Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
For the first time since Whitney Houston’s death, Cissy Houston sat down with My9 TV’s Brenda Blackmon at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark to reflect on her superstar daughter’s life. You can watch the exclusive interview below.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
Castro Coleman, also known as Cat Cole, released his “live” mixtape online today for absolutely free. Cole says Strait From Da Soul of Cat Cole is the first of several mixtapes to be released every 90 days while he preps for the release of his forthcoming album, The Favor Factor (4Winds/Malaco Music Group),slated to drop later this year.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
Today is GMF’s first anniversary! Praise God and thanks to each and every one of you for your well wishes, feedback, and support.
In the spirit of it being more blessed to give than to receive, GMF will celebrate with a giveaway every Friday, through the month of April. Be on the lookout for your chance to win.
GMF and its founder and editor–yours truly–will keep celebrating God, enjoying gospel music, and anticipating all that is to come from the many talented people who share their gifts with others. I can neither hide it nor deny it–I have gospel music fever!
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
Noted singer/songwriter Freda Battle will have her popular song “For All You’ve Done” featured on the season premiere of the reality show Beverly’s Full House. The series that follows the family life of supermodel Beverly Johnson will air on Oprah’s OWN network tonight at 10 PM EST.
Freda Battle and the Temple Worshippers first recorded “For All You’ve Done” in 1998. The assembly re-recorded the piece in 2006, on its Here Is Our Praise project.
Battle is currently readying for the spring release of her fourth album, How Glorious & Excellent is Our God, which will feature appearances from Stephen Hurd, Bobby Perry, Rodney Posey, and others.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
William McDowell, John P. Kee, LaCrae, and Kim Burrell are just a few fan favorites who are nominated for Dove Awards this year. The complete list is available here.
Performances will be by Donnie McClurkin, Ruben Studdard, Mandisa, nominees LaCrae and Kim Burrell and more.
David Mann, famously known as “Leroy S. Brown” from Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns, and comedian Chonda Pierce are the co-hosts.
The awards will be taped April 19, at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
If you enjoy the worship music Israel Houghton has delivered to the masses for more than ten years, you can now hear some of his best-loved songs on one CD.
The Houston-based worship leader recently released a double-disc collection, Decade, that features twenty-six songs including “Friend of God,” “Not Forgotten,” and “Again, I Say Rejoice.” The project also contains a new mid-tempo tune, “Jesus At The Center,” which will be the title track of Houghton’s forthcoming project, due to drop this fall.
“After a decade worth of projects, hundreds of songs, thousands of nights of worship, and hundreds of thousands of people who have allowed us to usher them to Jesus, whether by way of recording or live events, I am so grateful that you gave us an opportunity to worship with you,” said the four-time Grammy Award winner to his fans in a statement.
He added, “There’s one decade down and generations more to come. We feel like we’re just getting started and we’re already putting finishing touches on the first project of the next decade.”
Decade is available in retail stores and all major online portals.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
You won’t hear any vocal acrobatics on Genita Pugh’s current CD. What you will hear, though, is the heart of a pastor with a passion for her purpose: worship. My Purpose is a most fitting title for the no-frills alto vocalist’s current project.
The set opens with “Can’t Live,” borrowed from R. Kelly’s “Can’t Sleep.” From there, “Open My Eyes,” “You Were There for Me,” and “In the Presence of the Lord” deliver a pleasant listening and worship experience. “Who Can?” does the same, albeit with an uptempo head-bobbing bounce.
Pugh doesn’t neglect her roots, though. The founder and pastor of Original Worship Ministry has old-fashioned church Mississippi-style with her self-penned toe-tapper “All the Ways of You” and the mid-tempo “Die to Myself.” Even with this pair of tunes, Pugh stays in her lane–avoiding feverish riffs and vocal cartwheels–supporting the adage that less is sometimes more. She does give some oomph to the urbanesque “Do You Love the Lord?” an upbeat track accented with beastly slap bass and mean horn swells.
Produced by James Roberson (JDI Music), this project melds nice selections, good writers and musicians, and a singer who is grateful to know her purpose.
Favorites
“Can’t Live” – “Open My Eyes” – “In the Presence of the Lord”
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
Editor’s Note:International gospel music veterans Delois Barrett Campbell and Jessy Dixon passed away in August and September 2011, respectively; however, both were excluded from the NAACP Image Awards memorial segment. The following inquiry was initially sent as a private email to the Image Awards on Friday, February 17, 2012, immediately following its airing on NBC. After waiting nearly one month for a response, I sent a second email Thursday, March 15, 2012. To date, I still have not received any acknowledgment of my emails.
Dear NAACP Image Awards:
I am extremely disturbed that two giants in gospel music, Delois Barrett Campbell and Rev. Jessy Dixon, were omitted from the 2012 program’s memorial segment. Certainly, gospel music has been the foundation of the African-American experience and should be revered as such.
President Barack Obama posits that “the potent words of gospel gave strength to a generation that rose above the din of hatred to move our country toward justice and equality for all.” Delois Barrett Campbellwas one such voice. She is hailed as “The Royal Lady of Gospel” and recognized internationally for her pioneering contributions to the art form. Media coverage of her passing was massive, and her three-day funeral services brought tributes from President Obama, Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Hudson, Rev. Jesse Jackson and others. The New York Times published a well-written article chronicling her seven-decade career.
Singer/songwriter/musician Rev. Jessy Dixon’s discography includes collaborations with Paul Simon, Diana Ross, Earth, Wind & Fire, Billy Preston, and James Cleveland–and this is the short list. The Chicago Sun-Timespublished a piece detailing his impact on the music industry. The 54th Grammy Awards mentioned him in its memorial segment; unfortunately, the NAACP Image Awards did not.
I submit this inquiry: If wedo not esteem our own, who will? If we do not honor our own in death as we have celebrated our own in life, who will? If we fail to recognize those who blazed trails for Jennifer Hudson, Aretha Franklin, Richard Smallwood, Donald Lawrence, and Kirk Franklin, who will?
I am kindly requesting a reply and explanation of these omissions. Thank you in advance for taking time to address my concern about these exclusions. I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Libra N. Boyd, Founder & Editor Gospel Music Fever™
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
Utterly tragic is the February 26th murder of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin. Utterly outrageous is that Sanford, FL police state they don’t have sufficient evidence to refute the gunman’s claim of self defense, and therefore can’t arrest him.
Are you kidding me? Martin was unarmed, carrying a bag of Skittles and a bottle of iced tea. George Zimmerman, the gunman, pursued him, despite being told by a 911 dispatcher not to. Details of the case are too many to recall here; you can refer to ABC News for the overview.
This matter reeks of the racism that remains alive and pervasive in this society. Martin is Black; Zimmerman is White and Hispanic. I posit, however, that even if one removes the notion of race as a factor, the matter is equally egregious: an adult followed and murdered an unarmed child holding some candy and a drink.
Numerous congregations wore hoodies yesterday, symbolic of their stand against senseless violence and injustice. I wore mine also–along with a badge of Trayvon Martin and me pictured in hoodies, side by side. Underneath was a scripture from 1 Samuel 17:29: “And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?”
And like Mahalia Jackson, Sallie Martin, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other gospel singers and clerics who were vocal about the issues of injustice in their day (especially during the 1960’s civil rights movement), people from the gospel community are speaking out in their own way regarding this injustice.
Fortune’s Twitter Avatar
“Where’s the justice?” asked James Fortune on Twitter. He also changed his avatar in protest.
Brian Courtney Wilson tweeted, “Still expecting justice for #TrayvonMartin.”
“So Zimmerman says he’s sorry for shooting #Trayvon Martin?” producer Kevin Bond posted on Twitter just this morning. “Yet you were standing your ground? #FOOLISHNESS and #RACIST!”
Perhaps with reconciliation at the heart of his tweet, Pastor John P. Kee posted, “Wish I could grab 3 of my nephews! We’d roll into Florida and find Zimmerman and pray with him!” He, too, donned a hoodie in his avatar. (See more photos of other gospel artists who are showing support for Trayvon Martin at NuthinButGospel blog.)
Today, Pastor Jamal Bryant and others will lead a National March of Justice at Centennial Park in Sanford, FL. Accordingly, the prominent pastor tweeted this morning, “Dear Lord 2day get justice 4 TRAYVON, redeem those who’ve been done wrong, protect kids from harm & don’t let us wait long!”
I am glad to see the gospel community join this fight, and I hope the momentum continues. In his work, Privilege, Power, and Difference, sociologist Allan G. Johnson asserts, “There is no such thing as doing nothing. There is no such thing as being neutral or uninvolved. At every moment, social life involves all of us.”
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
