, “In his field he made it to the top. There was no one who reached true stardom and is more famous in Boaz than Jack Toney.”

The man credited with having one of the “smoothest voices” in Southern Gospel music lives on through records, CDs and the Gaither Homecoming television series.

Toney died of a heart attack at his home in Boaz April 15, 2004

BET LAUNCHES SEARCH FOR GOSPEL SINGERS

2007-08-04T20:25:00.000+05:30

BET builds on its success with "Celebration of Gospel," the #1 religious program in television history, and Bobby Jones Gospel with "Sunday Best," a national search for America's next great gospel singer.

Brought to you by one of the producers of the original American Idol, "Sunday Best" will scour the country from storefront churches to mega-churches looking for the best, undiscovered gospel singers in America.

The search begins in Los Angeles and moves on to Atlanta and Chicago -- hopefuls planning to audition should arrive early, as only the first 500 attendees are guaranteed an audition! SUNDAY BEST'S celebrity judges will narrow the field down to 20 finalists who will travel to Los Angeles to begin the competition.

One anointed singer will be crowned BET's "Sunday Best" and receive cash and prizes for themselves and their church community.

Here's the audition schedule:

AUGUST 4, 2007 -- LOS ANGELES, CA -- 9:00 am PT
The Renaissance Montura Hotel
9620 Airport Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90045
**Call backs with celebrity judges August 5

AUGUST 11, 2007 -- ATLANTA, GA -- 9:00 am ET
Renaissance Atlanta Hotel -- Downtown
590 West Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30308
**Call backs with celebrity judges August 12

August 18, 2007 -- Chicago, IL -- 9:00 a.m. CT
Hyatt Regency McCormick Place
2233 South Martin L. King Drive Chicago, IL 60616
**Call backs with celebrity judges August 19
"Sunday Best" is scheduled to premiere Tuesday, October 2 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. For more information, visit http://www.BET.com or call 888-PSALMS-95.

Amy Grant to Release Memoir

2007-07-27T23:52:00.000+05:30

Legendary Christian artist Amy Grant’s memoir will release next autumn, Flying Dolphin Press/Waterbrook has announced.

Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far will be released on 16 October 2008 and will be published as a trade paperback the following year.

“We’ve come to know the much beloved Amy Grant through her remarkable career as a singer and a songwriter. Now she has put pen to paper to deliver a beautifully written and deeply moving memoir that we are very honoured to be publishing,” says Suzanne Herz, publisher of the book.

The book will coincide with EMI Music Group’s CD release of Amy Grant’s Greatest Hits on 2 October 2008. EMI has digitally re-mastered Grant’s entire music catalogue and will release the CDs on 14 August 2008.

“Amy’s music has impacted millions of people worldwide and now her life will continue to do so through the printed word. Mosaic promises to be an intimate look back at seasons of this multi talented singer/actress/songwriter's life that I know will inspire and entertain those who read it,” said Bill Hearn, President and CEO, EMI CMG.

Amy Grant’s career spans more than 25 years and stretches from her roots in gospel to becoming an iconic pop star, songwriter, television personality, and philanthropist.

Grant has won six Grammys in multiple categories, beginning with the platinum-selling Age to Age in 1982. She also has six #1 hits, including “Baby, Baby” and “Every Heartbeat”.

Grant released her first live recording in 25 years with Time Again...Amy Grant Live in September 2006, and she is conducting a symphony tour through 2007, performing with local symphonies in Atlanta, Minneapolis, Kansas City, and more.

The hit song “Baby, Baby” is currently featured in a line of 200 Hallmark song cards that plays music from original recording artists when opened.

Source : http://au.christiantoday.com/article/amy-grant-to-release-memoir/3010.htm

Donnie McClurkin sings for Cayman

2007-07-27T23:47:00.000+05:30

On his very first time in Cayman Islands, multi-awarded Gospel singer and Minister Donnie McClurkin moved people to their feet in an inspiring night of worship last Friday, 20 July at the Lion’s Centre.

Mr. McClurkin’s performance was much anticipated by the crowd whose warm reception was rivaled only by the heat inside the venue. “I would say that the event was a spiritual success,” said Raphael Bodden, President of Cayman Outreach Association, which organized the concert.

According to Mr Bodden, Pastor McClurkin really came through and did his part as he entertained and inspired the audience. “This was a night for the Lord and the Minister made it just that,” he said.

“The really touching part of the night was his testimonial,” Mr Bodden added.

Donnie McClurkin related how he was sexually violated when he was eight and by another male relative when he was 13. He also struggled to overcome family drug addiction, alcoholism and leukemia. His dark past had been his source of victory. It has rendered meat to his faith and depth to his music.

In sharing his story, he brings hope to others, reminding them that they are not alone and that they can be delivered. This message is outlined in his song “Stand”, the hit which earned his first album a gold status and a Grammy Award nomination.

“We have been getting a lot of great comments from people who were there to experience the event,” said Mr Bodden. “The VIP section was something that people liked because it was beautifully decorated with bouquets,” he added.

Cayman Outreach Association aims for Christian Unity but this, Mr Bodden feels, did not manifest on Friday night. “I still believe that more people and more pastors should have gotten involved,” he disclosed.

Mr Bodden shared that the concert could have been more successful had people kept their promises to support the event. He also expressed his wish for a better venue that would provide comfort for the performing artists as well as the audience. “The committee should get together and plan for a facility that is enclosed and air-conditioned,” said Mr Bodden.

The COA President is urging people to stay committed and faithful. “Sometimes, people fall away just when something great is about to happen,” Mr Bodden said.

Cayman Outreach Association’s activities to look forward to include an exciting lineup of speakers on their monthly dinners. There will be a youth outreach scheduled in September, a Filipino Celebration in October and a Latin Celebration in November. The Christmas Celebration will feature a local theme and will highlight events from the rest of the year.

Source :http://www.caymannetnews.com/news-816--6-6--.html

Twenty-five years after Keith Green's death, his gospel music rediscovered

2007-07-25T23:25:00.000+05:30

by Matt Curry

GARDEN VALLEY, Texas (AP) - Christian singer-songwriter Keith Green never shirked an opportunity to share his vision.

Offered a chance to provide an aerial tour of the wooded East Texas pasture that was home to his Last Days Ministries, he didn't hesitate.

The overloaded, twin-engine Cessna crashed less than 30 seconds after takeoff, killing all 12 aboard. The dead included Green, 28, two of his young children, pilot Don Burmeister and missionaries John and DeDe Smalley and their six children.

That was 25 years ago. Now Green's work is about to be rediscovered.

EMI/Sparrow Records is painstakingly going through recordings saved by his wife, Melody. An ITunes release with music never before heard by the public is planned for August. More material will be released next year, said Bryan Ward, director of artist development with EMI Christian Music Group.

The July 28, 1982, accident doused one of the brightest lights in the Jesus Movement, a youthful Christian counterculture. The bushy-haired evangelist with a distinctive tenor voice was posthumously inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Green sold between 560,000 and one million records, Ward said, although exact numbers are difficult to determine. Green gave away many records, and sales were tallied differently then.

Melody Green, who co-wrote “There Is a Redeemer” and other songs, said advances in sound quality-enhancing technology make the timing right to release more of her late husband's work.

“I have kept every little thing that Keith's done,” she said.

Green's emotional lyrics exude spiritual discovery, while his boisterous attack on piano keys brings to mind Elton John.

Admirers included Bob Dylan, who played harmonica on Green's “So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt” album.

“I think he was one of the best songwriters of the modern era of Christian music,” said John Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association in Nashville, Tenn. “It was vulnerable and transparent and absolutely not contrived.”

Others agree that Keith Green was an original.

“He was intense about everything - everything from his music to his spiritual journey to where you could get the best cheeseburger with grilled onions and a chocolate malt,” said Randy Stonehill, who wrote “Your Love Broke Through” with Green and Todd Fishkind.

Green's compassion was so deep that he invited street people to stay in his home, which grew to become a Christian commune with seven homes and 70 people. “My life was radically changed by that experience,” said Jerry Bryant, the commune's first pastor.

Yet Green could also offend the flock with his blunt “no compromise” approach to faith. “Christians don't like to talk about hypocrisy any more than turkeys like to talk about Thanksgiving,” Green often said.

He groused about being celebrated for his music, considering himself simply an instrument of God. Giving him credit, Green said, was like praising a pencil for producing a poem.

He was critical of the “industry” of Christian music, which grew explosively after his death.

At the peak of his career, he became convinced that ministry should not cost money. He talked his way out of a record contract so he could give his music away for “whatever you can afford.”

Green earned a recording contract at age 11 with Decca Records. Time magazine called the Sheepshead Bay, N.Y., native a “pre-pubescent dreamboat” who “croons in a voice trembling with conviction.”

But when child stardom didn't happen, Green, who had a Jewish background but grew up reading the New Testament, turned to drugs and to an intense spiritual quest.

He embraced Christianity in the 1970s.

“The thing is, he could be abrasive because quite often his spiritual zeal got ahead of his biblical understanding or his personal maturity,” said Stonehill. But he also described Green as deeply relieved “to see where hope lived.”

Eventually, the Greens' work grew to include a newsletter, and their organization was called Last Days Ministries.

The couple moved from California to tiny Garden Valley, east of Dallas, in 1979, where they were near evangelists such as Leonard Ravenhill and David Wilkerson (“The Cross and the Switchblade”).

In the 25 years since her husband's death, Melody Green, now 60, has suffered a stroke, been through a painful divorce and spoken around the world. She lives in Kansas City and is overhauling the ministry's website - technology not available when her husband was alive.

In 1996, she sold the Texas property to Teen Mania, founded by Ron Luce. The modern campus, which includes a television studio, has a dormitory named in memory of Green.

The singer was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2001. Tribute albums have rolled out, and many Christian artists sing his songs.

But the void created by his death still seems unfilled.

“I keep having people tell me how no one has really taken that place. Everyone thought, 'Well, God will raise someone else up to be similar and do something like that.' I thought that,” Melody Green said. “He was just a unique person with amazing talent and with an amazing heart for God.”

On the Net:

http://www.keithgreen.com/

Source : Prince George Citizen.com

Everlasting

2007-07-21T18:33:00.000+05:30

A Christian music video based on John 3:16. The writer of the song, Scott Johnson, lost his wife in a car accident. It gives you a little insight on that final verse.

Everlasting - The best free videos are right here

Plenty Good Room

2007-07-21T18:31:00.000+05:30

The Pictou District Honour Choir, Pictou County, Nova Scotia,Canada, Performs the Gospel Song "Plenty Good Room" under theDirection of Monica George Punke, during a visit to Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, May 2005

Plenty Good Room - The most popular videos are a click away

Tribute to gospel legend - Dorsey's widow, 93, attends musical celebration

2007-07-21T13:45:00.000+05:30

Chicago Sun-Times suntimes.com

--By Staff reporter

The widow of gospel music legend Thomas A. Dorsey glowed as she listened to a musical tribute to her late husband Sunday across the street from his old church, Pilgrim Baptist, which is trying to rebuild after it was consumed by fire last year.

Dorsey is credited with creating gospel by blending spirituals and a bluesy beat. The legendary Mahalia Jackson sang his famous song, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord," at the funeral of the Rev. Martin Luther King. His hymns have comforted people for decades and were covered by artists including Elvis Presley, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

But to Kathryn Dorsey -- still a lovely belle of Greenville, Miss., at age 93 -- he was the husband she laughed with and loved.

People lined up to greet her at the church community center, 3300 S. Indiana. They knelt to hug her under her broad-brimmed white hat.
She likes old-timey gospel. Today's music has "gotten away from the Christian feeling," she said.

"He was proud of just about all of [his hymns], but 'Precious Lord' was the best, I thought," she said.

Dorsey wrote the hymn in the depths of despair after his first wife, Nettie, died in childbirth in 1932. Their infant son died soon after, and they were buried in the same casket.

Kathryn Dorsey was humming the hymn a few days before her husband died in 1993. Dorsey, longtime choir director at Pilgrim Baptist Church, "was trying to direct [me]."

It didn't go very well, she said. "I couldn't carry a note if they gave it to me," she laughed. "He always said 'if you can talk, you can sing.' And I always said, 'I haven't learned to talk yet.'"

Dorsey met his second wife at church. "He said he was looking over the crowd and when he saw me, he said, 'That's my wife,'" she said.

"I was standing waiting for my bus, and he said 'I'll take you home.'"

She knew who he was. "He was more famous then than he would be now." They married in 1941.

Dorsey wrote "Peace in the Valley" and hundreds of other hymns. "He would go to bed sometimes and get up and write a whole song, and then they would sing it in church."

"How many people have been blessed to witness that song? It's been sung in theaters, parks, funerals, schools, auditoriums," said WVON gospel host Pam Page Morris. "It's been translated into 52 languages."

"That's really what carries the church, and is carrying them now," said Tyrone Jordan, 51, a church trustee and Chicago police officer.

Donations to restore the church may be sent to Pilgrim Baptist Church Rebuilding Fund, Amalgamated Bank, P.O. Box 94433, Chicago, Ill., 60690-4433.

ANNUAL GOSPEL CONCERT AND EVENTS RETURN TO LONG ISLAND: The NY Call hits New York for three days

2007-07-19T00:32:00.000+05:30

Annual outdoor gathering, THE NY CALL, to return to Long Island this Summer with the exciting addition of YOUTH EXPLOSION events and Gospel concert. The traditionally one-day event has expanded into a 3-day affair that will incorporate a special assembly for the brothers; dynamic speakers; family entertainment and an All-Star Gospel concert that meets the interests of the entire family.

NY CALL/YOUTH EXPLOSION opens on Thursday, August 30th with a kick-off service that will feature an evening of praise and worship music as well as local speakers and pastors. On Friday, August 31st PASTOR DONNIE MCCLURKIN to host the 'BROTHER-to-BROTHER' gathering in Eisenhower Park with special guest speaker BISHOP TD JAKES. A call for men and their families to come together in unity, the service kicks off at 1:00pm with family-fun events and musical guests. This extraordinary FREE event will bring forth the powerful word of God to heal and restore families. Eisenhower Park is located at Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow, NY.

It will be a Sensational Saturday on September 1st with an All-Star Gospel Concert headlined by the superstar KIRK FRANKLIN. Other artists slated to appear include Latin Pop Gospel group, SALVADOR and smash breakthrough artist Da' TRUTH. The concert takes place at Nassau Coliseum located at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale, NY.

Registration is $40.00 and includes admission to 2-day's of workshops, a youth fashion show, special seminars and Preferred Seating at the All-Star Gospel Concert. The kick-off service on Thursday and Friday afternoon's BROTHER-to-BROTHER Service with Bishop Jakes is free admission. Concert tickets are available without registration for $30.00.

Participating supporters of the NY CALL/YOUTH EXPLOSION include American Airlines, Pepsi, Wal-Mart, Nyack College, AARP, AHA, JP MORGAN CHASE and WorldVision.

Envisioned by Gospel singer and Pastor, Pastor Donnie McClurkin, THE NY CALL & YOUTH EXPLOSION is an annual event that brings together churches, ministries and youth from the Tri-State area to promote unity and cohesion within the Christian church. The NY CALL was launched in 2004 and the YOUTH EXPLOSION debuted last summer and had thousands in attendance.

Check out the website for more information, details and artists updates - www.nycall.org

Michael W. Smith's First-Ever Fan Cruise Sells Out

2007-07-13T13:16:00.000+05:30

Thursday, July 12, 2007
Source: CMSpin

Michael W. Smith sets sail on his first-ever fan cruise, on July 14. The eight day cruise will depart Seattle, Wa. this Saturday taking Smith, his family and more than 900 fans to four different Alaskan ports, and Victoria, Canada, BC, before it returns to Seattle.

Special guest artists attending are Leeland, Michael Olson and comedian, Bob Nelson. The itinerary will be filled with fun including nightly concerts, and even “Smitty-oke,” where guests on the ship get to sing - accompanied by their favorite piano player, Michael W. Smith.

Smith, enthusiastically notes, “This is going to be a fun week. My entire family is attending. All my kids, our parents, in-laws and grandmother! It’s going to be non-stop, but fun. I’m really looking forward to it.”

A full itinerary is available on www.michaelwsmith.com under the "Tour" tab.

Smith’s next release, It’s A Wonderful Christmas, is due out on October 16. More information on this collection is forthcoming.

About Michael W. Smith
Over his 24-year career as a recording artist, Michael W. Smith has amassed an impressive catalog of achievements. His 19 albums have garnered multiple honors including an American Music Award, 3 GRAMMY Awards and 40 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards. In addition, he holds 16 Gold and 5 Platinum albums, 31 #1 radio hits, and has been named one of People Magazine’s Most Beautiful People. In addition, Smith has scored film projects and written 11 books. His tours consistently rank among the best attended in the country and he has performed to capacity crowds throughout the world. Constantly giving back to the community, one of his current projects is Rocketown -- a nightclub for teens in his hometown of Nashville, Tenn. -- serves as safe place for young people to enjoy music and for artists to be discovered. He is married to Debbie Smith and they are the proud parents of five children. Stand, Michael’s 19th album, released November 7, 2006.

YOLANDA ADAMS TOPS MOST BEAUTIFUL GOSPEL ARTISTS POLL: Shereese Magazine reveals results of second annual poll

2007-07-11T14:35:00.000+05:30

The two-year-old Dallas-based beauty magazine, Shereese, has announced the results of its second annual Top 20 Most Beautiful Gospel Artists Poll in their July 2007 issue.

The editors polled over 1000 gospel music lovers and asked the following question: "Who is the most beautiful gospel artist to you?"

Last year, CeCe Winans came out on top but this year, the readers have chosen Yolanda Adams.
Here are the results:

1. Yolanda Adams
2. Donnie McClurkin
3. CeCe Winans
4. Shirley Caesar
5. Smokie Norful
6. John P. Kee
7. Kirk Franklin
8. Mary Mary
9. Vickie Winans
10. Tye Tribbett
11. Hezekiah Walker
12. Juanita Bynum
13. Kelly Price
14. Dottie Peoples
15. Fred Hammond
16. KiKi Sheard
17. Richard Smallwood
18. Donald Lawrence
19. Albertina Walker
20. Shirley Murdock

Tye Tribbett, KiKi Sheard, Richard Smallwood, Donald Lawrence, Albertina Walker, Shirley Murdock, Mary Mary, Hezekiah Walker, Kelly Price all make their debut on the artists poll.

Meanwhile, Marvin Sapp, Karen Clark Sheard, Martha Munizzi, Tonex, Joann Rosario, Tamela Mann, Tramaine Hawkins and Helen Baylor fell off of this year's list.

The magazine is published by Antonio Johnson, who is program director at KHVN 97 AM, a Dallas gospel music radio station. The magazine also listed the sexiest chests lists.

Actor Mario Lopez topped that list. However, no gospel artists made that list. Log on at www.shereese.com for more information.

Ghana Music: Gospel Music Awards launched

2007-07-11T14:29:00.000+05:30

The 2007 edition of the Ceval Gospel Awards scheduled for October this year was on Monday launched in Accra. The event, which is second in a series and is being organised by Ceval Consult, seeks to recognise excellence in gospel music that had won the hearts of gospel music fans.

As part of the entry requirement for this year's award, artists' albums must have an international outlook and should be sold around the globe. Video clips, particularly, must have screen translations, among others.

The requirements also stipulated that any song derived from another artist's copyright work should come with the original composer's written audio and visual recorded consent before it would be accepted.

Mr. Cephas Amartey, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ceval Consult, said the notion behind the awards was to raise and maintain the standard of gospel music in the country and beyond.

"We intend to create avenues to upgrade the status and earning of those who will be committed to the standards we set and ultimately endeavour to promote their gospel work on the international scene," he added.

He said the awards were designed with very serious and disciplined gospel artists in mind, especially those with an eye for both the national and the international markets. Mr. Amartey stressed that they would work hard to enhance the place of gospel music in the industry and gradually build a brand to grow to hit the top.

He bemoaned the numerous problems confronting the gospel awards initiative in terms of sponsorship and urged corporate bodies and other gospel music lovers to support the project to make it a success.

Kwaku Gyasi, he was adjudged the best Gospel Musician of the year 2006 @ the just ended Ghana Music Awards, organized by Charter House Ghana

Source: GNA

By Grace - And Indian Gospel Rock Band

2007-07-08T20:49:00.000+05:30

MEMBERS
Glyston Gracious - Drums
Ryland D’Souza - Keyboards
Brass Gonsalves - Saxophone and Flute
Nyzel D’Lima - Lead Guitar
Shawn Pinto - Rhythm Guitar and Acoustics
Ryan Fernandes - Bass Guitar
Lenny Soares - Vocals
Neivesita D’Souza - Vocals
Gail Dias - Vocals
Gwen Dias - Vocals

GENRE
Rock,Reggae,Jazz

A truly anointed and talented band, ‘By Grace’ is the official music ministry of the Torchbearers for Christ and has been traveling all over the country giving the youth a wonderful experience of Gospel music.

As the name suggests, ‘By Grace’ has been the outcome of the Lord’s never ceasing grace and mercy. The band is testimonial to the fact that as humans we cannot do things on our own and cannot help but rely on the Lord’s grace at every moment of our lives.

It bears witness to the truth that the Bible proclaims in Ephesians 2: 8 which says, “By grace, through faith, we are saved by our Lord Jesus Christ.” Truly it can be said that the very birth and existence of ‘By Grace’ is a marvelous deed of our Lord!

Popular for its effervescent music, the band is renowned for taking the Gospel to various places like Goa, Chennai, Daman, Kolkatta, etc. Songs of jubilant praise and intimate worship are synonymous with the band and is the core of what the band is all about.

History was created when at the recently held Rock of Ages, 2005 Gospel concert, ‘By Grace’ was the first ever Gospel band that performed for a crowd of over seven thousand youth of Mumbai. Never before has Mumbai city witnessed such a huge gathering of youth for a Gospel concert!!

With music genres varying from contemporary rock, jazz, reggae, ballads, etc., ‘By Grace’ has been fulfilling its dream of helping millions of youth give their lives to Christ.

‘By Grace’ also had the honour and privilege of composing the theme song for Kairos, 2005 (lyrics given below) at Chennai last December.

It's been a glorious and splendid walk with the Lord for ‘By Grace’! The band anxiously awaits the coming of the next year to be a part of the Lord’s divine plan.

Source: http://www.greenozone.com/bygrace.htm

The 77s

2007-07-08T15:24:00.000+05:30

The truth is that the 77's might be the best rock & roll band in the world. From their inception in the early 80's, this Sacramento-based unit has built a well-earned reputation as quite simply one of the best rock and roll bands anywhere, gathering a strong following of committed fans who insist that of all the bands that matter, the 77's are among the few that matter most. They have left many a critic's thesaurus tattered and torn, searching for the right adulatory adjectives, and have for many come to epitomize the very essence of the "cutting edge."

There's just one problem. After twelve years and seven releases, very few people have ever heard them, and their reason is simple: they're a relentlessly intense "alternative" rock and roll band, who are also explicitly, although far from typically, a "Christian" rock and roll band. The 77's are also a perfect example of what Larry Norman meant when he talked about being "too Christian for the radio, and too radio for the Church." Indeed, the enigmatic 77's have been a puzzle to the CCM establishment, who have been unable to find a place for the band's thoughtful and dark lyrics in the context of positive Christian radio. Meanwhile, the arbiters of mainstream radio might welcome the band's intense honesty, but are terrified of that honesty in the context of an explicit faith. In many ways, the 77's have been caught in the middle, the quintessential "underground band," seemingly destined to perennially set trends without ever being trendy.

But with their newest release for Myrrh Records, Drowning with Land in Sight, the 77's seem poised to reverse that destiny. A perfect follow-up to their 1992 self-titled release, Drowning is as an intense and provocative record as any that will be released for any market this year, and one that cannot be ignored by either Christian or mainstream radio.

Musically, this record captures Mike Roe and company at their finest, hard-rocking best. Perhaps the most intense disc on a Christian label in years, Drowning flows in the trajectory of songs like "Woody" or "Look" from their last project, or "Perfect Blues" from their 1987 release for Island records. The opening track, the infamous "Nobody's Fault But Mine" (which Led Zeppelin stole form Gospel pioneer Blind Willie Johnson) sets the tone for the disc, an all-out, no-holds-barred, sonic assault on the listener. With the rhythmic foundation laid relentlessly by bassist Mark Harmon and legendary drummer Aaron Smith, Roe's searing lead guitar work and second guitarists and co-songwriter Dave Leonhardt's exceptional support work have opportunity to shine on the disc's 60 minutes worth of music. There is little doubt after listening to Drowning that the 77's are no sanitized studio creation: they are a real, live, sweaty rock and roll band who cheerfully celebrate their musical influences, among whom they count such a diverse grouping as Led Zeppelin, the Beach Boys, and even recent modern rockers like Pearl Jam or the Stone Temple Pilots.

"Nobody's Fault's" original Gospel lyrics set the thematic tone for Drowning as well, with their three-fold affirmation of the life and death difficulty of life, the possibility of redemption, and our responsibility to live in the light of both these truths.

"I got a Bible in my house/I got a Bible in my house/If I don't read it and my soul dies, well/It's nobody's fault but mine"

For Roe, the 77's brutal honesty and intensity are essential to the mission of the band, an intent that he insists is first and foremost a ministry, albeit one not normally thought to fit into most "Christian" radio formats. There is no "happy, happy, joy, joy" Christianity here, but instead an absolute commitment to find the heart of the Gospel - unmerited favor - for the absolute worst in us.

"The record is about being taken to the deepest and darkest parts of ourselves and our lives," says Roe. "It's deep into the theme of abandonment - complete loss of moral foundations and moorings, both emotionally and spiritually. In other words, it's a state that many Christians find themselves in today, but are either unwilling to admit or simply cannot face."

"The theme of the album," says Roe, revolves around "someone so far gone that they finally get to the point where they realize they need a Savior at least. This is after knowing God in their youth, in having a Savior all along, but finally coming to the realization that your actually need one."

Drowning is at once a cry to those who are coming to recognize their need, and to those who haven't recognized it as well. "I think a lot of people that grow up in church get sort of strong-armed into the whole business of Christ as Savior," says Roe plaintively. "They don't really appreciate what it means to be saved from oneself, from the world, from sin. In fact, until you're a victim of all those things and realize how totally strangulating they are on your freedom and well-being, you may always resent the fact that you had to have a Savior from something you weren't sure you wanted to be saved from, or even know what it was worth."

This return to desperate spiritual need which Roe speaks of is no theory for the 77's. Last year, guitarist David Leonhardt was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease, a kind of cancer, and Drowning was recorded in the wake of that news, some of it during his treatments. While overwhelming in and of itself, through the making of the record, Leonhardt's struggle with the disease became a paradigm for the Christian's struggle with self. But while the disc reflects "the most desperate" of the band's despair and struggle coming from that turmoil, it also was born out of a commitment to and belief that in telling the truth about their despair, they could reach out to the despair that others experience, regardless of its source. Roe's conviction that what Christians need most is to know that they are not alone in their struggles - regardless of their nature or source of those struggles - is the driving force behind Drowning, and indeed, the band itself.

Out of that commitment to "helping heal what made me sick," Roe and company have written an album of gut-wrenching, truth-telling, no-rules rock and roll that both nods back to the raw energy of early rock, and paves the way for the ground-breaking sounds of the new alternative movement.

But more importantly, Drowning clearly leads, not only to a recognition of our common, desperate need, but to that cry of a need to a God who meets us in it. The closing cut, "For Crying Out Loud" reintroduces the themes of "Nobody's Fault" and makes the source of redemption unmistakable, as well as the truth that, in reality, ultimately, no one need drown. While seemingly an excursion into despair, Drowning with Land in Sight is in reality an examination of our first step toward redemption: recognizing its need, and telling ourselves the truth about ourselves. That's where Drowning begins, and it's where grace will meet us.

Discography

Studio Albums

1983 - Ping Pong Over the Abyss (produced by Steven Soles)
1984 - All Fall Down (produced by Charlie Peacock)
1987 - The 77s
1990 - Sticks and Stones
1992 - Pray Naked
1994 - Drowning with Land in Sight
1995 - Tom Tom Blues
1999 - ep (EP)
2001 - A Golden Field of Radioactive Crows
2002 - Direct (EP)

Live Albums
1991 - 88 (1988 performance)
1996 - Echos o' Faith (The 77's Played Naked) (1992 performance)
2000 - 88/When Numbers Get Serious, re-release of 88 w/bonus disc containing various live tracks (1987-1998)

Fan Club Releases
2001 - Happy Chrimbo! from The 77's
2003 - Guilty Pleasures

Compilations
1989 - More Miserable Than You'll Ever Be (originally released under the 7&7is moniker and later remastered/re-released under The 77s banner); features Mike Roe solo tracks, demos/outtakes from The 77s' self-titled album, and unreleased material from The Magnets (Michael Roe & Larry Tagg)
1995 - 1 2 3, boxed set re-release of The 77s' first three studio albums
2000 - Late, contains the entire ep album, alternate takes/mixes from A Golden Field of Radioactive Crows and Tom Tom Blues, and solo tracks from Roe's 1997 solo tour

Video Releases
2006 - 77s DVD Collection (2 DVDs, includes rare footage from The 77s' archives, including promotional videos for "A Different Kind Of Light," "Mercy Mercy," "Ba Ba Ba Ba," "Nuts For You," "Snake," "For Crying Out Loud," "The Boat Ashore," and numerous concert performances)

Special & Limited Edition Releases
1980 - Rock & Religion Radio Show (06-01-1980), live cuts as Scratch Band
1992 - FlevoTotaal Festival - Live Tapes Volume 1 compilation, "I Can't Get Over It", live track, 1990
1992 - Shirley Goodness & Misery compilation, "Someone New" (alternate extended remix), 1984
1995 - Bootlevel compilation, "Mercy Mercy," "Smokescreen," and "Good Directions," from 1984's All Fall Down sessions
1999 - When Worlds Collide: A Tribute to Daniel Amos and the Music of Terry Scott Taylor compilation, "Shotgun Angel"
2000 - A Golden Field of Radioactive Crows: Radioactive Singles—Related/Mr. Magoo, CD single

www.77s.com mp3 (Archives)
1983 - "No Party in Hell" (live track)
1983 - "Modern Guy" (live track)
1996 - "Jazz Jam Warmup" (live track, 08-27-96)
1996 - "Pray Naked" (live rehearsal track, 08-28-96)
1998 - "How Do You Dig It Now" (basic studio track)
1998 - "Blue Sky" (early arrangement)

77s Songs Covered by Other Artists
1990 - The Ocean Blue, Laugh Tour (with The Mighty Lemon Drops and John Wesley Harding) - "Renaissance Man" (from Ping Pong Over the Abyss)
2000 - Smalltown Poets, Third Verse - "The Lust, the Flesh, the Eyes & the Pride of Life" (from The 77s)
2004 - Lost Dogs, MUTT - "The Lust, the Flesh, the Eyes & the Pride of Life" (from The 77s)
2004 - Lost Dogs, MUTT - "It's So Sad" (from Ping Pong Over the Abyss)
2004 - The Radiant Dregs, Send $2.00 And A S.A.S.E. To... - "Leaving" (from A Golden Field of Radioactive Crows)

Source : Wikipedia/Word

Karlene Bartolo

2007-07-08T13:34:00.000+05:30

Jamaican-born singer/songwriter Karlene Bartolo has been singing inspirationally for more than two decades. After working with The Grace Thrillers (the Caribbean’s most popular recording and touring group), she migrated to Canada where she launched a solo career. In addition to her solo work, Karlene continues to expand her musical horizon assisting choirs, other vocalists and worship teams. She has toured in North America, the Caribbean, and the U.K and shared stage with renowned artists such as Shirley Caesar and CeCe Winans. Her memorable songs, powerful voice and stage presence have made her a household name to all who have experienced her in concert. Karlene currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband Richard and their two children.

Karlene Bartolo is poised to introduce the world to a fresh new sound with her debut CD “Father of Light”. The project is set to be released November 16th, 2004 and promises to take you to another level in worship. "Father of Light" was produced by Jeff Rogers of BRogers Music in Atlanta. Jeff has worked with successful artists such as Babbie Mason, and D’Vine. “Father of Light” consists of 10 original songs, all written by this dynamic minister. When one speaks of “memorable and anointed”, these songs have got it! This project demonstrates Karlene’s passion for the Lord and dedication to ministry. She captivates you right from the start and there is something for everyone. This contemporary singer brings you praise with an edge on the energetic “Glory to the King”; a track that is sure to have you stomping. She brings you hope on her inspirational “Jesus Will Be There”, and takes you to the Throne with her sensational ballad “Father of Light”. A track that will also take your breath away is her Jewish-influenced “Holy is Your Name”. When you are through with this one, only tears remain. This CD is a must have!

Albumns
Father Of Light

My Space

Official Site

Concerto For Mother TERESA - Song + Video Clip In Loving Tribute

2007-07-08T13:24:00.000+05:30

A spiritual song + video clip, in loving tribute to Saint
Mother Teresa, from a CD Album which has been blessed by late
Saint Mother Teresa & His Holiness the late Pope John Paul II more...

Profoundly idealistic, the altruistic work and extraordinary
devotion of Mother Teresa have deeply marked the composer of
this song. It was in this spirit that, already in 1986, he had
composed this Concerto For Mother Teresa, directly inspired by
the charisma and the abnegation of the founder of the
Missionaries of Charity.

This song is part and parcel of a CD album entitled Concerto
For Mother Teresa, which content is made of 17 spiritual songs
- for solo voice, male choir, piano and symphonic orchestra.
This CD Album has been blessed by Mother Teresa (to whom this
CD album and this title is wholeheartedly dedicated) and His
Holiness Pope Jean-Paul II.

A cassette of this song was sent to Mother Teresa at the end
of 1996, and she wrote back a few months later (9th May 1997)
this beautiful and touching letter:

Dear Sir

Thank you very much for your beautiful gift! I am sure it
expresses the love you have for God and for His poor. Keep the
joy of loving through sharing. God love you and bless you as
you reach out to many hearts to comfort them through your
music. Let us continue to work, making Jesus loved, known and
cared for, more each day, in each other and in His poor. Let
us pray.

GOD BLESS YOU.

MOTHER TERESA, Calcutta (India)

Mother Teresa said once those touching words:

People are not hungry just for bread... they are hungry for
love. People are not naked only for a piece of cloth... they
are naked for human dignity. People are not only homeless for
a room made of bricks, but they are homeless being rejected,
unwanted and unloved. MOTHER TERESA

Concerto For Mother Teresa
(English lyrics)

When one Madonna’s crying
For all the people dying
A voice full of emotion
Bespeaks her love's devotion

Who lies in dust forsaken
Her love is there to waken
The miracle of coping
Reviving faith and hoping

Mother Teresa
A shower
Of love and devotion
Mother Teresa
A tower
Of light in the ocean

Where shattered lives
Need mending
Her toil seems never ending
A gift of love she showers
Bestowed with healing powers

When overwhelmed by sorrow
When hope has no tomorrow
When promises are broken
She dries the tears unspoken

Mother Teresa
A shower
Of love and devotion
Mother Teresa
A tower
Of light in the ocean

A wasted body quivers
Awaiting death in shivers
A torch at heaven's portal
A mother's love immortal

Profondément idéaliste et humaniste dans l'âme, l'oeuvre
altruiste et l'extraordinaire dévouement de Mère Teresa ont
fortement marqué le compositeur, arrangeur et interprète et
co-auteur de cette chanson. C'est d'ailleurs dans cet esprit
qu'en 1986, déjà, il avait compose, à son intention, le
"Concerto For Mother Teresa", directement inspirée du charisme
et de l'abnégation de cette femme d'exception.

Morceau emblématique de l'album " Concerto For Mother Teresa",
cette chanson est donc entièrement dédiée à cette femme
d’exception.

Voici d'ailleurs la traduction d'une lettre que Mère Teresa a
écrite au compositeur, peu après avoir reçu la copie cassette
de cette chanson composée à son intention.

Cette lettre a été rédigée de la main même de Mère Teresa,
quelques mois avant sa mort :

Dear Sir,

Merci pour votre magnifique cadeau ! Je suis persuadée qu'il
exprime l'amour que vous ressentez envers Dieu et ses pauvres.
Gardez intacte la joie d'aimer par le fruit du partage !
Puissent l'amour et la bénédiction de Dieu accompagner votre
musique, dont le rayonnement essaime son pouvoir consolateur
au sein de nombreux coeurs ! Continuons à oeuvrer pour faire
connaître et ressentir chaque jour plus intensément l'amour et
la sollicitude bienveillante de notre Seigneur Jésus, afin
qu'il puisse régner dans le coeur de chacun d'entre nous et
dans celui de chacun d'entre ses pauvres ! Prions ensemble !
Que Dieu vous bénisse !

MÈRE TERESA

Rien sans une parcelle d'amour ! MÈRE TERESA

Le coeur d'une Madone
“Concerto For Mother Teresa”
(French lyrics)

Le coeur d'une madone
Est si grand qu'elle donne
Un amour qui résonne
Et dont l'aura rayonne

D'un chagrin qui égrène
Elle adoucit la peine
D'un coeur qui se désarme
Elle séchera les larmes

Ave Teresa
Amie
Des vies
Qui fuient

Madre Teresa
Amie
Des heures
Qui pleurent

Pour ces âmes en détresse
Que la douleur oppresse
Que le tourment désole
Elle prie et les console

Quand tout espoir chavire
Rongé par la discorde
Elle offre son sourire
Plein de miséricorde

Ave Teresa
Amie
Des vies
Démunies
Madre Teresa
Amie
Des heures
Qui pleurent

Un corps lassé frissonne
Quand la vie l'abandonne
Mais dans ses yeux rayonne
L'amour d'une madone

Mother THERESA Me Mère Teresa faith hope religion devotion
altruism altruistic love catholic Catholicism abnegation care
understanding Calcutta India Vatican angel angels mercy
miséricorde foi altruisme amour altruiste

Concerto For Mother TERESA - Song + Video Clip In Loving Tribute - Click here for more amazing videos

OH HAPPY DAY - Allan Rich Vdos Music Videos

2007-07-08T13:19:00.000+05:30

Live performance - Dimanche on 03.06.2007

OH HAPPY DAY - Allan Rich Vdos Music - The funniest home videos are here

NEW WEBSITE FOR CHRISTIAN AND GOSPEL ARTISTS

2007-07-05T23:57:00.000+05:30

Epraisemusic.com allows artists to share and sell their creative artistic content online.

Epraisemusic.com is a new Website for Christian and Gospel artists.

The artists are allowed to create an account to share and sell downloads such as music, video, ebooks, etc.

They are also allowed to sell physical merchandise such as CDs, books, DVDs, etc. Music fans can sign up to listen to the artists. The artists can also create their own cost-effective WebTV Internet Channel via www.gospeltube.com and be added to the Christian Web and search directory www.aboutgospel.com free of charge.

Source : www.eurweb.com/story/eur34644.cfm

Eoghan Heaslip

2007-07-03T12:44:00.000+05:30

Eoghan Heaslip is a worship leader whose album, Grace in the Wilderness, is an impressive, mature and confident piece of work. For Years his songs has given a new meaning to gospel music.

Albums
Deeper Still - Eoghan Heaslip
Grace In The Wilderness - Eoghan Heaslip
Mercy - Eoghan (Owen) Heaslip
Deeper Still - Eoghan Heaslip
Worship From Ireland - Double CD
Journey In Faith - New Wine 2002
Hope Of The Nations
Detling 2002 - Your Kingdom Come
Powerscourt - Live Worship 2000 / David Ruis
Summer Madness 2000 - True Intimacy

Read The Interview

Homepage

Country singer warms his voice for Burnham

2007-07-03T00:13:00.001+05:30

A COUNTRY singer is warming his voice ready for a concert next Wednesday (July 4) at Burnham Baptist Church in Burnham.

George Hamilton IV will be performing in Somerset as part of his UK Gospel Country Music Tour.

After his first hit, A Rose and a Baby Ruth, in 1956, he toured with Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers.

Top ten country singles including Before This Day Ends, Three Steps to the Phone (Millions of Miles) and If You Don't Know I Ain't Gonna Tell You paved the way for 1963's Abilene, which topped the country charts for four weeks and reached 15 on the pop charts.

Besides more than ten tours of Great Britain and several BBC productions, Hamilton became the first country artist to perform behind the Iron Curtain - he also toured Africa, the Orient, New Zealand, Australia, and even the Middle East.

George Hamilton will be performing with accomplished musician Alistair Macdonald.

Source : Bridgewater Mercury

FIXED - I Receive You

2007-07-02T22:43:00.000+05:30

Title: I Receive You
Album: Flashback
Artist: Swapna

Song from the Divine Retreat Center's Television Program called "Divine Vision - Streams of Grace".

Divine Retreat Center, Muringoor, Chalakudy, Kerala, India. Visit: http://www.drcm.org/dvineretreat/gene...

Swapna - Jesus Alone

2007-07-02T21:18:00.000+05:30

Title: Jesus Alone
Lyrics, Music & Vocals: Swapna
Album: Flashback
Cuts: Shando A Uruvath
Camera: Jino Vagamon & Justin Jose
Direction: Maria Sangeetha

Notice clip(s) of Fr. Stan Fortuna if you look closely during the cuts.

Song from the Divine Retreat Center's Television Program called "Divine Vision - Streams of Grace".

Divine Retreat Center, Muringoor, Chalakudy, Kerala, India. Visit: http://www.drcm.org/dvineretreat/gene...

Smokie Norful

2007-07-02T15:02:00.000+05:30

Smokie Norful is an American gospel singer and pianist. With his soulful tenor vocals and an unerring ability to fuse contemporary gospel with hip-hop sensibilities, Smokie Norful is one of the brightest lights on the current gospel scene. The son of an African Methodist Episcopal minister, Norful spent his first 14 years in Muskogee, OK, where he absorbed music ranging from sacred gospel to the secular soul that was popular at the time, and both strains would serve him well when he began his professional singing career. By the age of two he was picking out melodies on piano, by four he was actively playing and singing in his father's church, and by ten he was a featured artist on a custom album assembled by a regional music director. Although music was his enduring passion, Norful instead opted to study history at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, eventually working as a history instructor for four years before relocating to Chicago in 1998 in order to earn a Masters of Divinity degree from Garrett Theological Seminary.

After his graduation, Norful remained in Chicago as an assistant pastor at the Rock of Ages Baptist Church and stayed active in various church choirs, eventually catching the ear of Joe Anne Brunson, leader of the Thompson Community Choir, who asked him to sing one of his original songs for the choir's Real album, which essentially launched Norful's professional singing career. His debut solo album, I Need You Now, was released by Chordant in 2002, followed by an EP called Limited Edition from EMI Gospel in 2003. Norful has characterized his music as "urban inspirational," an apt term that allows him to stretch the boundaries of traditional gospel while still remaining true to its purpose. EMI Gospel also released Norful's second solo album, Nothing Without You, in 2004. Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

Discography

2006 Life Changing
2005 Nothing Without You [DVD]
2005 Nothing Without You [CD & DVD]
2004 Nothing Without You
2003 Limited Edition
2003 I Need You Now/Life's Not Promised (Single)
2002 I Need You Now

Homepage
Also Read the Interview :
http://www.blackgospel.com/psalmists/smokienorful/interview/2006/

Source : Starpluse

Participants gearing up for Gospel music festival

2007-07-02T09:43:00.000+05:30

By Steve Eighinger
Herald-Whig Staff Writer

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Nicole Foti views the lineup of artists for the inaugural "Praise the Lord" weekend as one of its chief strengths.

"The wide variety of music should allow all age groups to worship the Lord in their own way," said Foti, a Wentzville, Mo., resident who is promoting the event.

The Oct. 5-6 Gospel music festival will be held at the Quality Inn and Suites in cooperation with the Hannibal Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Tri-State Bluegrass Association.

Don't be fooled by that "bluegrass" reference, however. The lineup also offers contemporary Christian artists Jon Webb of Texas and the group Alathea from Tennessee, along with Little Roy Lewis and the Lewis Family, Green Valley Grass, Southern Accent, Arlington, Hilton Griswold and Redeemed.

Redeemed, based in Hannibal and featuring Christine Poage as lead singer, is one of the top contemporary praise and worship acts in West-Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri.

Green Valley Grass is a four-time Missouri Gospel Group of the Year award winner. The Lewis Family is billed as "America's First Family of Bluegrass Gospel."

Serving as a keynote speaker will be the Rev. Jack Herren of Quincy.

"This could really turn into something great," Foti said. "So many people have helped pull this all together."

Foti said the wide-ranging lineup of artists is no accident. She is hoping to draw old and young alike and hopes the event will especially appeal to younger music fans through the inclusion of artists such as Webb and Alathea.

While Webb is a Christian recording artist, he is also involved in children's ministry. Alathea is extremely active in Compassion International, a Christian child advocacy ministry that has dozens of Christian recording stars helping spread its message.

"We want to reach as many people as we can through this event," Foti said.

The festival schedule begins with a 7 p.m. Oct. 5 show. Oct. 6 shows are at noon and 7 p.m.

Tickets are $12 for each individual show, or $20 for admittance to both of Saturday's performances. Children under 12 attend for free; and tickets are $9 for ages 12-16. Handicap-accessible seating will also be available.

For more information, call Foti at (636) 327-5596.

Contact Staff Writer Steve Eighinger at seighinger@whig.com
or (217) 221-3377

Source :whig.com

(Online Edition Of The Quincy Herald Whig)

Elvis Is In The Building

2007-07-02T09:39:00.000+05:30

By ALLEN ARRICK
Staff Writer (The Tyler Paper.com)

There’s an old saying that humans are biologically classified into two distinct groups: Beatles people and Elvis people.

The T.G. Field Auditorium in Longview was packed to the brim June 23 with the latter for the first-ever “Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest” sanctioned by the Elvis estate in Memphis.

The winner from the contest will go on to Memphis during Elvis week in the fall to compete to be the “Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist” (emphasis on “Ultimate”).

“Most of (the tribute artists) grew up listening to Elvis,” said event coordinator Carol Shahin of Jacksonville. “They love him so much that they want to pay the best tribute they know how to an icon in their eyes. They take it very seriously. They purchase high dollar replica jumpsuits. You will not see any Halloween-type costumes.”

Perhaps the contest, the only one of its kind in Texas, created more questions about Elvis’ legacy than it attempted to answer.

What compels people to spend several thousand dollars on a jumpsuit?

What is it in estrogen that makes women of all ages magnetically attracted to slick, sparkly, rhinestone-incrusted, jumpsuit-wearing, mutton-chopped men who simply look, act and sing like Elvis?

And perhaps most important: Why Elvis? Why are we here 30 years after his death watching grown men sport hair-do’s they would never wear normally, and wear clothes that would only look good on someone trying to look like Elvis?

Why don’t we have “Ultimate Johnny Cash Tribute Artists” or “Ultimate Roy Orbison Tribute Artists” complete with horn-rimmed specs?

These questions and more lead backstage at the contest, where a surreal atmosphere of multiple Elvis look-a-likes roamed around, waiting to get strapped into their jumpsuits to sing for the crowd.

Some hummed tunes to themselves to prepare, some posed for pictures with fans.

ELVI’S UP CLOSE

A young-looking Nathan Belt, a Grapevine resident, was there with his wife (his very dedicated and understanding wife).

Belt wasn’t anywhere near ready to perform. His hair was done, but he was in shorts and a gray T-shirt.

Growing up, Belt was always told he sounded like Elvis.

“There’s only one Elvis,” he said. “There’s been no one since then that had that charisma.”

Charisma, a word just about every Elvis tribute artist uses as a blanket statement to define Elvis’ character.

Charisma is too vague. Mussolini had charisma, and no one has “Ultimate Mussolini Tribute Dictator” contests.

But then Belt dropped the bomb.

“There wouldn’t be the Beatles if there wasn’t Elvis Presley,” he said.

Belt seems to be the exception to the rule about Beatles/Elvis people.

His wife, who has accompanied him on his performances since their marriage began, is very supportive of her husband’s passion.

“When I met him, he was a singer-songwriter in Nashville,” Jeanice Belt said. “He didn’t tell me until later about being an Elvis tribute artist.”

One can imagine that conversation.

His wife helped him climb into his $3,000 white rhinestone jumpsuit before taking the stage. The suit was donated by a “very generous” friend, he said.

“She believes in me,” Belt said.

He sings gospel music at his church, and said Elvis’ gospel roots are one of the many reasons he loves the king.

(For the sanctuary, Belt leaves his jumpsuit at home.)

Try telling any one of the Tribute Artists they are “Elvis impersonators,” and you get looks that could kill.

“A tribute artist is someone who really puts his heart and his money into it,” Belt said. “It’s not a parody.”

Similar convictions were shared between the Elvi’s.

Richard Cook, a Shreveport resident and longtime Elvis tribute artist, said he started “being Elvis” in front of a mirror when he was 4 years old.

“I started in front of people when I was 14,” Cook said.

Cook said he’s drawn to Elvis because “The King” never forgot where he came from.

A good friend of Cook said he’s the real deal.

“This is him all the time, the way he acts now,” Angie Lafisca said. “He’s always (Elvis) 24 hours a day ... he believes it so much he makes me believe.”

CROONIN’, GROOVIN’

When the lights dimmed and the first performer came on stage, the audience lit up with excitement.

Packs of women and girls flocked to the front of the stage to grab one of many silky scarves discarded by the artists.

On a side note, the artists were ranked according to looks, stage presence, singing ability and other things. What basketball coaches call the “intangibles,” — the stuff that doesn’t show up on a stat-sheet — the way Shaqille O’Neal intimidates when he has the ball.

The winner of this contest could dunk on anybody — at least anybody with a pompadour.

To get people to speak of the intangibles was not an easy task.

Some women focused strictly on what they described as the handsome factor.

“It takes us back to a better time in life,” Barbara Peterson said. “And don’t get us started on the looks.”

“When he sings, it feels like he’s singing to you,” an excited Diane Rose said.

But can that really sum up Elvis’ legacy — a few nice ladies contemplating Elvis’ era, as well as his other, um, attributes?

Meanwhile backstage, the second half of the performances were about to get under way while an Elvis tribute artist was belting out some vocal chords in his dressing room.

“Gotta’ get loosened up for those high notes, man.”

BIG WINNER

Some of the Elvis artists stood out. One in particular was Trent Carlini, a Vegas showman.

Carlini emigrated to the U.S. from Italy, and he quickly became a rock and roll fan.

Put aside the long biography which includes an appearance on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” and you get a guy who looks identical to the king.

Carlini’s pearly whites show through his Elvis-esque smirk, complemented by perfectly dangling bangs.

He walked around backstage like a force. One imagines that people look at him as if they had seen the ghost of Elvis.

(We would hope that our ghosts would look like we did in our prime, which is what Carlini achieves: Elvis in his prime)

Backstage before the show, a strange conversation happened between one of the security officers and the tribute artists.

“Is there an Elvis back here named Trent?” the guard asked.

“Trent’s not here yet,” the emcee said.

“There’s some women out front who want to meet him.”

“None of the Elvises are available out front right now.”

Thirty years after the death of Elvis, a man who presented himself as a mere figment of “The King,” was attracting women in droves.

In 1990, Carlini was chosen by the Global Records Star Search in Dallas as “Entertainer With The Most King-Like Charisma.”

There’s that word again.

Needless to say, Carlini took the show — he won the competition and will go on to the final round in Memphis in the fall. His intangibles showed through, even if they’re hard to name.

But that’s as good as it’s going to get. Maybe “charisma” is the only word to describe Elvis.

“They have to have a little bit of it all, the charisma, the charm, the stage presence, how they deal with the crowd,” Mrs. Shahin, the event coordinator, said.

That’s how Elvis can be summed up: Charisma of a benevolent dictator, presence of Shaq and the, well, physical assets, of Elvis.

Leaving the auditorium, a lady said, “I told you the guy from Vegas was going to win.”

She said he looks a lot like young Elvis, but he’s still far from the real thing.

Maybe the ladies were referring to something Carlini was missing – something indescribable.

Perhaps the only word to describe Elvis is “Elvis.” The jailhouse rocker is his own universal language in American culture.

And that’s why he’s so broadly appealing. We just don’t need words.

Allen Arrick, a summer intern at the Tyler Courier-Times—Telegraph, offers his personal reflections on the Elvis phenomenon.

Source : tylerpaper.com

Gospel legend Bill Moss dies at 76 after bout with emphysema

2007-06-30T00:15:00.000+05:30

DETROIT: Bill Moss, founder of the famed gospel group The Celestials and father of current hit gospel singer-songwriters J Moss and Bill Moss Jr., has died. He was 76.

Bill Moss died Monday in a Detroit-area hospital following a bout with emphysema.

When The Celestials took the stage they brought a unique, melodic and soul-moving style that helped in the evolution of contemporary gospel music.

"We would be on shows with the Staple Singers, Mighty Clouds of Joy and other groups, and I would hear people saying: 'We're not coming behind Bill Moss and The Celestials,'" his daughter, Verlinda Moss, said Friday.

He was part of a family of gospel music greats that included his sister, Mattie Moss Clark, and her daughters, the Clark Sisters. He also started the music careers of his sons.

The 2004 inductee into the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame formed The Celestials in Detroit in the 1960s with his wife, evangelist Essie Moss. The group, which later included the couple's daughters, performed at such venues as the Apollo Theater in Harlem and the MET in Philadelphia.

The Celestials also shared stages with the Rev. James Cleveland and Edwin Hawkins.

Bill Moss last performed in March in Nashville, Tennessee, before emphysema forced him into the hospital, Verlinda Moss said.

"Dad was singing in the hospital even when he was short of breath," she said. "He had us crying as he sang in the bed. He never wanted to give up."

Bill Moss was born in 1931 in Selma, Alabama, and sang as a child in a church led by his mother, the Rev. Mattie Moss.

Verlinda Moss said he served in the Korean War before moving to Boston.

"He did a lot of singing there," she said. "The concept for The Celestials started in Boston, but the evolution of the group didn't happen until he moved to Detroit and married Mom."

The Celestials were nominated for a Grammy for "Turn It Over to Jesus." The group also had hits with "Everything is Going to be Alright" and "The Way We Use to Have Church."

"Dad had a unique style of gospel music," said Verlinda Moss, who continues to perform with The Celestials. "He wasn't quartet. He wasn't choir. He was the first to come on the (gospel) scene with the electric piano and electric drums."

Bill Moss is survived by his wife, eight children, a stepson, a sister and 13 grandchildren.

-- International Herald Tribune (IHT)

Also Read :

*Gospel legend Bill Moss dies at 76 after bout with emphysema MLive.com
*Gospel singer Bill Moss dies at 76 after bout with emphysema WMC-TV
*Gospel legend Bill Moss dies at 76 after bout with emphysema AL.com

Karl Kohlhase

2007-06-29T23:56:00.000+05:30

Karl Kohlhase grew up Lutheran but strayed far from God during his teenage years. But at the age of 18 he sensed that Christ was calling him to follow Him, and thus changed his life as he surrenders himself to Christ. Just out of high school, he started to pray about what the Lord wanted him to do. Since he had played in several rock bands throughout high school, he thought that he should start a Christian rock band.

He called an old band mate who was attending an Assembly of God Bible college. His mate told him to come to the school, so that he could meet other musicians who might be interested in his idea. When Karl visited he was excited to find so many young men and women who were devoted to following Christ, to the Word of God, and to prayer.

Karl has recorded a contemporary music CD and has posted it on my web site, along with some of his hymns and choral works. "It is my prayer that it will bear much fruit for the glory of my Savior" says Karl.

from Cataholic Planet

http://www.catholicplanet.com/mp3/karl.htm

Karl's Official Site

http://www.k4communications.com/karl/

LaShun Pace Rhodes

2007-06-27T14:31:00.001+05:30

Tarrian LaShun Pace (sometimes credited as LaShun Pace Rhodes or Shun Pace Rhodes) is an American gospel singer and evangelist.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Chicago, Pace first emerged during the mid-1970s

LaShun Pace is a tremendous woman of stamina and perseverance. She has endured the death of her daughter, two divorces, sickness and yet she still sings praise to God for all He has done. Her latest project, Complete, is a testimony to her belief that God is yet on the throne and worthy to be praised. She and Justin Gilbert produced the CD.

La Shun Pace simply sets the tone for gospel achievement. The two constants you can count on from La Shun are unwavering devotion to the message of the Lord and solid music that stays on the charts. The reigning diva of Savoy Records first made her musical mark in 1988, when she recorded In the House of the Lord with Dr. Jonathan Greer & The Cathedral of Faith Choir. La Shun's obvious talents were enormous, so Savoy signed her to a solo recording contract.

Gospel's noted artist, Rev. Clay Evans once told La Shun that she would eventually pick up and carry the torch left by the mother of gospel music, Mahalia Jackson. Following in those footsteps, La Shun has become one of gospels most popular and sought after recording artists.

La Shun's debut solo album with Savoy He Lives, in 1990, earned her national acclaim. The album packed one of gospel's top acappela hits, I Know I've Been Changed. It remained in the Top 20 of Billboard magazine's Gospel Albums Chart for well over a year, peaking at the Number 2 spot. Her second album with Savoy Shekinah Glory, in 1993, reunited her with The Cathedral of Faith Choir. The album yielded such hits as My Times and In Everything Give Thanks. Her next album A Wealthy Place took her music and ministry to an even higher level. It quickly rose to Billboard's Top 15 on the Gospel Albums Chart while also topping nearly every gospel chart in the nation at one time or another. Having success associated with everything you do, La Shun continues to soar among the ranks of the gospel artists.

La Shun has accomplished much during her ever-blessed career. She appeared in the hit movie Leap of Faith starring comedian Steve Martin. She has been involved in such theatrical productions at The Living Cross and the nationally acclaimed A Fool and His Money. She has performed at such major events as the McDonald's Chicago Gospelfest, The Atlanta Black Expo, and The Gospel Music Workshop of America. Her talents also have graced such prestigious venues as Washington D.C.'s, Kennedy Center and New York's, Paramount Theater.

Discography

In the House of the Lord with Dr. Jonathan Greer and the Cathedral of Faith Choir (1988)
He Lives (1990)
Shekinah Glory (1993)
A Wealthy Place (1996)
Just Because God Said It (1998)
God is Faithful (2001)
It's My Time (2005)
Complete (2007)

Official website

LaShun Pace at MySpace

Gospel Singing Stars Honored In Hometown

2007-06-26T11:51:00.000+05:30

Gospel Singing Stars Honored In Hometown

They've been celebrated all over the world for nearly half a century.

Now, for the first time in their stellar history, gospel singers, the Williams Brothers are honored in their hometown McComb, Mississippi .

As McComb mayor Zachary Patterson presented Melvin Williams the key to the city, friends and family reflect on a remarkable career that has spread the Williams Brothers' brand of gospel music from country churches to Carnegie hall.

Josie Marie Williams-Oaties is a sister.

"They've been singing since they were little children and 47 years have gone by and I thought it was time they were more than deserving to have this event and because I love them," says Oaties.

Fans and the music industry also love them.

The Williams Brothers have won numerous Stellar Awards, Dove Awards and they've been nominated for 6 Grammy Awards in their professional years of singing.

"When I write, I try to write about songs that I can relate to; things that I've been through; things that people are going through on a day to day basis," says Lead singer and guitarist Melvin Williams.

Doug Williams, also a lead singer, is President and C-E-O of Blackberry Records, the group's own label. They produce, promote and engineer for a host of other artists.

"So many doors now has been opened for gospel music that wasn't open in the past and I think a lot of it is do to the different genres; the different styles of gospel music, because I think gospel music is the most diverse music in the world," says Williams.

"You know we're still singing about the same God but the music just been upgraded but we singing about the same God," says Henry Green, who sings tenor.

And that's music to the ears of Williams Brothers fans throughout Mississippi and around the world.

The Williams Brothers are lifetime members of the Rose Hill Missionary Baptist Church in McComb, which helped organize the event.

The master of ceremonies was Black Entertainment Television's Doctor Bobby Jones.

Source : www.wlbt.com

Roll tours with CMU Singers

2007-06-25T12:27:00.000+05:30

[ From Clinton County News ]

MOUNT PLEASANT — Marcus Roll of St. Johns, a member of Central Michigan University's Chamber Singers, recently entertained audiences in Ireland and France during the choir's 10-day concert tour.

Under the direction of CMU professor of music Nina Nash-Robertson, the singers performed at venues throughout the two nations during a May 10-20 tour that marked "the culmination of a year of academic study and rehearsal" for the auditioned, 24-member ensemble, Nash-Robertson said.

Roll, a junior at CMU, is the son of Bill and Judy Roll of St. Johns. He has a music major.

The choir's stops included a May 12 performance during Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral in Galway, Ireland, and a joint concert with Cois Cladagh Choir at Mervue Catholic Church, also in Galway; a May 13 performance during noon Mass at Knock Pilgrimage Site in Sligo, Ireland, and a performance during Mass at the Basilica in Dublin, Ireland; a May 14 concert at the Moat Theatre in Naas, Ireland; a May 15 lunchtime performance at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin; a May 17 concert at H'pital Charles Foix, a geriatric hospital, in Paris, France; a May 18 concert at La Madeleine in Paris; and a May 19 performance during Mass at Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France, and a post-Mass concert at the cathedral.

"The students received many standing ovations from warmly enthusiastic audiences, who were impressed by the quality of literature, as well as the vocal maturity, beauty and discipline of the ensemble," said Nash-Robertson.

In addition to performing, the Chamber Singers visited local attractions in both countries, including museums, historic sites, natural landmarks andchurches.

School of Music faculty member Mary Stewart Kiesgen, who is CMU's coordinator of vocal studies, and history faculty member John Robertson, who taught a medieval history course during the tour, also accompanied the group.

— From Central Michigan University

Children's Choir will sing at Vatican

2007-06-25T12:04:00.000+05:30

By Rebecca Neal
rebecca.neal@indystar.com

When 85 area singers travel to Italy with the Indianapolis Children's Choir next week, they'll have a once-in-a-lifetime experience when they sing at a Mass at the Vatican.

"They do realize what that means, but yet they don't. The moment they walk in, they will realize what it means," said Henry Leck, the choir's founder and artistic director. "The Catholic kids are all over it, but the Christian kids and the Jewish kids understand what this means too."
The choir, including students from south Marion and Johnson counties, will fly to Rome Thursday and perform at Mass that afternoon. They'll be in town for Rome's Festival of St. Peter, said the director who first thought all of the choir spots at the Vatican's Masses were already assigned.
"People send their musical requests years in advance," he said of trying to perform during the Festival of St. Peter.
After two letters from Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel Buechlein and more than 50 e-mails with the Vatican, the choir secured a place at a Mass that Friday.
Roncalli High School freshman Caitlin Schmoll said she can't wait to perform at the Vatican.
"It will mean a lot. I think it will help me be closer in my faith with God," said Schmoll, 14, the daughter of Mary and Paul Schmoll, Perry Township.
That Saturday, the students will take educational tours around Rome, including a stop at the Sistine Chapel.
Other notable stops on the trip include an evening concert July 3 in Florence in a former church built in 1116. The students will again perform July 5 in Venice at the Basilica of San Marco.
The basilica has a great musical heritage, and visiting choirs are hardly ever allowed to perform there, he said.
"It's very important musically because that's where surround sound started," he said.
The students will stop in Verona and Milan before returning to Indianapolis on July 7 or 8, depending on flights. Assistant director Josh Pedde will accompany Leck on the trip.
While Leck is proud of his choir's musical talents, he also wants to make sure the trip is educational. Each student is assigned a research topic about Italy, such as pasta, currency or politics. They then make presentations about their topic to others.
"By the time they go, they'll know when the Coliseum was built and what happened there. That way it's not like they won't recognize half of the things and then come back and forget the rest," he said.
The trip's parent chaperones also have to do a research project, and students must keep a daily journal.
The trip costs about $3,000, and students spend several years fundraising. Scholarships also are available for low-income students, and Leck said the choir works to make sure any student who wants to go can. Schmoll said she sold candles and ferns to help her make the trip.
The choir is made up predominantly of students in Grades 7-9, though some older high school students are also part of the choir. The students traveling are part of Leck's two advanced choirs, which went to England and Greece last year.
Schmoll, who has never traveled outside of the United States, is thrilled to be able to tour Italy.
"It's going to be really beautiful and fun to be able to experience the churches and sights in Italy," she said.

Source : indystar.com
Call Star reporter Rebecca Neal at (317) 444-2710.

The Gospel Singer - Being blind and a ward of the court didn't stop him

2007-06-24T18:29:00.000+05:30

By Sue Anne Pressley MontesWashington Post

WASHINGTON - Margaret Dickinson first met Brian Slaughter nearly 30 years ago, in the forgotten world that was Forest Haven. She was a graduate student, about to start work at the District of Columbia's facility for the mentally retarded. He was a resident, a young man who had lived there since age 10.

As Dickinson took in the conditions that day - the toilet overflowing into the day room, two attendants engrossed in TV, the 60 idle men - she wondered how she could ever work at such a place. Shaking her head, she half-sang a line from an old hymn, "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen."

A deep voice sang back, "Nobody knows but Jesus."

It was one of the men sitting on the bench along the wall. "He was holding his trousers with his left hand because he didn't have a belt," she said, "and he had three big safety pins in the place where the zipper was. Most of the day's menu was all over his T-shirt, and he had shoes with no shoelaces and no socks."

There was one more thing: He was blind. "Hi, I'm Brian," he said, extending his hand. "And I'm a gospel singer."

Years later, with Dickinson's help, Slaughter has become exactly what he said he was: He is the gospel singer. It is hard to reconcile that picture of Slaughter, now 56, with the life he leads today. Wearing dark glasses and often a red fez, he presides over the keyboards at the Art and Drama Therapy Institute, a day-care program in Washington for adults with mental retardation.

Slaughter is the assistant music instructor. He also stars in the Inspirational Choir and Moroccan Ensemble, which appears at churches and special events several times a month and has a CD and video. Recently, he soloed at a disabilities conference in Hawaii, returning with a white Panama hat and a love of sushi. "I like good gospel music," Slaughter said in his preacherlike voice. "It starts my day off right."

Slaughter never forgets a name. He has hundreds of gospel songs in his repertoire and can launch into "Peace, Be Still" or "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" with authority. But he cannot read or write, and he would not be able to find his way to the store. But he has lots of plans for the future. "'Gospel Time!' That would be a good show," he said.

Slaughter is one of the few success stories that emerged from the institutional shame of Forest Haven. For decades, the D.C. facility, located in Laurel, Md., reflected an era when society's most vulnerable citizens were hidden away with inadequate programs or care. The facility closed in 1991, sending about 1,100 people to a new system of group homes that would in time also be cited for its failings. A federal lawsuit against the District continues to this day on behalf of the former residents.

But Slaughter had something to hold onto that most others did not: his dreams of music.

Brian Xavier Slaughter was born three days before Christmas, 1950. He and his twin, who lived just a few days, were three months premature. His mother, 19, already had two young children and a disintegrating marriage. Iris McConnell, now 75 and a retired federal government employee, said she still gets "very emotional" about that period, which she has written about in a manuscript she hopes to publish.

"Sometime during his first week at home, I was examining his body to see if he had all his parts when I realized I had him in the light of the bulb with no shade on it and there was no response to the light," she read aloud recently in her suburban home.

McConnell quickly learned there were few options for a special-needs child in the 1950s. At 7, Brian entered a program at an elementary school but was soon released because he could not function independently, McConnell said. "I had nowhere for him to go, nor could I afford anything, so every day I would close my young son in his room," she said. She worried he might hurt himself while left alone. Finally, a D.C. official convinced her that her older children would be better off if Slaughter went to Forest Haven, McConnell said.

The 10-year-old would have to be made a ward of the court. "We were (case) No. 15 that day," McConnell recalled. "Brian was dressed in his shirt and his little bow tie, clean and totally oblivious to what was about to go on. And when they called his name and I went forth, and the judge said whatever he had to say and then he struck that gavel and said, 'Committed,' it was just like my heart just left my body. 'What did I just do?' was what I said to myself."

The boy was led away by a caseworker. There were home visits for holidays. By the time he met Dickinson, he had lived at Forest Haven more than half his life.

"'Are you going to be our new chief?' " he asked her that day. " 'Yes, I'm going to be your new chief,' " she said she replied, " 'and I'm going to get you out of here.' "

A year and a half later, in 1981, Slaughter moved into a group home. He had small jobs stuffing envelopes, folding papers. He found his niche in 1992, when Dickinson and artist and therapist Sirkku Sky Hiltunen started the Art and Drama Therapy Institute. The two have created an environment that could not be more different than Forest Haven. It is a colorful, magic land of artwork, costumes and musical instruments.

Here, a shy mentally disabled woman dons an ornate dress and hand-painted mask and stars in a Japanese fairy tale. A young man who wears a helmet because he falls so often sings his own spirited version of opera.

"I believe these people are heaven's ambassadors," Dickinson said. "They're highly evolved, special beings. They are our teachers." The center has about 160 clients, 30 of them former residents of Forest Haven.

When Dickinson started the choir a few years ago, Slaughter quickly became the breakout star. He learned his songs, he said, listening to gospel radio. When he sat down at the keyboards, "the music just came out."

The two dozen members rehearse twice weekly. Everywhere they go, their raw energy and open-faced joy has crowds jumping to their feet.

Once, Dexter Slaughter attended a Special Olympics ceremony and was surprised to see his little brother and company up on the stage, owning it. "I knew he could sing, but I didn't know he could turn out a room," Dexter said.

Recently, Iris McConnell was at a seniors event when she heard the voice of her youngest child speak into a microphone, "Testing ... testing ..." Then the Inspirational Choir and Moroccan Ensemble launched into one of its favorite hymns, "O Happy Day." For Brian Slaughter, gospel singer, it was another very happy day.

Amy Grant

2007-06-24T16:37:00.000+05:30

Nationality : American

Gender : Female

Occupation : Actress, singer, composer, producer

Birth Details : November 25, 1960

Augusta, Georgia, United States

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Biography
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"I know how it feels to go into a studio to start a record, and eight weeks later it's finished. I know how an intense schedule feels. Simple Things was the antithesis of all that.", says Amy Grant, whose new A&M/Word release Simple Things was three full years in the making. Was it worth the wait? You bet. Emotional, honest songs, glistening productions, arrangements that sweep through fields of strings and settle into a nest of solo acoustic guitar -- every detail of her seventeenth album exceeds the singer's standards, which are as high as standards come in this business.

But something beyond the music gives Simple Things its real meaning. The story behind its creation reflects elements of Amy's life at a critical stage -- elements of both shadow and light, uncertainty and conviction, and above all love and its endurance.

Simple Things was born from love, during a memorable week with family and friends. It comes to the world now on wings of love, from a place of warmth and resolution, now that the process is done. Between these milestones, though, the going wasn't always easy, thanks to changes in and beyond Amy's world.

It began in the summer of 2000, when Amy and her husband Vince Gill left Nashville with producer Keith Thomas and a few co-writers for a week in Destin, Florida. In a house just steps from the shore, they'd pair off after breakfast and write songs together. Then, as evening neared, they'd gather, compare notes, share quiet as well as festive moments.

"One night we were all going out to dinner," Amy remembers. "We all dressed up and went down to the beach to take our pictures in that beautiful sunset. Somehow we wound up running into the ocean and getting drenched in all our nice clothes."

Much of the material on Simple Things took form during that idyll: "Looking For You," "Happy," the title cut, and one song, "Touch," that perhaps conveys the feeling of that time more vividly than anything else on the album. "I think "Touch" was written on the first or second day," Amy says, "and it was so hypnotic and beautiful, so much like the ocean. Throughout the rest of that week, when we'd get to the end of the day, we'd grab a cold drink, feel the spray in the air, and just play that song ..."

Shortly after coming back home, with every intention to begin her next project, Amy discovered that she was pregnant. Priorities quickly shifted, as she gave birth to her and Vince's first child, Corrina. The time that followed proved even more challenging, and in unexpected ways.

There were issues involved with being a blended family with Amy's three older children and Vince's daughter. "We're just now in the fifth year since Gary (Chapman) and I split up," Amy explains. "Then, in March of 2000, I married Vince. The kids had to deal with some changes in their lives, and I had to grapple with the shame that you feel when you've been through a divorce. Thankfully, all of us continue to grow and life works itself out, but those years were a very sensitive time for us all."

These transitions would inspire some of the most personal material on Simple Things, including "Out in the Open" and "Innocence Lost," one of only two songs on the album that Amy didn't write. "But a big part of that lyric captures what I was feeling," she says, "about how part of living involves losing your innocence. And 'Out in the Open' is about freedom from shame and forgiving yourself. To me, they're both very emotional songs about that period."

At the same time, staying away from stage and studio took a physical toll. "In going through pregnancy and post-delivery, my support muscles weakened," she explains. "In the past, when I'd recorded during a break in a tour, it was so easy to sing, because I felt strong. Also, like so many new mothers, I wasn't getting a lot of sleep, and sleeping is such a huge part of being able to sing."

For nearly a year Amy was able to record only sporadically -- sometimes just two days a month. "So much of my energy was going into my family that when I was able to get to the studio I felt like, 'Oh, yeah! Now I remember! I have interests! I make music!'"

As Corrina grew and life at home settled, Amy's strength returned and her schedule loosened. She re-recorded some of the early vocal tracks and was getting into gear when the events of 911 suddenly cast a pall over the proceedings. As it happened, she was writing a song at that point that seemed to connect to the feelings stirred by tragedy.

"Wayne Kirkpatrick and I had started writing 'I Don't Know Why' about a week earlier," Amy says. "We'd been talking about those moments where, for whatever reason, everything distills into what really matters. When I watched those firefighters and workers digging through Ground Zero, trying to see if there was anybody in there, I thought of a lyric we'd just written: 'This is one of those moments when all that really matters is crystal clear' -- which means being there for each other, 'woven together by whatever threads of life that have brought us here.'"

In the perspective that took form after September 11, a new meaning emerged as Amy and Wayne worked on the song. "The words 'all I know is now' came from the uncertainty we felt," she says. "It's like when you're sitting in a waiting room at the hospital: Nothing exists except for that moment you're in. It might not be over 911, but we've all felt that odd way that life and tragedy bring people together."

Which brings Simple Things into full circle. From the personal to the global, from the playfulness of "Happy" through the impassioned duet shared by Amy and Vince on "Beautiful," Simple Things is perhaps the most intimate glimpse ever offered into the heart of this artist. With tracks brilliantly produced by Keith Thomas, Brown Banister and Wayne Kirkpatrick, this music seems to rush through storms and sunlight before coming to rest in "After the Fire," a summary of all that we've experienced on our own and heard on this disc -- simple, soft, and quietly triumphant.

And now, a personal note ...

Over the past hour, as Amy led me through the story of Simple Things, I've seen, over her shoulder and silhouetted in sunlight streaming through the window of her sitting room, an old baby grand piano, on which family photos stand in faded array. She tells me that it once belonged to the late comedienne Minnie Pearl, whose memory brings a light to Amy's eyes.

"I'm thinking about a conversation we had years ago," she says. "It was after Minnie's stroke, and she was bedridden, but this was one of her lucid days. We were talking about light and dark. She was saying, 'They're both a part of life. For instance, what do you think is the most important color on an artist's palette?' I said I didn't know. She said, 'Black, of course. Without black, no color has any depth. But if you mix black with everything, suddenly there's shadow -- no, not just shadow, but fullness. You've got to be willing to mix black into your palette if you want to create something that's real.'"

And so we return to where we came in: to the play of shadow and light, pain and sweetness, and to the music of Simple Things, which is as simple and yet unfathomable as we all know the world to be.

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Discography
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2006 Time Again: Amy Grant Live All Access

2006 Hymns for the Journey

2005 Rock of Ages...Hymns & Faith

2004 Greatest Hits 1986 - 2004
2003 Simple Things
2002 Legacy.. Hymns & Faith
1999 A Christmas To Remember
1997 Behind the Eyes
1994 House Of Love
1992 Home For Christmas
1991 Heart In Motion
1988 Lead Me On
1986 The Collection
1985 Unguarded
1984 Straight Ahead
1983 A Christmas Album
1982 Age To Age
1981 In Concert Volume 2
1980 In Concert
1980 Never Alone
1979 My Father's Eyes
1977 Amy Grant

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Videos
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1994 House of Love
1991 Heart In Motion
1984 Age To Age
1986 Find A Way
1986 Amy Grant's Old Fashioned Christmas

Famous Works

CREDITS
Film Appearances
Story, Songs and Stars, 1984
Herself, A Moment in Time, World Entertainment, 1988
Carol, The Illusion, 2001
Sister of Freya #4, Yorick, 2002
Television Appearances
Movies
Maryann Lowery, A Song from the Heart (also known as Music fromthe Heart), 1999
Specials
The Patti LaBelle Show, NBC, 1985
Christmas in Washington, NBC, 1985
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, NBC, 1986
Amy Grant ... Headin' Home for the Holidays, NBC, 1986
An All-Star Celebration Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., NBC, 1986
ABC Presents a Royal Gala, ABC, 1988
Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade, ABC, 1990
Narrator, The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat, Showtime, 1990
The Dream Is Alive: The 20th Anniversary Celebration of Walt Disney World (also known as Walt Disney World's 20th Anniversary Celebration), CBS, 1991
Hats Off to Minnie Pearl: America Honors Minnie Pearl, TNN, 1992
Picture What Women Do, Lifetime, 1994
Christmas At Home with the Stars, ABC, 1994
Herself, Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King, Lifetime, 1995
Herself, A Sam's Place Christmas, TNN, 1995
Kathie Lee: Just in Time for Christmas, CBS, 1996
Death in Malibu: The Murder of Music Mogul Charlie Minor--The E! TrueHollywood Story, E! Entertainment Television, 1997
Voice, Snowden on Ice, CBS, 1997
Herself, Christopher Reeve: A Celebration of Hope, ABC, 1998
When You Believe: Music from "The Prince of Egypt," NBC, 1998
Herself, Amy Grant ... A Christmas to Remember, 1999
Women Rock! Girls & Guitars, Lifetime, 2000
Awards Presentations
The American Music Awards, ABC, 1986
The 20th Annual Country Music Association Awards, CBS, 1986
The 34th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1992
The American Music Awards, ABC, 1993
The 24th Annual Dove Awards, The Family Channel, 1993
The 25th Annual Dove Awards, The Family Channel, 1994
The American Music Awards, ABC, 1995
The 26th Annual Dove Awards, The Family Channel, 1995
The 30th Annual Country Music Association Awards, CBS, 1996
TNN Music City News Country Awards, TNN, 1997
Episodic
Guest, Late Show with David Letterman, 1994
Guest host, CCM-TV, 1995
Herself, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, ABC, 2001
Herself, The View, ABC, 2002
Guest, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC, 2002
Also appeared as herself, Talk of the Town.
Television Executive Producer
Specials
Amy Grant ... A Christmas to Remember, CBS, 1999
RECORDINGS
WRITINGS
Television Songs
Specials
"Tennessee Christmas," Amy Grant: A Christmas to Remember, 1999

HomePage : www.amygrant.com/

Nicole Mullen

2007-06-20T16:50:00.000+05:30

Before coming out with her first natioally released album in 2000, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Nicole C. Mullen worked as a vocalist with Michael W. Smith and the Newsboys, as a songwriter for Jaci Velasquez, and as a dancer and choreographer with Amy Grant.

Her love of music began well before then, though. From the age of two, Nicole recalls having a mic in her had on most occassions. During much of Mullen's childhood, she spent time singing with family and friends in the Cincinnati area. "It was something that I loved to do, that I felt called to do," she says. "I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I always knew that if doing music was the Lord's will for me, then I wouldn't have to strive for it."

When Nicole C. Mullen was 12, she began writing her own songs. One of the songs she co-wrote for Velaszuez, "On My Knees," won the 1998 GMA Song of the Year award. When Nicole describes her songwriting style, she often referres to it as "funkability." She likes to blend many genres of music, including R&B, folk, gospel, disco, hillbilly, and pop. Many of her songs are in story form and are about her faith, her childhood, her family, and her friends.

Nicole's musical career began when a man at her church hired her to work as a background singer at his recording studio for $6 an hour. This eventually led to her first recording contract, although the label did go under. While with the label, she was recommended to work with David Mullen on a recording project. Three years and quite a few disagreements later, they decided they were better together than apart, and were married.

Since their marriage, they have adopted one child, had two more, and have two dogs and a pack of cats at their home in rural Franklin, Tennessee. Her family means the world to her and she spends much of her time with them, often only touring on Thursdays through Saturdays so she can be with her her children during the school week. Most often, her family accompanies her on the road. David is a co-producer of her albums and she adds her vocal tracks at a home studio with her kids nearby.

David helped Nicole "stay in the business" duing the 1990's through background singing, songwriting, and dancing. After the success of the song, "I Get On My Knees," Nicole signed with Warner Bros./Curb/Word Records, becoming a perennial awards nominee and an advocate for numerous causes. Her self-titled debut album came out in 2000. Since then, she has released three more albums, her latest being Everyday People, which was released September 14, 2004.

Nicole C. Mullen chose "Everyday People" as the title of her new album becuase, "I am everyday people when it comes down to it," she says thoughtfully. "We all get to do different things, but when we take everything else off-we take the titles off, we take the job descriptions off, we take the salaries away-we're all everyday people that hurt, that bleed, that cry, regardless of the skin color, regardless of the title of our job."

When writing the songs for the albun, Nicole says she was mostly influenced by everyday people. Often when I’m writing, the people I’m seeing in my head are the people I’ve seen at my concerts—people who have e-mailed me or sent me letters afterward. It definitely let’s me know that I’m singing for a hurting audience—vulnerable people who are crying out to God, people who are going through circumstances, people who are ‘everyday’. Songs like “Bye, Bye Brianna”, “Valorie” and others show this.

Mullen views her opportunity to be on stage "not as a vehicle for self-glorification but as a chance to connect with everyday people from other walks of life." Nicole desperatly wants to give hope to a hurting nation and show her audience the overwhelming joy that can only be experienced through knowing Christ Jesus.

Nicole says this new album contains a lot more R&B and funk, and that it really represents who she is. Christianity Today comments: "In many ways, listening to this album is like entering someone's life through her photo album. Mullen presents aural snapshots of people and moments of her life. As in any photo album, the collection is varied, sometimes quirky, and always telling. Each song captures an overarching truth revealed through an ordinary moment made extraordinary by the greater meanings imparted by faith."

Nicole is involved in many types of activities and ministries besides singing. "Sometimes we think we are what we do," she explains. "We are not. I am not a singer. I sing-that is what I do. But I am Nicole-the mother, the wife, the friend, the daughter, the mentor, the mentee-that's who I am."

Together David and Nicole act as youth leaders in their local church, tutor inner-city kids on a weekly basis, and participate in the Kids Across America summer camp where they model the family unit to inner-city kids.

Nicole has also established a group called "The Baby Girls Club." Through this ministry, she mentors to girls that live in her area, often opening up her her home to them.

"When I was younger," Nicole C. Mullen says, "somebody from my church that I really respected-that I thought was gorgeous and very talented-spoke into my life. She would take me to her house at times and she would comb my hair or encourage me in my singing. In her belief in me, she gave me belief in myself, so I love doing that with other young girls."

Another of Nicole's passions is her work with the International Needs Network Ghana to work at freeing Trokosi slaves.

Nicole's albums:

Sharecropper's Seed, Vol. 1 (2007)

Reedemer: The Best of Nicole C. Mullen (2006)
Everyday People (2004)
Live from Cincinnati: Bringin' It Home (2003)
Christmas in Black & White (2002)
Talk About It (2001)
Following His Hand: A Ten Year Journey (2001)
Nicole C. Mullen (2000)
Wish Me Love (1992)
Don't Let Me Go (1991)

Awards and Nominations:
Nicole C. Mullen has won and been nominated for several Grammy and Dove Awards, including Song of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year.

1998 : Dove Award for Song of the Year for "On My Knees", shared with her husband David, and fellow co-writer Michael Ochs.
2001 : Dove Award for Songwriter of the Year
2001 : Dove Award for Song of the Year for "Redeemer"
2005 : Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year, Everyday People
2005 : Dove Award for Urban Album of the Year, Everyday People
2005 : Dove Award for Female Vocalist of the Year

Statement of Purpose:
"I sing to a hurting audience," Mullen suggests, "because I live in a hurting world so I feel like it's part of my job to present hope. "My goal in life is to encourage those that are out there listening. How can I make the next four minutes of this song worth more than just four minutes? How can I leave somebody with hope? That's my goal and if I accomplish that then it's worth more than a Grammy, worth more than a Dove, worth more than any of them."

"Without Him," she says, "I would have nothing to sing about."

Download Free Song by Nicole Mullen
1. Call On Jesus

Homepage

Source : http://www.christianmusic.com/nicole_c_mullen/nicole_c_mullen.htm

Halleluia / Alleluia - by Swapna

2007-06-11T13:40:00.000+05:30

Title: Halleluia / Alleluia
Artist: Swapna

Song from the Divine Retreat Center's Television Program called "Divine Vision - Streams of Grace". Divine Retreat Center, Muringoor, Chalakudy, Kerala, India.
Visit: http://www.drcm.org/dvineretreat/gene...

This Song performed by Swapna is an adaption from Mother Mary's Song of Praise....

My Love Song - by Swapna

2007-06-10T15:57:00.000+05:30

Song: My Love Song
Lyrics/Music: Swapna
Camera: Sunnychan
Editing: Johncy Joseph
Direction: Maria Sangeetha

Song from the Divine Retreat Center's Television Program called "Divine Vision - Streams of Grace".Divine Retreat Center, Muringoor, Chalakudy, Kerala, India.
Visit: http://www.drcm.org/dvineretreat/generalinfo/topics.asp?topi c=Evangelization%20-%20Divine%20Vision%2 0-%20Our%20Mission

Have Mercy On Me Oh Lord by Swapna

2007-06-10T15:53:00.000+05:30

Lyrics & Music: Swapna
Camera: Sunnychan
DivineEditing: Vijesh Pullookkara
Direction: Maria Sangeetha

Song from : The Divine Retreat Center's Television Program called "Divine Vision - Streams of Grace".Divine Retreat Center, Muringoor, Chalakudy, Kerala, India. ( http://www.drcm.org/ ) Visit: http://www.drcm.org/dvineretreat/gene...

If you are in USA/North America please visit: http://www.divinepotta.com/ in addition to the main website, OR see the external retreats from: http://www.drcm.org/
Category Music

Abey and Swapna

2007-06-08T11:15:00.000+05:30

Abey and Swapna had started their singing career as gospel singers Divine Retreat Center, India in 1992 the largest retreat place in Asia .

Abey and Swapna have released more than 11 albums in 8 years. Abey's "Lead us to the Heights of Myrrh" is popular in many countries.

Polygram, India released Swapna's solo album in 1993 under the title Prayer To Prayer and was one of the rare recognition received by a Christian artist in India. Abey & Swapna have traveled many countries and currently in contract with Praise Inc. Philippines.

The Album Rain On Me Is Too Good......
Here are two songs that i have uploaded from the album, in my later post i will upload video of swapna performance form youtube

Downloads
1. Lord Take Away
2. Rain On Me

Val Goldsack

2007-06-08T11:00:00.000+05:30

Val Godsack is a famous singer who is skiled in a capella , writer of liturgical music, pslams, canticles, sacred songs & guitarist and a member of the JHN Group who produce a series of tapes and CD of Morning & Evening Prayer. She has worked as a pastoral musician in the Diocese of Middlesbrough since 1978.

Website: http://www.valgoldsack.co.uk
http://www.mp3.com/artist/val-goldsack?tag=summary;quicklink:more&om_act=convert&om_clk=artsummary

In MP3 format (download):
(click link with right mouse button and choose "Save As" from the menu)

From the Album:
Songs of Hope
I Am the Vine (837 KB)
Deep Silent River (873 KB)
Abide with Me (898 KB)

Songs Her latest Album, Songs of Hope:
1. Lead Kindly Light
2. Deep Silent River (based on Psalm 110)
3. Canticle of Daniel
4. I Am The Vine
5. With This Water (Holy Thursday)
6. Psalm of Praise (Psalm 148)
7. Abide With Me
8. The Lord Is My Light And My Help
9. Prayer of Compassion
10. Father Of All Creation (offertory song)

BDA (Better Days Ahead)

2007-06-08T10:55:00.000+05:30

The same American college which produced CCM stars Jars Of Clay, Greenville College, have produced another pop rock band - BDA. The band’s debut album ‘Better Days Ahead’ is already getting considerable US airplay they have played almost 100 dates across the Midwest and East Coast including summer festivals alongside bands such as Switchfoot, Jars Of Clay, and Audio Adrenaline.

These five 21-year-olds met during their freshman year at Greenville College, Illinois on September 2001. (Among the top colleges in the nation that offer a degree in contemporary Christian music) And after 4 years of college to perfect their sound, the boys of BDA have come up with a debut CD that will not only get you singing, but thinking.

By tackling subjects like Christ’s return, evangelizing friends, and our own sinfulness these guys are not looking to just entertain. They write music that puts simple ideas in a new way and lets you discover it all over again. You will find yourself singing along to the catchy musical hooks, and listening to the lyrics for insight.

Produced by Scott Williamson (FFH, Lincoln Brewster), their debut release, Better Days Ahead, is sure to showcase their positive and energetic style. Supporting their memorable melodies with tight, polished rhythms, BDA is ready to connect with audiences who are looking for a fresh, new pop/rock sound.

Track List:
1. Maybe You
2. Mystery Of You
3. Love Is Here
4. Answer Me
5. Endless
6. Truth Found You
7. You Loved Me When
8. Don't Be Long
9. Something Wonderful
10. Let Love Come Down
11. Into Our Midst
12. All To Thee

READ THE INTERVIEW HERE

The Good Company Choir perform You Raise Me Up

2007-06-08T10:50:00.000+05:30

The Good Company Choir perform "You Raise Me Up" at St. Martins Church to raise money for "Friends of Vellore" . Any money made from this video will be donated to them.

Homepage : Metacafe
The best free videos From Metacafe are right here

Lenny LeBlanc

2007-06-08T10:46:00.001+05:30

Few Ablums By Him

One Desire (2002)
The bridge (1996)
Above all
All my dreams (1994)

Lenny LeBlanc was born in Leominster Mass. June 17th, 1951. In 1955 his family moved south to Daytona Beach Florida. It was there at the age of 15 his fascination with music became more than just a dream.

Like many East Coast youth, Lenny spent his summers on the beach surfing until he met some teens that played guitars. That was all it took and before long, he had a job washing dishes to pay for his first bass guitar. During the next three years of school Lenny played at dances and local clubs around Daytona. By this time he had begun developing his vocal talents as well. "It seemed like I was always picked to be the lead singer in whatever band I was in, mainly by default because no one else could carry a tune."

After graduating from high school in 1969 and moving to Cincinnati, Ohio for two years, it was time once again to move on. Former band member and good friend Pete Carr had become a very successful producer and studio guitarist in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He encouraged Lenny to join him there. After a few months Lenny began playing bass as well as singing background vocals with artists like Hank Williams Jr., Amy Grant and Roy Orbison.

With much success as a background musician and singer, the next logical step for Lenny LeBlanc was a solo career. In 1975, he recorded a demo and producer Pete Carr sent a copy to Jerry Wexler (Atlantic Records). A few months later Lenny's first solo LP was released. Atlantic saw great potential in Lenny and teamed him with Pete Carr. The result was the top 10 hit "Falling," LeBlanc and Carr began touring with major acts. After awhile Carr decided he enjoyed making the records more than promoting them so the duo went their separate ways. LeBlanc continued writing songs and pursuing a solo effort, this time with Capitol.

In 1980 Lenny decided to commit his life and his music to Jesus Christ. In 1983 Heartland records released the "Say a Prayer" LP which was followed by the "Person to Person" LP in 1984. In 1987 Lenny opened his own recording studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama where he does his own productions as well as others.

Michael W Smith

2007-06-08T10:45:00.000+05:30

Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957, to Paul and Barbara Smith in Kenova, West Virginia), often nicknamed "Smitty", is a Christian singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist.
Since his first solo project in 1983, Smith has become one of the most popular artists in the Contemporary Christian music world, while also finding considerable success in the mainstream. Smith himself is hesitant to put a label on his music and states that he "doesn't make a record for the Christian market or for the Pop market, [he] just makes a record." Smith has frequently topped both Christian radio and Billboard charts and is often listed as one of the top keyboardists in rock and roll in Keyboard Magazine. Smith has sold more than 13 million records and has had 29 #1 hit songs. By 2005, he had garnered 14 gold records and 5 platinum records, 40 Dove Awards, an American Music Award and 3 Grammy Awards. He was also named one of People magazine's most beautiful people.

Beginnings
By the time Smith graduated from high school, he had found himself with serious drug and alcohol abuse problems. He attended Marshall University for a brief period while developing his songwriting skills with various local bands around Huntington, West Virginia. Smith dropped out of college and moved to Nashville to pursue a professional music career. In November of 1979, he suffered an emotional and mental breakdown that awakened a re-commitment to Christianity. He cleaned up his substance abuse problem and began playing keyboards for the CCM group, Higher Ground.

In 1981, Smith was signed as a writer to Meadowgreen Music, where he racked up a number of highly successful gospel hits penned for artists like Sandi Patty, Kathy Troccoli, Bill Gaither, and Amy Grant. The following year, Smith began touring as a keyboardist for Grant on her Age to Age tour. He would eventually become Grant's opening act and recorded his first Grammy nominated solo album: The Michael W. Smith Project (which he also produced), in 1983, on the Reunion Records label; a label started by Grant's brother-in-law, Dan Harrell, along with Michael Blanton. This album contained the first recording of his hit Friends which he co-wrote with his wife Deborah. Incidentally, the song that is most associated with him, probably took him the least amount of time to write, as they wrote it one afternoon for a friend who was moving away, never thinking it would become the hit it has.
By the time Smith's second pop album was released in 1984, he was headlining his own tours. In 1986, Smith released the critically acclaimed rock album The Big Picture, with well known record producer Johnny Potoker (Brian Eno, Genesis, Madonna, No Doubt, Talking Heads, etc).
After the release of his 1988 effort, i 2 (EYE), Smith once again teamed up with Amy Grant for her "Lead Me On World Tour". The following year, Smith recorded his first Christmas album.

In the mainstream
In 1990, Michael W. Smith released Go West Young Man, which was his first real mainstream effort, including the mainstream crossover hit "Place In This World". That album was followed by 1992s Change Your World (which included the #1 adult contemporary hit "I Will Be Here For You"), 1995s I'll Lead You Home, and 1998s Live The Life. Also in 1998, Smith released his second Christmas effort, Christmastime. In 1999, Smith released This Is Your Time, written by Smith and Wes King, the brother-in-law of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, which was inspired by the Columbine shootings. Smith had been asked to perform at some of the memorial services that were held in honor of the victims, which made a huge impression on him.
In 1996, Smith opened his own record label (although he does not record on it), Rocketown Records, named for a song on The Big Picture. He states the label is driven by the artists, and the first artist signed was Chris Rice, who had written "Go Light Your World", a #1 hit song by Kathy Troccoli, in 1995.
Nearly all of Smith's albums contain at least one instrumental track, and in 2000, Smith recorded his first all instrumental album, Freedom, after many years of wanting to create an instrumental album. The following year, Smith released an all praise and worship album, called Worship, interestingly on September 11. This album was followed by a sequel, Worship Again in 2002. Both albums were recorded live in concert. (Both are also the only two albums to be comprised almost entirely of songs he did not write himself). A Worship DVD, which comprised a selection of songs from both albums, was recorded live in Edmonton, Alberta at YC Alberta and released in 2002. It immediately topped the Billboard video charts and became a Gold seller in both the U.S. and Canada.
After two decades, Smith finally won the Male Vocalist of the Year award at the GMA Music Awards in 2003.
Smith wrote a song entitled "There She Stands", prompted by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He performed this song live for the 2004 Republican National Convention. In introducing the song before he performed it, he made remarks about meeting personally with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office in October of 2001, a short time after the attacks. Smith mentioned that the President, a personal fan (as is the President's father), and family friend of the artist, had asked him to attempt to write a song about the attacks. The song is about America's ability to rise from the ashes and remain strong even after such horrific events.
Smith became a good friend of U2 frontman Bono. The two have joined forces on a number of occasions for performances and in connection to Bono's DATA Organization. While U2 was recording its album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, Bono even invited Smith to jam with them in the studio. The song that the group worked on with Smith did not end up making it onto the record, but might surface in the future on another project.
Smith's album, Healing Rain, was released in 2004 and debuted at #11 on the Billboard Hot 200 Chart. The title track rose to #1 on the Radio & Records Charts and a music video for the song was released. The album nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album, combines the pop style of his previous recordings with the praise and worship feel of his two releases in that genre. A new album, Stand, was released in November, 2006.
Smith and his wife have written the theme songs for Kanakuk Kamps for the past two decades. The theme songs have birthed such notable hits as "Love Crusade", "Live the Life", and "Straight to the Heart". The Christian youth at this camp give Smith access to a steady, young audience even as his original fans age.
At a concert in Wabash, Indiana on April 29, 2007, Smith announced that he was soon headed to London to begin recording his third Christmas album.

Other ventures
In 1994, Smith opened a teen club, named Rocketown, in Franklin, Tennessee. Later in early 2003, the club was moved to a new location--a renovated warehouse in downtown Nashville. The venue offers a large dance floor, extensive indoor skate park, and a cafe hosting live acoustic music. Rocketown is located on 401 6th Ave. S. Quoting an Christian Activities article, Rocketown's mission is to create culturally relevant environments that foster vital relationships between disenfranchised adolescents and Christian mentors in order to meet their physical, social, and spiritual needs.
Smith is actively involved in volunteer service and is vice chair of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation, which is chaired by Jean Case of the Case Foundation.
Smith finished work on a film directed by Steve Taylor entitled The Second Chance which was released on February 17, 2006 in selected theatres. In the movie, he stars as a pastor assigned to work in the inner city. The film also stars Jeff Obafemi Carr, and features a soundtrack now available from Reunion Records. The DVD of the movie was released on July 18, 2006.

Personal Life
Michael is Married to Deborah (Debbie) K. Davis Smith and has five children: Ryan Whitaker, Whitney Katherine, Tyler Michael, Anna Elizabeth and Emily Allison. He resides in the Nashville suburbs and spends time at the Smith family farm.

Career Highlights

30 Number One Songs
Career sales over 13 million
5 Platinum records
15 Gold records
Winner of 40 Dove Awards
Winner of 3 Grammy Awards
Founded Rocketown Records
Founded Rocketown Ministries
Named one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People"
National Spokesperson for Compassion International

Michael W Smith Lyrics
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Source : Wikipedia

Kevin Max (From DC TALK)

2007-06-08T10:39:00.000+05:30

Kevin Max an American singer, songwriter, and poet was born on August 17, 1967. He is best known for being a member of the Christian pop group dc Talk.

Early years
His birth name is Kevin Max Eugene Smith, but he legally shortened it to "Kevin Max" in 1997, citing that there were probably too many Smiths already in the world. Kevin was himself adopted by the Smith family and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Another reason behind changing his name might be because his adoptive brother was named Max. Kevin showed incredible vocal and musical talent early in his life and his talent grew while at Grand Rapids Baptist High School and later at Cornerstone University.

DC Talk
Later, at Liberty University, he met fellow dc Talk bandmates: Toby McKeehan and Michael Tait. Together they formed dc Talk and went on to achieve great success in both Christian and mainstream music. The band went on to win four Grammy, 16 Dove Awards, and other recognitions. However, they decided to take an extended "intermission" in 2000.

Spirituality
In recent years, Kevin Max has attempted to create a name for himself apart from dc Talk. While he does not shy away from vocally defending his Christian faith, he has expressed a desire to create art with a universal appeal. He insists, "My music is for a Christian and a Buddhist to pick up and still enjoy, as well as for an atheist. But it is there to prod and ask some questions: What's my worldview? What do I believe in, and why do I believe it?"

Stereotype Be
The resulting solo album, Stereotype Be, released on August 28, 2001, was praised by All Music Guide for "[combining] pop, rock, and world music to create a versatile and intriguing project." Legendary artists Adrian Belew, Larry Norman, and Tony Levin contributed to the album.

Further projects
Curiously, while Stereotype Be has developed a considerable cult following, it wasn't well-received in the Christian music market, and not long after its release, Max was dropped from his Christian label, Forefront Records. Undeterred, Max began to slowly build his solo career through live shows and word-of-mouth. He released independent albums via his website, including an EP entitled Between the Fence & the Universe and a spoken-word collaboration with Adrian Belew entitled Raven Songs 101, both in 2004.
In fall of 2004, Max's word-of-mouth strategy finally began to pay off. He played the title role in the Visalia Theatre Company / Hutson-Cavale Productions revival of the classic Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Later that year, he signed a new deal with Northern Records and released a second full-length album, titled The Imposter, said to "contain...a sound that recalls the passion of early U2, the soul of Jeff Buckley, and the ambiguity of Blur"[1] on October 18, 2005. He released a Christmas album, titled Holy Night, in time for the 2005 Holiday Season.
Kevin also recorded a side project in which he was the lead singer of a goth band called Blackcat which as of this point has not been released.
In 2000, Candlejump Productions announced their film project, Soupernatural, starring Kevin Max.[2] After six years, filming began in January of 2007.[3]

Poetry and writings
Max is also a poet and an author. He has published four books, three of which are poetry books: At the Foot of Heaven (1994), The Detritus of Dorian Gray (2003) and PO.ET.RY (2005). The other is an autobiography of sorts titled Unfinished Work (2001), an in-depth look at the meaning of each of his songs from Stereotype Be. In addition, Max has a spoken-word EP album that accompanies his first poetry book At the Foot of Heaven, released in 1995 by Starsong Productions.

Personal life
In 1997, Max married Alayna Bennett. They divorced in 2003 for undisclosed reasons. He remarried in April of 2005 to Amanda Lynn MacDonald.[4] Their daughter, London, was born on October 7 2005.[5],[6] They lived in Hollywood, California, until July 2006, when Max and his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada.[7] In December 2006, Max announced on his website that he and Amanda were expecting the birth of their second child (a boy) in June 2007. Kevin and family are currently moving again to Nashville where Kevin has secured a new recording contract[8]

Discography

Solo
At the Foot of Heaven (spoken word EP, Starsong, 1995)
Stereotype Be (Forefront Records, 2001)
Between the Fence & the Universe (EP, Northern Records, 2004)
The Imposter (Northern Records, 2005)
Holy Night (Northern Records, 2005)
The Blood (2007)

Collaborations
The Canticle of the Plains, (musical written by Rich Mullins, 1997)
Raven Songs 101 (collaboration with Adrian Belew, Blind Thief Publishing, 2003)

Singles
Sanctuary (2005)
Existence (2001)
Be (2001)

Filmography
Existence (ForeFront Records, 2001)
Seek Live (Northern Records, 2003)
Untitled (Blind Thief Publishing, 2003)

Books
At the Foot of Heaven (poetry/artwork, Starsong, 1994)
Unfinished Work (autobiography, T. Nelson, 2001)
The Detritus of Dorian Gray (poetry, Blind Thief Publishing, 2003)
PO/ET/RY (poetry, Blind Thief Publishing, 2005)

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Source : Wikipedia

DC Talk

2007-06-08T10:35:00.000+05:30

Discography
Jesus Freak: 10th Anniversary Special Edition (2006)
Solo (2001)
Intermission: The Greatest Hits (2000)
Supernatural (1998)
Welcome To the Freak Show (1997)
Jesus Freak (1995)Free At Last (1992)
Nu Thang (1990)dc Talk (1989

Biography (courtesy of Forefront Records)
Like modern-day musical Lewis and Clarks, the three members of dc talk have spent more than a decade exploring uncharted territory and expanding our notions of the world. Along the way, this acclaimed and best-selling band of pioneering musicians has transformed the Christian music industry and broken down the walls. Their albums have mixed rock, rap and pop in previously unimaginable ways, winning numerous Grammy and Dove awards in the process. Their energetic concerts have continually broken new ground for rock performance and theatrics. Their video and film projects have expanded the boundaries of music and movies. And their rock-solid commitment to creatively proclaming Jesus's message to millions of young people who are trying to make their way in our turbulent times has continued to amaze Christian critics.

Now, with the release of intermission: the greatest hits, Toby McKeehan, Michael Tait and Kevin Max are taking time to reflect on the many miles they have traveled and the many musical and ministry milestones they have passed.

Featuring classic award-winning cuts like "Jesus Freak" and "Between You and Me," along with two brand new songs — "Sugar Coat It" and "Chance" — intermission does what its name implies: it signifies the end of a drama's opening act and lets the audience catch its breath for what's coming up next. dc talk has already achieved so much in such a short time. But the band isn't resting on its laurels. And contrary to recurring rumors, it isn't breaking up. Rather, Toby, Michael and Kevin are taking a moment to stop, look back, and celebrate the mysteries of both God and the music biz before heading out on their next exciting venture into uncharted territory.

Toby McKeehan
Toby McKeehan spent his childhood growing up in the Washington D.C. area, not far from where he went to college at Lynchburg, Virginia's Liberty University. It was during his time at Liberty that Toby met fellow dc Talk members Michael Tait and Kevin Max. Ten years and six albums later, just as dc Talk has evolved musically, Toby's own life and career have become quite diversified.

While he records and tours extensively with dc Talk, Toby also focuses much of his time and energy developing and producing other artists on his own record label, Gotee Records. Since the label's inception in 1994, Gotee's roster has grown to include such acts as Out of Eden, Grits, Jennifer Knapp, Sonicflood, The Katinas, and others. Gotee also houses 40 Records, a newly created modern praise & worship venture between Toby and Christian music veteran Bill Gaither. In 1997, Toby joined his manager Dan Pitts and Gotee President Joey Elwood in the formation of the E.R.A.C.E. Foundation, a non-profit organization promoting racial reconciliation. E.R.A.C.E. became a natural fit for dc Talk's platform because the topic of reconciliation is one that is close to the hearts of Toby, Michael and Kevin.

On a personal note, Toby and his wife of four years, Amanda, became proud parents in 1998. Truett Foster McKeehan was born on September 4, 1998. Along with a day-to-day relationship with God, Toby's family is the most important element in his life, and he admits that it has changed him only for the better. "The impact Amanda and Truett have made on me has been great," he shares. "The focus I have on my life has been so intensely adjusted, and I'm grateful for that. I love what I do, but the other people in my life are so important to me and I never want to take that for granted."

Michael Tait
Michael Tait admits he is a true "people person," a trait he most likely acquired while growing up in Washington, D.C. in a house full of siblings—five sisters and three brothers. He watched his sisters sing in church throughout his childhood, but Michael's involvement in music didn't come until later in high school, and then in college at Liberty University, where he met fellow dc Talk members Toby McKeehan and Kevin Max. Within the span of their 10-year relationship, dc Talk has now recorded a total of six albums.

When he's not in the recording studio or on the road with Toby & Kevin, Michael has been spending more and more time developing his songwriting and production skills. Some of his side musical projects have included performing a couple of years ago with his own solo band, Curious George; co-producing and co-writing the song "My Will" for the Exodus album; and most recently, producing Forefront artist Pete Stewart's solo album. He also worked with close friends Brian White and Chad Chapin on the album Talk Show Circuit, co-writing some of the songs and singing background vocals on most of them. The album, recorded under the band name Crowd of Faces, is available at Christian bookstores everywhere.

Some of Michael's favorite pastimes include "extreme" sports of every kind. He enjoys rock climbing and mountain biking, but one of his main loves is snowboarding, which has taken him to the mountains of Colorado, Utah, Idaho and even Switzerland. Even in his hometown of Nashville, you'll often find him on the back of his Harley Davidson motorcycle riding with friends.

Over the past couple of years, Michael has dealt with tragedy in his life with the passing of his sister and his father, Nathel. Michael has always been very close to his father and credits him for much of his own outlook on life. His dad grew up an African American in Alabama, and encountered different forms of racism on a regular basis. In fact, Nathel's grandfather was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. Through it all, Michael says his father could have easily come through life with feelings of racially motivated bitterness or hatred, but instead he set an example for his family to love all people—with no regard to race or color. "My dad was just a lover of people and of life," Michael says. "I'm definitely thankful of that gift from God that my dad passed on to me—to appreciate people and to want to stretch the boundaries and do things that others may not always think about, whether it be in conversations or establishing new friendships. That's how I know God is in my life, because he has given that passion to me."

Kevin Max
Kevin Max was raised just outside of suburban Grand Rapids, Michigan, where music was a big part of his childhood. He began singing when he was only four years old. "I remember being carted around to schools, churches and radio programs, even at that age," Kevin recalls. "I've always been a singer for as long as I can remember."

Kevin spent a lot of time singing with music groups on campus at Liberty University, where he eventually met band mates Toby McKeehan and Michael Tait, and formed dc Talk. The three have now been performing for more than 10 years, yielding six albums to their credit.

Kevin has been married to his wife Alayna since August of 1997, and the two now make their home in Nashville, Tennessee. When he isn't recording or on the road with dc Talk, Kevin is perfecting his art of writing poetry, a hobby he began in high school and has brought to fruition over the last several years. Some of Kevin's best poems have been published in a book entitled At the Foot of Heaven, and he has just completed a new poetry book to be released soon. Additionally, his current activities include work on an upcoming solo album and solo performance dates. Keep up with Kevin at his website http://www.kevinmax.com/.