Bob

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogWaiting Right Here, the latest album release by Stellar and Dove Award nominee Alvin Darling, showcases the singer-songwriter’s Pentecostal church roots and years spent on the gospel highway as a quartet singer.TBGB talked recently with Darling about his music journey and the response [...]

Hezekiah WalkerAzusa: The Next GenerationRCA Inspiration (released June 11, 2013)www.rcainspiration.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogThe big bang of Pentecostalism occurred in 1907 on Azusa Street in Los Angeles when William Seymour held multicultural services in a warehouse there.  Attendees of Seymour’s services became filled with the Holy Ghost, [...]

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogWith such a star-studded lineup at the 28th Chicago Gospel Music Festival, the Main Stage at Ellis Park promises to be the most popular place to be this weekend. After all, how often can you see gospel luminaries such as Smokie Norful, Tamela [...]

J ProphetI Got Bread (2013)www.jprophetpap.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogI have written that Christian rappers are the 21st century equivalent of the street corner evangelists of the 1920s and 1930s.  They are also versatile and generous with their product.  They go out into the highways and byways, literally [...]

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogTBGB had the pleasure of attending Donald Lawrence's 20th Anniversary program at Living Word Christian Center yesterday evening, where Dr. Bill Winston is pastor.  Two points struck me during the remarkable program:1) Lawrence is unquestionably one of the finest gospel songwriters of his generation.  He blends high [...]

Last night, TBGB and Robert Sacre', gospel historian and professor from Belgium, visited with the Wardlaw Brothers, a family quartet from Georgia, as they made their way through Chicago and Milwaukee en route to St. Louis and Indianapolis.The group is currently on the road promoting their latest single, "Right Now Lord," from [...]

“Song 4 U”Melody Laurewww.melodylaure.com“Song 4 U” is the second single release from Boston-born singer-songwriter Melody Laure.  Her original aspiration was to go R&B, but her church-singing roots won out.  The lethal combination of Melody’s forceful vocals and pumping electronic R&B beat turn this love song to Jesus into a power [...]

Desmond PringleFidelityKingdom Records (2013)www.kingdomrecordsinc.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogThe gospel sound of Desmond Pringle (no relation to singer-chorister Keith Pringle) is more of a direct link to the early contemporary work of the Hawkins Family than most of today’s artists.  Fidelity, Desmond Pringle’s debut solo album for Kingdom Records [...]

Billy DorseyMarathon(2013)www.BillyDorsey.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogAlthough he is a fitness buff, the marathon Billy Dorsey sings about isn’t the 26.2 mile version but the all-encompassing 24/7/365 version.Grammy, Stellar, and Dove Award-winning songwriter and producer Dorsey is well known for his work with Lecrae, especially on Gravity, which made [...]

(Dallas, Texas) (June 12, 2013) -- The votes have been tallied, and the 2013 Grand Prize winner of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s 4th annual Most Powerful Voices Gospel competition is Vetrea Slack Ruffin from Harvest, Alabama.  Vetrea beat out 651 artists for the coveted title and will receive: - The opportunity to perform [...]