“I Am God”Cynthia SimonsFrom the CD ThankfulWhen singer, songwriter and actress Cynthia Simons sings that God is a healer, she has the testimony to reinforce her belief.Simons, who has shared the stage with gospel icons such as Rev. James Cleveland, Fred Hammond, Shirley Caesar and Walter Hawkins, is a twenty-year [...]
Dr. Claybon Lea, Jr.It’s About Time4 Leavites Entertainment Group (2011)www.claybonlea.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.It’s About Time is a great tongue-in-cheek title for a debut CD, especially for an artist such as Dr. Claybon Lea, Jr., who until now had set aside his solo singing career in favor [...]
Don Byron New Gospel QuintetLove, Peace, and SoulSavoy Jazz (2012)http://www.donbyron.com/By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.Jazz and gospel music are only a razor-thin line away from one another musically. At least they used to be. They were during the era of Thomas A. Dorsey and Roberta Martin. That is [...]
Andrea Helms Moving Forward Music World Gospel (2012) www.musicworldgospel.com By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog. Moving Forward is the seven-track debut CD of BET Sunday Best Season 4 first runner-up Andrea Helms. Produced by H. Doobie Powell and released earlier this month, the album is a compilation of [...]
Congratulations to the McDonald Sisters, who recently won the Blockbuster Gold Cup Award at the Florence Civic Center on March 9, 2012! The group has also been asked to be a special guest for the 50th Birthday Celebration of Cedric Bailey of Rejoice Musical Soulfood.
“We Worship You”Cheneta JonesFrom the forthcoming CD Transformed (release date: May 22, 2012)www.realtalentmg.com“We Worship You” is another quietly breezy and melodic urban P&W single from Cheneta Jones, the emerging gospel singer-songwriter from St. Louis who some may know from her role as lead background singer for Tye Tribbett. To rumbling [...]
“One”Take 6From the Shanachie Entertainment CD One (2012)http://www.shanachie.com/Gymnastic. Youthful. Complex. Rhythmic. Playful. These are just a few descriptors for the iconic harmonies of Take 6, but let's face it: you know them when you hear them. Or, to borrow one of the group's metaphors from its new gospel single, “One:” “I don’t know [...]
By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog."What is it you think you see, when you see me?”This is the question Mary Mary, aka Tina and Erica Campbell, asks in their hit song, “God in Me.” It might as well be the theme for the sisters’ new reality [...]
By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.In 2002, Sipokazi Nxumalo, a young woman living in South Africa, had recently graduated from high school with plans to attend university.There was one problem: Sipokazi's mother was a single parent and, although she had supported her thus far, she did not have the [...]
“Somehow” Jermet “J.Cee” Campbell From the J-Musik CD Nah Compromise (2011) http://www.sonicbids.com/JCee To an invigorating Jamaican/African fusion beat with ringing guitar licks, Jermet “J.Cee” Campbell sings this song of encouragement to herself. “I know my breakthrough is on its way,” J.Cee sings, raps, and shouts like a reggae-flavored evangelist. She [...]
