Finally…It’s Monica’s Time: Meet Monica Lisa Stevenson

By Bob Marovich

Atlanta’s Monica Lisa Stevenson is an independent gospel artist who knows how to put herself out front and get national notice. Last year, the Gospel Choice Awards awarded her Best Female Artist, and this year she returned to the GCA to collect Song of the Year for her single, “So Glad He Saved Me.”

Monica’s first full-length CD, the appropriately titled Finally…In God’s Time, was released this past March on Puretonez Records, an independent label the singer owns with her husband, Derrick Stevenson. Since then, it has been “non-stop” for the hard-singing young woman who grew up in Wetumpka, Alabama and attended Atkin Hill Baptist Church.

She told TBGB that her family “is very musically inclined. I have two brothers and three sisters. I am the oldest of the six and four of us are in music: myself, my sister A’Donna B. Williams, and my brothers Justin Walker who plays drums, and Olando Bowen who sang with Spencer Taylor & the Highway QCs and worked with the Lumzy Sisters.”

Monica’s apprenticeship as a gospel singer began when she was a youngster. “My mom started a group called the Inspirational Souls with her sisters, but once the sisters got married and started doing their own things, she began raising her kids up to sing with the group.”

In the early 1980s, the Inspirational Souls made an album, which produced the hit single, “A Long Journey.”

Interestingly, Monica’s mother formed another group that included one of her sons. It was called “The Little Mighty Clouds of Joy.” “Joe Ligon heard the group a couple of times and he enjoyed them,” Monica remembered. “He was very flattered that they wanted to name their group after his!”

While still in high school, Monica began traveling and singing, eventually migrating to Atlanta. “Once I moved to Atlanta and started going around singing and preaching, I knew that this was my calling, what God had called me to do: to go out and help build the Kingdom.”

She was a soloist originally, but soon formed a background vocal group to work with her. “I was singing solo at a church, and a couple of young ladies came up to me and wanted to know if they could sing with me. As time progressed, God sent other anointed vocalists to assist me, and I’m very grateful for that.”

What about Monica’s traditional sound? “It stems from my upbringing,” she explained, “but I love praise and worship as well. Praise and worship is when I get in the presence of God and really talk to Him when I’m there, so everybody tells me my music has a little praise and worship twist to it. But traditional is where I’m going to keep it.”

How’s radio treating the new album? “Radio play has been absolutely overwhelming,” Monica said. “The singles doing the best are ‘Lord Keep Me,’ ‘So Glad He Saved Me,’ and ‘Fall Fresh.’”

Monica recently had the chance to sing with her idols, the Caravans, at Dorothy Norwood’s and Albertina Walker’s respective birthday celebrations. “[The Caravans] have embraced me and told me they are molding me to be like them because they don’t know how much longer they are going to be on this earth, and they want to make sure that their legacy continues on. They told me I have everything they had back in the day.”

Then, “I recently got a call from my manager, and he was like, ‘Guess who just called me: Eddie Robinson!’ He is the writer of [the Caravans’] ‘Lord Keep Me Day by Day.’ He was very excited to know that we had taken the time to re-record his song. That was the highlight of my day!”

In addition to finding inspiration from the Caravans, Monica is also a fan of Kim Burrell, Angela Spivey, the Canton Spirituals, DeWayne Woods and Stephen Hurd. “All of them are my friends, and they have given me lots of encouragement. They taught me stuff I didn’t know, and I always have a listening ear.”

Monica awaits the results of her nomination in the first round of Stellar Award balloting in two categories, New Artist of the Year and Traditional Female of the Year. While this is the first time she made the first round Stellar ballot, she’s no stranger to the Stellars. “I go every year to the Stellars! I’m a big fan!”

What’s next? “We’re working on another single and some Christmas material right now,” Monica informed TBGB, “which we should have out very, very soon.”

Meanwhile, her schedule is packed. “Singing is a full time job now,” Monica said. “Ever since March, it has really been non-stop. The CD hit in March, and people started to call. I did the Bobby Jones retreat in May and that opened up some more doors. Now we’re traveling just about every weekend. I think I’m booked all the way to December.”