Philadelphia, PA — Enon Music Group (EMG) is one of the fastest-growing record labels in Gospel music. They have delivered Stellar Award-nominated artists and Billboard Chart Topping songs and albums from their wheelhouse. Founded by Dr. Alyn E. Waller, EMG’s mission is to be a respected resource for quality music and artist development anchored in integrity and theologically centered music. Singer San Franklin is noted as one of Gospel and Christian music’s most commanding vocalists and professional session singers. The vocal beast has been heard on a plethora of award-winning albums and has provided her vocal prowess to Donnie McClurkin, ...

The Journal of Gospel Music was saddened to learn of the passing today of the Reverend Dr. Clay Evans, founder and pastor emeritus of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago. Our deepest sympathies to Ms. Lou Della Evans Reid, Rev. Pharis Evans, the rest of the Evans family, and the Fellowship M.B. Church community. The following is a short bio that I wrote for the Malaco Music Group website, with the generous assistance of Ms. Patty Nolan-Fitzgerald: Reverend Dr. Clay Evans An iconic pastor, singer, songwriter, recording preacher, community organizer, and civil rights leader, the Reverend Dr. Clay Evans was ...

From a Press Release: Chicago welcomed hometown favorite, Kanye West, with open arms for his Sunday Service Experience this past weekend. Following a rousing performance on Chicago’s Northerly Island with an estimated 10,000 attendees, thousands of church goers packed into the historic Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church (led by senior pastor and gospel music sensation, Charles Jenkins) for Sunday Service: Part Two. When asked how this came about, Jenkins shared, “About 6 months ago I was talking to Kanye and he was saying how so many people are in so much pain and in need of hope. He said to me ...

On our latest episode of “Conversations with the Gospel Legends,” we talk with singer Delores Scott, member of the ‘Ship, the Tommies, and an altogether integral part of Chicago’s gospel community. Special thanks to Rev. Harold Bailey, Mr. Clarence McMillon, and the PCC Network for making this broadcast possible.

By Bob Marovich From their genesis in the Vasser Family basement to their forthcoming debut as television actors, the men of Kinsmen demonstrate how a family that sings together stays together. Around 1985, Robert Vasser, a member of Rev. Dr. Clay Evans’ Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, gathered his sons Kevin and Keith and their first cousins, Van Moody and Reggie Tillman, to try their hand at gospel singing. The quartet of young men stood in the Vasser basement and worked on emulating one of Robert’s favorite groups, the Mighty Clouds of Joy. “We started singing around the record player,” ...

Rev. Clay Evans & the Ship What a Legacy Rev. Clay Evans Heritage Series (2016) By Bob Marovich “Give me my flowers while I am still here,” the Consolers instructed in 1955, “so I can see the beauty that they bring.” What a Legacy, a collection of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church Choir tracks never before released on CD, is one way a legion of friends and fans are giving their flowers to the Reverend Dr. Clay Evans, who turned 91 this year: by preserving some of the classic musical moments of Fellowship, aka “The Ship,” the church he founded in ...

By Bob Marovich JGM learned from Gregory Gay of GOSPELflava.com the sad news that Ms. Bertha Burley Melson, one of the stalwarts of the Chicago gospel music community, passed away.  She was 82. Born in Chicago on March 4, 1933, Melson was a member of the famed Lux Singers, a gospel group founded by Beatrice Lux that at one time or another included a young Rev. James Cleveland and his sister, Iris; Rev. Dr. Clay Evans; Imogene Greene; Ida Mae Davis; James Whitehurst; and Jerome Burks. The Lux Singers were “unorthodox,” Melson said.  “Back then, folks sang real nice and smooth and ...

“He Touched Me” Dr. LouDella Evans-Reid and the Traditional Gospel Choir www.loudellaevansreid.com If you like that aggressive, churchy gospel choir sound that came straight outta Chicago, false coda and all, you will love “He Touched Me.” This Thurston Frazier chestnut is given a full-throttle reading by the Traditional Gospel Choir, presented by Rev. Bryant Jones and directed by Dr. LouDella Evans-Reid. Both Jones and Reid have plenty of trad cred. Jones is a pastor and the son of gospel singer Jeannette Robinson Jones and the late Rev. Billy Jones. Reid is the longstanding and aerobic directress of the Fellowship Missionary ...