By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog
Tasha Page-Lockhart of Detroit—daughter of gospel artists Lisa and Michael Brooks—has just been crowned winner of BET Sunday Best Season 6, but Chicagoans can be especially proud of Tyler Little.
The hometown singer advanced all the way to the finals of TV’s Sunday Best, the gospel singing competition modeled after American Idol. And he did it in memory of his grandmother.
The hometown singer advanced all the way to the finals of TV’s Sunday Best, the gospel singing competition modeled after American Idol. And he did it in memory of his grandmother.
TBGB talked with nineteen-year-old Little about his national television debut and his experience in gospel music thus far.
It turns out that church and music have been part of Little’s life since birth. He grew up in Maywood, Illinois, a suburb just west of Chicago, and made his singing debut as a toddler one Sunday morning at his grandfather’s church, Salem Tabernacle Church, Inc., in Maywood.
“I was sitting on my grandmother’s lap, and I said, ‘Grandma, I want to sing.’ And she said, ‘Yeah, the kid’s choir is going to sing in a minute.’ I said ‘No, I don’t want to sing with them, I want to sing by myself!’ I thought I was all that, apparently! But my grandfather let me sing, and the first song I sang was ‘I’m a Living Testimony.’
“I’ve been singing every Sunday since then,” he joked. “I haven’t gotten a day off yet!”
Surrounded by music, Little was especially fond of Kim Burrell—“I’ve been watching her since I was five years old”—and also learned from listening to Donnie McClurkin, Zacardi Cortez, Jonathan McReynolds, and Donald “Buster” Woods and G3. “I actually have too many influences to name,” Little laughed.
His grandmother encouraged him to try out for Sunday Best but passed away shortly before the auditions took place.
“It hurt me,” Little acknowledged. “She wanted me to audition, but she wasn’t going to be around to see it. So I thought the best way to show my appreciation and love for all she did for me was to audition. I owed that to her, because she put the microphone in my hand to begin with.”
Out of respect for his grandmother and with no expectation of a callback, much less winning, Little waited in the January cold with the other Sunday Best hopefuls. “I thought, ‘Okay, there are 2,000 people here. They are not going to call you back!’ In my mind, I figured everyone could probably sing and, if not everyone, at least 1,000 out of 2,000 could! I didn’t think I would win, so to make it to the top four was humbling. God allowed me to go farther than I ever thought. I’m still in awe of God!”
He said performing for the first time on the Sunday Best television program was nerve-wracking. “I got sick and everything! I tried to blame it on the devil, because as soon as I got on stage, my voice got froggy, I started sweating, I started hurting, but I shook it off and went for it.
“There’s a lot that goes into TV production,” Little added. The rehearsals, the repetition on songs, the waiting. One minute you are in your hot hotel room, the next minute you are in the studio, freezing. It can be very stressful, but I’m glad I could adapt to it—otherwise, I would have gone home a lot sooner than I did!”
Little said the most important piece of advice he received was from his music heroine, Kim Burrell. “She said, ‘You got you here. You need to be yourself. Just loosen up, pray before you sing. Whatever you do, if you give God the glory, and He’s pleased, that will show through your performance.’”
He stopped. “That’s the most important piece of advice I’ve gotten about singing in my whole life.”
Although Little did not win the competition, the television exposure definitely opened new doors for him. “I’m traveling to places I’ve never been before to sing and minister,” he said. His first single, “Amen (It Is So),” will be out in the first quarter of 2014, with a full album expected to follow. “I’m going to tease you all with the single first!” he said.
Meanwhile, fans of Tyler Little can find him singing every Sunday at Salem Tabernacle Church, 1101 South 6th Avenue in Maywood, where his father is now pastor.
Has Little ever thought of pastoring, coming from a long line of ministers?
“Everyone has been telling me that I should pastor,” Little responded, “but God hasn’t revealed that to me yet. I don’t knock it, because you don’t always see what other people see in you. If that’s what God’s plans are for me, then so be it. My arms are too short to box with God. But until I get the call, I’m going to keep singing and writing. God will make a way.”
For Tyler Little booking information, contact Carlton Cofield at SOULTOWNE: (678) 901-9799.
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Written by : Bob Marovich
Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. Founder of Journal of Gospel Music blog (formally The Black Gospel Blog) and producer of the Gospel Memories Radio Show.
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Ha am your number one fan lol I was mad when they voted you off but its life it was not ment for you at this time but God always has something better for you pray for great things for you lots of love Evangelist Michael T Wilson