“Too Hard Not To” Tina Campbell Malaco Music Group / Gee Tee Creative (2017) www.malaco.com By Bob Marovich Tina Campbell’s new single, “Too Hard Not To,” feels like an intimate girlfriend-to-girlfriend conversation about the difficulty, and also the importance, of forgiving and forgetting. The intimacy not only comes from the song’s lyric, but also from the stripped down acoustic piano accompaniment. Delivering the lovely melody with grace and tenderness, Campbell reminds the listener that no matter how bad a situation gets, no matter how hard it is to forgive those who have done the unthinkable to you, there’s “someone so loving and ...

Various Artists WOW GOSPEL 2017 RCA Inspiration (release date: January 27, 2017) www.rcainspiration.com By Bob Marovich In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the annual WOW GOSPEL collection was my personal tutor for learning about the gospel scene. Back in those days, I was focused exclusively on vintage gospel music, and particularly the contributions of quartets. I looked forward with great anticipation to the next WOW GOSPEL project so I could take another lesson in modern gospel. I often purchased the two-CD set the day it was released. It was through WOW GOSPEL that I first encountered Richard Smallwood’s “Total Praise,” Mary ...

“God’s Got My Back” TaMyya J MM Music Group (release date: September 2016) www.tamyyaj.com Set to an urban AC arrangement, “God’s Got My Back,” the thought-provoking single from radio host and gospel singer TaMyya J of New Jersey, is about flipping one’s thinking from negative to positive. It’s a call to develop the confidence to ignore that needling inner voice that tries to diminish you. TaMyya once thought “I’m not strong enough, wise enough, smart enough, pretty enough, thin enough.”  Now, with God in her life, she sings “I’m fine just by being me.” “God’s Got My Back” falls lyrically ...

August 18, 2016 – Nashville, TN – Michelle Duffie and her brothers, twins Kelvis (Clyde) and Kendall, have been mainstays in the faith-based entertainment industry for more than two decades. Collectively, the dynamic sibling trio boasts superior experience and accomplishments in management, marketing, radio promotions, A&R, and music production. In 2006, after spending the prior 10 years building credibility, experience, and relationships working in house at record labels including Light Records, PureSprings Gospel and the historically #1 Verity Gospel Music Group (now RCA Inspiration), the trio established D3 Entertainment as a specialized marketing and promotions agency that connects the African American faith ...

Viktory Tomorrow Came Viktorious Music Group (release date: June 17, 2016) www.r4ever.com By Bob Marovich The challenges of being different and the importance of overcoming the divisiveness of difference are at the heart of Tomorrow Came, a Christian hip hop project from the Chicago-born Viktory. Three tracks in particular address this issue in living color. Based on a true story, “Lunch Tables” features piercingly cool singing support from Ashliann (herself a mixture of cultures) as it tells the story of a “yellow kid” trying to find a seat in the school cafeteria, but nobody wants him because he’s neither black ...

Kalind Haynes “One Angel Short” www.cdbaby.com/artist/KalindHaynes At six foot, eight inches tall, Kalind Haynes of south suburban Chicago stands out physically. He also stands out vocally. An alumnus of BET Sunday Best, where he made it to the top ten in 2009, Haynes was praised by Tina Campbell of Mary Mary for his clean and smooth delivery. On “One Angel Short,” Haynes delivers Donald Smith’s pop-inspirational love ballad in that clean and smooth delivery, a silky touch reminiscent of Luther Vandross and Peabo Bryson. The song’s premise? To quote Tavares: Heaven must be missing an angel: she is here on earth, ...

By Bob Marovich In July, Voorhies Hanniboheez of Detroit received the 2015 Rhythm of Gospel Award for Best Performance by a Christian Hip Hop Artist. It was his first public honor and confirmation of a journey that has taken a decade to crystallize. “[This award] means everything to me,” Voorhies told JGM. “I never really saw myself as a performer. I knew I would end up with a beautiful album, because I truly did it for God. No connections, no help. But this tells me that God wants me to perform in front of His people.” Voorhies—“my first name is ...

“I Got the Victory” Signature From the Birmingham Entertainment/Epic Entity Music Group album Bigger Than All (2014) www.WeAreSignatureMusic.com “I Got the Victory,” the latest single from Birmingham, Alabama female trio Signature, pulls its extroverted beats and holy swagger from the musical playbooks of Mary Mary and Trin-i-tee 5:7. Signature sings several triumphal chants of joy for having favor, all prefaced by a dramatic movie-intro flourish. Comprised of Kristie Robinson, Bonnie Lett, and Michelle Lett, Signature garnered public attention after their single, “Bigger Than All,” bubbled under in Billboard. If dissimilar in melody, “Bigger” and “Victory” share a bold vocal sound, ...