For two decades, Darrell McFadden and the Disciples have been making down home traditional gospel music just like four part harmonizers make it in southern quartet hubs such as Canton, Miss. (home of the Canton Spirituals), Jackson, Miss. (birthplace of The Jackson Southernaires) or Tupelo, Miss. (the launching pad for Lee Williams & the Spiritual QCs). The only difference is these guys hail from Brooklyn, NY. Now the group has assembled a jam-packed live CD/DVD called “Alive! 20th Anniversary Concert” (Blacksmoke Music Worldwide).
“We’re honored and privileged to be used as instruments of God to deliver this project, 20 years in the making,” says the group’s founder, Bishop Darrell McFadden, who is pastor of the Galilean Deliverance Temple in Bronx, NY, in a news release. “We’ve had some hard times, but we count it all joy. We thank God for our Fans because they’ve had our backs throughout this entire journey, we thank and love them so much! And always remember, in all of thy getting, make sure you get an understanding.”
The 22 song, two-disc set (one audio CD and one video DVD) was recorded in April 2011 at the Christian Faith Center in Creedmoor, NC, and features the Disciples’ most-loved hits. Among them are the soul-stirring ballad “I Can’t Even Walk (Without You Holding My Hand),” the hand clappers “Shackles” and “Long as I Got Jesus (That’s Alright)” and the upbeat “Be Ready.” The set also features two studio performances, including the ’70s R&B throwback groove, “Wilderness.” Jazzing up quartet has been in the group’s lifeblood from the start.
“We want to take quartet music to a new stage of recognition and popularity,” says McFadden. “A lot of people have lost touch with it, or aren’t even familiar with it, or have an inaccurate impression about it. We want to show them that it can still be current and modern, and something they can latch onto and enjoy. But our greatest purpose is just to win souls.
For more information, go to www.mrkerrydouglas.com.
Category: Black Smoke Music Worldwide/EPM
According to a recent news release, in a brief time, James Fortune has amassed more hits than some artists earn in a lifetime and 15 of those timeless tunes comprise the new CD, “The James Fortune & FIYA Story: Songs & Videos – Greatest Hits” (Blacksmoke Music Worldwide) that is in stores now.
The set boasts Fortune’s gospel and R&B crossover radio hits “The Blood,” “Encore,” “I Wouldn’t Know You,” “You Survived,” and his personal testimony of becoming homeless, “I Trust You” which spent 29 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart.
Fortune’s most recent No. 1 smash, “I Believe” (featuring Shawn McLemore and Zacardi Cortez), is also featured. The latter is was recently nominated for a Soul Train Award as Best Gospel Performance of the year. “The James Fortune & FIYA Story: Songs & Videos – Greatest Hits” also features over two hours of music video footage. Among the clips are Fortune’s concept videos “I Believe” and “I Trust You.” There is also live concert footage highlighting cameos by Zacardi Cortez, William Murphy and others. Now that Fortune is established and moving into new career directions, Douglas is focused on making Earnest Pugh (No. 1 for five weeks with his smash “I Need Your Glory”), Zacardi Cortez (No. 14 with “One More Time” duet with John P. Kee), Bryan Wilson and Preashea Hilliard his next big gospel stars.
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Earnest Pugh |
Gospel music artists Earnest Pugh, has placed four songs on the Billboard Hot Gospel Songs chart over the last two years, including his No. 1 single in 2009 “Rain on Us.” Now, Pugh is poised to take the top slot again as his current radio hit “I Need Your Glory” climbs to #2 on next week’s Billboard Hot Gospel Songs chart.
Pugh’s latest CD, Earnestly Yours (Black Smoke Music Worldwide/EPM), recently debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart for two weeks.
Pugh, a Memphis native (now living in the Washington, D.C. area) who was mentored by the late gospel great O’Landa Draper (who’s choir The Associates backed Billy Joel on his “River of Dreams” video in 1993), released his first solo CD in 2006 and showed off his five-octave vocals on the radio hit “Wrapped Up, Tied Up, Tangled Up.” After years of making respectable forays into gospel, Pugh finally hit it big in 2009 with “Rain on Us.” For more information, go to www.earnestpugh.com or www.mrkerrydouglas.com.