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The nominees for the 24th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards were announced at a press conference Tuesday at the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau.Leading the pack in nominations are Marvin Sapp with nine; Beverly Crawford, Kirk Franklin, Dorinda Clark-Cole and Ricky Dillard with four or more; and Marvin Winans and [...]

"Drugs" The Virginia Aires Dove Records 2008 www.solidrockworldwide.com/virginiaaires.htm This summer, the popular Virginia Aires quartet of Chesapeake, VA declared jihad on drugs. "Drugs are a trick of the enemy," the group harmonizes in that languid tempo characteristic of modern quartet singing. It's a song that bemoans the devastating impact substance [...]

“Mercy”James IngramFrom the CD Stand (In the Light)Music One/WEA 2008www.jamesingramsmusic.com“Mercy” is a blues-soaked song with inspirational lyrics rendered by smooth-as-silk balladeer James Ingram. That’s it. Ingram doesn’t attempt whatsoever to change his style to sound more “gospel” in his delivery. It’s the warm sound you have come to know and [...]

SOUTH ORANGE, New Jersey (AP) -- Dee Dee Warwick, a noted soul singer who won recognition for both her solo work and her performances with her older sister Dionne Warwick, has died. She was 63. Dee Dee Warwick was the niece of gospel singer Cissy Houston and a cousin of [...]

“Dance of Eternity”Benita Farmer & New JourneyFrom the CD Come Homewww.benita4newjourney.comSwirling, psychedelic prog rock with spasms of Pentecostal handclapping and shouting, inspirational lyrics and gospel-style singing and preaching…that’s Benita Farmer & New Journey’s “Dance of Eternity.”The group, whose musical architect is Benita Farmer’s brother Lawrence Farmer IV, is an earful [...]

Flashback: Rev. Walter Butts & the W.J.B. SingersI Can Feel the FireElisha Records 1994Rev. Walter Butts, founder and pastor of Chicago’s Mount Carmel Children of God Baptist Church and the self-proclaimed “Big Man of Gospel Music,” has a throaty, tear-stained baritone voice that sounds uncannily like the late Rev. James [...]

Gospel Music According to Chicago ChoirVolume OneRewind Records 2008www.rewindinc.comImagine, if you will, the combined energy of iconic, big-voiced choirs from Chicago’s First Church of Deliverance, Fellowship, Cosmopolitan, Greater Harvest, St. Paul COGIC, and the Tommies. That aural image should give you some sense of the power of the Gospel Music [...]

The Concert SupremesThe Message Becomes ClearQuartet Boyz Records 2007www.theconcertsupremes.orgThe Concert Supremes of Natchitoches, Louisiana look like a young group fresh on the scene but make no mistake: the quartet, albeit with the inevitable personnel changes, has sung and recorded together for two decades. Today, the group is comprised of five [...]

From a press release, courtesy of Jason Lee:LASHUN PACE "ONE OF THE GREATEST VOICES IN GOSPEL MUSIC" RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL AND SET TO RESUME MUSIC MINISTRY Stellar-Award winning gospel artist LaShun Pace has been released from an Atlanta medical center after undergoing a successful heart procedure. Despite rumors and hearsay, [...]

“God Did That Thing”Bishop Bobby Hilton & Word of Deliverance Mass ChoirFrom the CD God Did That ThingBVHilton Entertainment and Productions Group, LLC 2008www.bobbyhilton.orgIdiomatic expressions have been the mainstay of gospel song titles and lyrics for years. Some expressions used in songs were sayings already popular in the African American [...]