Category: gospel

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Black Smoke Music Worldwide/EPM gospel James Fortune music releases United States

“The James Fortune & FIYA Story: Songs & Videos – Greatest Hits” now available in stores

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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concerts gospel Mary Mary music Oklahoma Oklahoma City performances United States

Oklahoma City chosen among other cities for Mary Mary’s Christmas tour

Black Liberated Arts Center (BLAC) Inc. presents gospel group Mary Mary on Dec. 11 at Frederick A. Douglass High School Auditorium in their first performance in Oklahoma City.
Anita G. Arnold, BLAC Inc. executive director, said the concert is part of an eight-state tour for Mary Mary.  Doors will open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m.  The musical group “Committed” will open for Mary Mary.


Ever since siblings Erica Campbell and Tina Campbell broke through in 2000 with pioneering crossover hit “Shackles (Praise You),”  the chart-topping sister act has never waived from defying convention to fulfill its mission: sending uplifting messages through music and words that are relatable to everyone.

“It’s about making music that touches both adults and young people,” says Erica.  Tina adds, “It’s about spreading good news for the world but doing it in the “Mary Mary” way: banging beats and melodies, intertwined voices and messages of hope.”

Now 10 years later, having earned three Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, an NAACP Image Award and a BET Award, the “Mary Mary” way sounds just as fresh and innovative on the duo’s sixth album, Something Big.  Well-known for singles such as “God in Me,” and R&B/hip-hop crossover hit, “Walking,” the sisters strike out anew with a Christmas album that is designed to appeal everyone.



Tickets are on sale online through BLAC Inc.’s website, www.blacinc.org; at BLAC Inc.’s office at 4915 N. Lincoln Blvd. in Oklahoma City; and other locations including Capitol Square Station, Charlie’s Jazz, Rhythm and Blues Store, Hopkins Hair Care, KM66, Learning Tree Toy Store and Urban Roots.


The concert is made possible through funding from the Oklahoma Arts Council.  For more information, call BLAC Inc. at (405) 524-3800.

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Church of God in Christ gospel Rance Allen Rance Allen Group religion Stellar Awards Tyscot Records United States

Gospel singer Rance Allen to be installed as bishop on Monday at the Church of God in Christ’s 104th Holy Convocation

Dr. Rance Allen

Legendary gospel singer and pastor of Toledo, Ohio’s New Bethel Church (COGIC), Dr. Rance Allen, will be installed as bishop on Monday, Nov. 7, 2011, to oversee 14 Michigan churches in the Church of God in Christ denomination this week at the 6.5 million-member organization’s 104th Holy Convocation in St. Louis, Mo. He will succeed the late Bishop Alfred D. Knight, Jr. as the Jurisdictional Prelate of the Michigan Northwestern Harvest Jurisdiction.

“I have literally been working in the church since the age of 5,” Allen said in a news release. “Singing and preaching, and now at 62, almost 63 in another week or two, I get elevated to the position of a bishop! I’m trying to figure out how I feel about it because right now I still can’t believe it.”

Allen is also thrilled that the Rance Allen Group’s latest top 10 CD “The Live Experience II: Celebrating 40 Years of Music and Ministry” (Tyscot Records), has been nominated for four Stellar Awards (Gospel music’s answer to the Grammy Awards) in the categories of Group Duo of the Year, Traditional Group/Duo of the Year, Traditional Male of the Year and Quartet of the Year. 


“When I found that out, I was just elated!” Allen said. “I couldn’t believe we were nominated in four different categories.” The 27th annual Stellar Awards will take place at Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn., on January 14, 2012. For more information, visit www.thestelllarawards.com.  The new radio single, “Holy One,” a praise and worship ballad, is currently making its way up the gospel radio airplay charts.

The Rance Allen Group was born in their grandfather’s Monroe, Mich., church in the 1960s. They began recording for Stax Records in 1971 where they made a string of gritty, R&B-flavored gospel and message songs for the Gospel Truth imprint. They toured with the big R&B artists of the day such as Isaac Hayes and Barry White, and literally took the gospel to the world. From there, the group recorded for a variety of labels and scored their first No. 1 gospel album in 1991 with the “Phenomenon” CD that featured the crossover R&B smash, “Miracle Worker.” Allen closed out the 1990s performing in a variety of gospel-oriented touring play productions, but the group signed with Tyscot Records in 2002 and kicked off a new string of hits such as “Do Your Will,” “Closest Friend,” “For Your Feet,” and the Kirk Franklin duet, “Something about the Name Jesus.” For more information, visit www.tyscot.com or www.theranceallengroup.com.

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Shirley Murdock interview with Tavis Smiley airs this weekend

According to a recent news release, vocalist Shirley Murdock recently sat down for an interview and talked about her journey through life and music with media personality Tavis Smiley on Public Radio International’s “The Tavis Smiley Show.” The interview airs on Public Radio International (PRI) from Friday, Oct. 28 through Friday, Nov. 4. Local stations can be found at  www.tavissmileyradio.com/where.html.


The Dayton, Ohio-based singer is best known for her top 10 ’80s era R&B hits “As We Lay,” “Go on Without You,” “Husband” and “In Your Eyes.” However, in recent years, she’s become equally known for her gospel and inspirational tunes such as 2007’s “I Love Me Better than That.”

Murdock talked with Smiley about her transition from R&B to gospel and all the twists and turns in between. She also discussed her new, first live CD “Live: The Journey” and its companion music DVD.
The 17-track collection was produced by Grammy Award winner Cedric Thompson (who’s produced Yolanda Adams and Marvin Sapp) and recorded live at The Broadcast Group Complex in Charlotte, NC. R&B singers Kelly Price and Regina Belle as well as gospel singer Beverly Crawford each performed a song with Murdock and did one song as a foursome. The “Live: The Journey” (Tyscot Records) CD has debuted at #24 on Billboard’s top Gospel Albums chart while the “Live: The Journey” (Tyscot Records) music DVD debuted at #40 on Billboard’s top Music Videos chart where it shares rank alongside projects such as Taylor Swift’s “Journey to Fearless” and the band Journey’s “Live in Manila.”

Meanwhile, Murdock’s current inspirational/gospel radio single “Dream” is moving up the gospel radio playlists around the country. It’s receiving heavy substantive rotation on Sirius XM satellite’s Praise Channel 64 and Murdock was also recently a guest in the VIP Lounge with DJ Cayman Kelly on Sirius’s XM’s Heart & Soul Channel 48. Murdock also recently sang the song on The National Mall during the recent Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Unveiling ceremony where President Barack Obama spoke about Dr. King’s legacy.

“The song is anointed because it’s full of the word,” Murdock says of the inspiring ballad of hope and perseverance. “It’s like the voice of God speaking directly to your spirit, reminding you, that He’s not a man that He should lie … if He spoke it, will He not do it? This song will stir up and rekindle that word, that’s been spoken into your spirit and remind you that your dream can not…will not die.” For more information on Shirley Murdock, go to www.tyscot.com or http://twitter.com/#!/ShirleyMurdock

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Academy of Country Music honor Gordon Mote with 2011 ACM Award

Gordon Mote accepts his second Academy of Country Music Honor for Piano/Keyboard Player of the Year with wife Kimberly. (Photo courtesy of ACM)

Gordon Mote was honored with the 2011 Academy of Country Music’s Piano/Keyboard Player of the Year Award at the recent annual ACM Honors ceremony held at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium. Gordon, a seven-time nominee, was also honored with the coveted award in 2009.
Long recognized by the industry as one of Nashville’s most talented studio musicians who seemingly knows no limits in effortlessly crossing musical styles and genres, Mote’s talents can be heard on the recordings of some of the nation’s premier performers, including Bill & Gloria Gaither and the Homecoming Friends, Billy Ray Cyrus, Blake Shelton, Scotty McCreery, Elvis Presley, The Hoppers,Brad Paisley, Ernie Haase & Signature Sound, George Jones, The Isaacs, Josh Turner, Alan Jackson,Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Jason Crabb, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts and Alison Krauss, just to name a few.
Since releasing his debut Southern gospel recording in 2004, the talented singer and musician has enjoyed much success, including numerous Top 40 hits in multiple music genres and numerous Fan Award nominations. Mote’s video release, “The Best of Gordon Mote,” made its debut at No. 7 on the Billboard Music Video Chart in 2008. Mote’s travels on tour are global – include stops in the United States, Canada and Europe. He is a featured artist on the stage sharing his vocal and keyboard performances with music legend Bill Gaither and his Grammy Award winning Gaither Vocal Band and the Homecoming Friends.
The fifth annual ACM Honors represents an evening of musical tribute performances and special presentations celebrating the special honorees and non-televised category winners from the 46th annual Academy of Country Music Awards, held earlier this year.

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Christmas contemporary jazz Geri Allen gospel jazz Motema Records music releases United States

Pianist Geri Allen shares a collection of music on new CD “A Child is Born”

Despite its time-honored traditions and universally familiar iconography, Christmas remains a holiday celebrated by each family and even each individual in their own personal style. Pianist/composer Geri Allen offers her own interpretation with A Child Is Born, a collection of traditional and original Christmas music that is profound and exuberant, solemn and joyous, spiritual and intimate.


Allen’s third release for Motéma Music is a solo sequel to her critically acclaimed solo debut, 2010’s Flying Toward the Sound. Where that release paid tribute to three of her creative inspirations – Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, and Cecil Taylor – A Child Is Born honors equally meaningful but perhaps even more deeply entrenched influences: family and spirituality. She refers to the album as “a joyous Christmas celebration and remembrance of a childhood where love was always unconditional.”
Geri Allen
This holiday offering finds Allen at a particularly celebratory time of life. Her tandem 2010 releases on Motéma, the solo, Flying Toward the Sound, and the quartet, Timeline Live, have shown her to be at the top of her game, gaining unanimous acclaim internationally and jostling with each other for space on numerous year-end top ten lists. A 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship helped Allen facilitate her debut solo project on Motéma; and Timeline Live, which features the startlingly talented Maurice Chestnut on ‘tap-percussion,’ has been selling out houses world wide and garnered a career first for Allen: an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Jazz Album, alongside Herbie Hancock, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Wynton Marsalis, and Bobby McFerrin. National respect for Allen as a virtuosic, innovative performer, composer, and educator (she is currently an Associate Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan) is undeniable, as evidenced by two powerful recent honors of 2011. She was invited to perform in honor of the historic Dr. Martin Luther King Monument Unveiling this August in Washington D.C.
A Child Is Born is dedicated to Allen’s family, in particular to her father, Mount Allen, Jr. and mother, Barbara Jean Allen. 
“I am privileged and blessed to have grown up as the child of Barbara Jean and Mount Vernell Allen, Jr.,” she says in a recent news release. “I know God loved me because He gave them to my brother Mount and I. Memories of many loving Christmases with family remain as affirmations of the beauty of life and God’s never-ending love. Today, I share these timeless melodies and personal remembrances with my own children.”
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DVD gospel music releases Shekinah Glory Ministry United States

New Shekinah Glory Ministry film debuts at No. 4 on Billboard Chart

Shekinah Glory Ministry

According to a news release, the RIAA certified platinum-selling praise-and-worship ensemble, Shekinah Glory Ministry’s (SGM) new concert film  “Refreshed by Fire”  has debuted at No. 4 on Nielsen Soundscan’s Top Christian Music Videos chart and No. 11 on the Top Music video charts, sandwiched between a new Jimi Hendrix DVD and Beyonce’s “I Am the World” video. The much-anticipated concert film is a companion to last year’s No. 1 live double CD, “Refreshed by Fire.” Filmmaker Joel Kapity recorded the elaborate concert before a SRO crowd of 3,000 at Shekinah Glory Ministry’s Chicago area home church, Valley Kingdom Ministries International. 
With divine pomp and circumstance, the reel showcases emotion-packed singing from a variety of virtuoso vocalists covering rock-edged music and dance rhythms to quiet melodies, dramatic stage lighting, colorful banners and the synchronized praise dancing that have made the ensemble’s programs a fan favorite for the last decade. One particular highlight is the nearly 15 minute “The Minstrel’s Release” segment that showcases a lone dancer telling a story of a Biblical battle through her gestures as a guitarist’s strings illuminate the tale while a graphic artist paints a picture of the victor on the spot that is revealed at the end of the suite to rousing applause from the congregation.
The DVD is rounded out with behind-the-scenes footage and commentary on the ministry’s evolution that helps explain what has led to Shekinah Glory Ministry’s top ten hits such as “Praise is What I Do” and “Yes.”


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black history dedication gospel Martin Luther King Jr. Maryland music United States Washington D.C.

Shirley Murdock to sing at two Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Dedication events this weekend

Shirley Murdock

Legendary soul singer Shirley Murdock (best known for her 1986 gold-selling classic, “As We Lay”), is coming to the nation’s capitol to sing her new radio hit “Dream” (from her forthcoming CD “Live: The Journey”) on Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, at two official Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Dedication events.
The powerhouse vocalist will be backed by The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Dedication Choir at the Pre-Dedication Concert Ceremony (also featuring Patti LaBelle, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jennifer Holliday, Donnie McClurkin and Mary Mary) taking place 9-11 a.m. EST on the National Mall. Later that day, Murdock will be backed by the “Sing for a King” Community Choir as she performs “Dream” at the Lift Every Voice Gospel Extravaganza taking place 4-6 p.m. EST at the Washington Convention Center. That event features The Sounds of Blackness, Bryan Wilson, Earnest Pugh and the Duke Ellington High School of the Arts Students and Orchestra. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Dedication Choir was birthed through a partnership of Desho Productions and NEWorks Productions. The Rev. Nolan Williams Jr., music director, assembled a multi-generational, multi-racial group of vocalists that will sing Williams’ composition “I Am The Dream” during the pre-service and “We Shall Overcome” at the unveiling program where President Obama will speak.
Coming to Washington to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy is important to Murdock who vividly recalls the day he was assassinated. “I was almost 11 yrs old,” she said in a news release. “I remember all the adults being absolutely grief stricken, as if a family member had died.  There was a lot of hurt, disbelief and anger after Dr. King died. My Mother was a praying woman, so as she placed her worries into God’s hands, I drew my peace from her peace. I heard him being referred to, as the ‘Moses’ of our time.  Like Moses, he didn’t make it to the promised land, but he let us know he’d been to the mountaintop and that his eyes had seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” 
Murdock and her husband, Dale DeGroat, wrote her new radio hit “Dream” (#33 on BDS) with Bishop T.D. Jakes. 
“My song is a reminder that God is the giver and the fulfiller of all the dreams He places in our hearts,” she said. “The dream is a glimpse of our future selves being more and doing more. It’s us at our BEST… fulfilling our PURPOSE … to loving one another, serving one another …celebrating and embracing our diversity and uniqueness.”
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Gospel singer Rance Allen celebrates 26 years as pastor at The Legend’s Ball on Aug. 26, 2011

Rance Allen

Rance Allen of the Rance Allen Group has been pastor at Toledo, Ohio’s New Bethel Church for 26 years. The church membership will honor his years of service in a black-tie affair called The Legend’s Ball at 7 p.m. Aug. 26, 2011, at The Pinnacle, 1772 Indian Wood Circle in Maumee, Ohio. Tickets are $50 and available by calling Marquita Hardison at (419) 508-6586 or Tina Franklin at (419) 206-0288.
This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the Rance Allen Group. According to a news release, Tyscot Records released the Top 10 CD, The Live Experience II: Celebrating 40 Years of Music and Ministry. Outside of including two medleys of their past hits, the 11-song set was recorded live at Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple. It’s comprised of future classics such as the first radio single, “You That I Trust,” and “Angel.” Making cameo appearances on this musical merry-go-round are Shirley Caesar, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, and The Christianaires’ Paul Porter.
The Rance Allen Group was born in their grandfather’s Monroe, Mich., church in the 1960s. They began recording for Stax Records in 1971 where they made a strong of gritty, R&B-flavored gospel and message songs for the Gospel Truth imprint. They toured with the big R&B artists of the day such as Isaac Hayes and Barry White, and literally took the gospel to the world. From there, the group recorded for a variety of labels and scored their first #1 gospel album in 1991 with the Phenomenon CD that featured the crossover R&B smash, “Miracle Worker.” Allen closed out the 1990s performing in a variety of gospel-oriented touring play productions, but the group signed with Tyscot Records in 2002 and kicked off a new string of hits such as “Do Your Will,” “Closest Friend,” “For Your Feet,” and the Kirk Franklin duet, “Something About the Name Jesus.” For more information, visit www.tyscot.com.




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Black Smoke Music Worldwide/EPM Earnest Pugh gospel music releases United States

Vocalist Earnest Pugh climbs to #2 on Billboard Hot Gospel Songs Chart with radio single “I Need Your Glory”

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.