Martha Munizzi Prepares to Make It Loud

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

It’s been nearly a decade since Central Florida’s Martha Munizzi burst on the gospel music scene with her debut CD, Say the Name.

Since then, the praise and worship leader has garnered Grammy and Soul Train Music Award nominations and secured Stellar and Dove Awards. In 2004, she was named one of the top five Gospel artists by Billboard Magazine.  Her albums have risen to top ten positions on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart.

Make It Loud, available tomorrow, finds Munizzi not only in front of the microphone but also in the producer’s chair. TBGB spoke to the singer about the new CD and her gospel roots.

As a child, Martha Munizzi sang southern gospel with her family, but she absorbed a multitude of influences. “I have a very good blend of all styles of music in my blood,” the singer explained. “I liked Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant, and around the age of 16 or 17, I discovered Andrae Crouch, CeCe Winans, and John P. Kee. The one who really inspired my writing was Fred Hammond.”

Munizzi hoped someday to become a professional musician. “When I was a kid, I dreamed that I would be playing piano in my house, and a famous producer would break down, his car would run out of gas and he’d knock on the door. He’d hear me play and that’s how I would be discovered. Of course,” she laughed, “that never happened!”

Even though the autos of famous producers never broke down on her street, Munizzi continued hankering for a life in music. “I could feel it,” she said, “when I would go to an Amy Grant concert, or a Michael W. Smith concert, or hear Fred Hammond, that this is what I wanted to do. I wanted it so bad, but I had no idea where to begin. Only God can open those doors and give us the wisdom and the timing, but the desire was from Him. He said to start walking in His path and you’ll walk right into your destiny. And that’s what I did!”

Munizzi entered the world of gospel music when she and her husband Dan became worship leaders at a Central Florida church with a diverse membership. “We introduced a lot of gospel music because that’s what we were listening to. We were young and we loved gospel music. That’s what we sang, that’s what we taught the choirs, that’s the worship music that we chose and so we begin to write in that same vein.

“When I was at the church, busy working every day, every week, writing songs for the choir, I didn’t realize that our songs had gotten out. I had no clue that people had come through and listened to our songs and had taken them back to their own churches and were singing them all over the country. You’re just busy doing what you love to do and then you look up and realize God has taken it and multiplied it. Sometimes your gifts can take you where you can’t go yourself, but God put the songs on my heart.”

(Munizzi’s twin sister, Mary Alessi, also became a gospel singer and praise and worship leader. Alessi’s entrance into gospel music occurred in much the same way as her sister’s: through the confluence of music and musicians at her and her husband’s church in Miami.)

In addition to directing their church ministry, the Munizzis assisted music ministries at other churches. They were especially well received in African American churches. “That was where the invitations were coming from, and that’s where we felt we fit.”

After nearly a decade in the business, Munizzi felt ready to produce her own project. The result is Make It Loud.

The singer reflected on the experience.  “It was a lot of pressure, I have to tell you, because it wasn’t the kind of situation where I would write and help create and then say [to the producer] ‘Let me know when you’re close to being done.’ I had to go back to my music director days when I stayed with the band and the singers and made decisions through the entire process. There wasn’t a rehearsal I didn’t go to, there wasn’t anything I wasn’t a part of, so that was exciting. It was a lot more work but it was very, very rewarding.”

The album’s concept can be found in its title. Munizzi explained: “Listening to the news and watching television shows, you hear pop artists coming on strong with opinions and giving them as truth. It’s mind blowing.  It’s frightening to me. This album says that I’m not holding back: I’m declaring the bigness, the goodness of God. Christians don’t have to hold back. No one can heal, no one can save like He can, so let’s ‘make it loud.’ I believe the album is going to give people spiritual guts.”

Among the lineup of guest artists on the album is popular praise and worship leader William McDowell. “We go way back with William,” Munizzi said. “Some years ago, we put together a worship team, a combination of worship leaders from local churches. William has been a part of it. Now God is opening doors for him. He’s so beyond his years with the gift on his life. People don’t even know what he has, but they will, they’ll see!

Munizzi is especially excited that her eldest daughter Danielle debuts on the project as a singer and songwriter. “Danielle is eighteen, she’s about to go off to college, and is so gifted. She’s been working with the youth group at the church we’ve been attending for the past two or three years, and it’s amazing how she has developed. She plays guitar, she plays keys, and she wrote a song called ‘Your Love Oh God.’ I told her she had to put her song on the album. It’s really raw, just Danielle, a keyboard player and the congregation. It’s such an amazing moment.”

With Make It Loud, Munizzi says she is going to “share my joy louder, I’m going to share my giving louder, and I’m going to share my love louder. That’s what it’s all about.”

Recorded live at City of Life Church in Kissimmee, Florida, Make It Loud will be released Tuesday, April 26. For more information on Martha Munizzi, go to http://www.marthamunizzi.com/.