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GMF asks, ‘What’s your favorite song of the Easter season?’

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

This week, I took to social media to ask for your favorite songs of the Easter season. Your responses encompassed old school and new school gospel across several subgenres. Here’s what you said:

“Alive”
Vanessa Bell Armstrong cover artNatalie Grant

“For God So Loved the World”
Vanessa Bell Armstrong

“He Was Hung Up for My Hangups”
Twinkie Clark

“In His Name”
John Thorpe and Family

“Jesus”
Shekinah Glory Ministries

“Jesus is Alive”
Ron Kenoly

“Jesus Paid It All”
Mississippi Mass Choir ft. Rev. James Moore

“Jesus Rose with All Power in His Hands”
The New Gospel Keynotes

“Nobody Greater”
VaShawn Mitchell

“Rise Again”
The Gospel Keynotes

“So Glad (He Did Not Leave Me Like He Found Me)”
The Yanceys

“The Blood Still Works”
Malcolm Williams and Great Faith

“Were You There”
Juan Santiago & Uninhibited Praise

Compare your picks to mine by checking out Editor’s Picks of the (Easter) Season and More of the Editor’s Picks of the (Easter) Season.  Then, keep adding your favorites in the comment box below!

Evelyn Starks Hardy, founding member of the Original Gospel Harmonettes, has died

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

One by one, our gospel veterans are exchanging labor for rest.

Bob
Marovich of the Journal of Gospel Music informed GMF this morning that Evelyn Starks Hardy, singer,
arranger, and accompanist for the Original Gospel Harmonettes, passed
today (April 2). We extend our condolences to her family and friends.

Hardy was born in 1922 in Birmingham, AL, and grew up in the church. She began playing for her church when she was nine and later cited Roberta Martin as one of her musical influences.

Marovich highlights Hardy’s career in music as well as education here: Evelyn Starks Hardy Dies; Member of the Original Gospel Harmonettes 

Photo Credit | Professor Nathaniel Frederick, II

Maurette Brown Clark signs exclusive recording deal with SRT Entertainment

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

Just weeks following SRT Entertainment’s announcement that it has signed Luther Barnes to an exclusive recording agreement, the entertainment company now announces the signing of two-time Stellar winner, Maurette Brown Clark, affectionately known to many as the “Princess of Praise and Worship.”

Maurette is not a newcomer to the gospel music industry.  Whether she is performing with Richard Smallwood and Vision or on her own,
the singer, songwriter, musician, producer, wife, and mother is
committed to spreading a message of faith and uplift.

In a press release, Maurette commented, “I am very excited and
optimistic about this next move in my musical journey. To be working
with D.A. Johnson again is a joy and I look forward to what God has for
SRT Entertainment and my ministry. #forward”

Maurette’s hits include “Breaking of Day” and “Just Wanna Praise
You,” and in recent years, she has enjoyed chart success with her
singles “I Hear the Sound (of Victory),” “One God,” and “It Ain’t Over
(Until God Says It’s Over).”

Campbell, Dillard collect multiple Stellars during Gospel’s big weekend

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

It was a big weekend in Las Vegas at the 30th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards for Erica Campbell and Ricky Dillard. Campbell and her CD Help hauled a total of eight awards, including Artist of the Year, CD of the Year, Producer of the Year (Warryn Campbell), and Contemporary Female Vocalist of the Year. Dillard took home four trophies, two of which for Song of the Year (“Amazing”) and Choir of the Year.


The Walls Group also left Gospel’s big night with a pair of Stellars; along with Deitrick Haddon’s League of Xtraordinary Worshippers; and Lisa Knowles and The Brown Singers, who captured wins for Traditional Group/Duo of the Year and Quartet of the Year.

Check out the full list of winners at uGospel.com. The awards show will be televised April 5, 2015, on TVOne.

Bishop F.C. Barnes named as 2015 inductee into NC Music Hall of Fame

Bishop F.C. Barnes is one of eight artists to be inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame for 2015.

Bishop Barnes is recognized nationally for his homespun style of gospel music and particularly for his 1983 chart-topping hit with Rev. Janice Brown, “Rough Side of the Mountain.” The song boosted the duo’s album sales past 500,000 units.

The singer, songwriter, and preacher was also the founder Red Budd Holy Church, which he pastored for 52 years until his demise in 2011 (see “Bishop, singer, and patriarch Barnes has passed”).

The induction ceremony is set for October 15, 2015, at Gem Theater in Kannapolis, NC.  Tickets will go on sale this summer at the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame Museum.  Others in the 2015 class of inductees are Gerald Alston, Nappy Brown, Eric Church, The Fantastic Shakers, Warren Haynes, Chuck Jackson, and Jay Spell.

Update (10/14/15 at 8:17 PM) – As of the date and time noted, there are still a few tickets available for the induction ceremony.  Click here to purchase them online.

Rev. Gene Martin, who formerly traveled with Evangelist A.A. Allen, dies

Rev. Gene Martin

Rev. Gene Martin went to be with the Lord today (March 20), after several months of illness.  He was 75 years old.

The well-known singer, choir director, and evangelist began his recording career in the 1960s with Evangelist A.A. Allen.  For several years to follow, he traveled with Allen, singing at revivals and with the Miracle Valley Choir. From the 1970s through the 1990s, Rev. Martin traveled the country with his own ministry, the Gene Martin Action Revival.  In 2001, he was presented to another generation of traditional gospel music lovers through Bishop Carlton Pearson’s Live at Azusa, Vol. 4, which featured his Holy Ghost-drenched rendition of “Too Close to Heaven/I’ve Got It.”

GMF extends condolences to Rev. Gene Martin’s family and friends during this bittersweet time. Though he is surely at rest, he will be greatly missed.

Photo Credit | Facebook Profile of Gene Martin

James Dixon to celebrate birthday with musical – April 4

James Dixon loves God and good gospel music–so much so that he’s going all out this year for his birthday and wants you to join him.

The former drummer for the Sensational Nightingales and current lead singer of James Dixon and Company invites you to his birthday musical which features The Joy Bells, Jennifer Baker, The Richardson Brothers, and others.

Saturday, April 4, 2015
6 PM
Mt. Calvary Baptist Church
1012 East Hanover Road
Graham, NC
Free Admission (love offering will be taken)

Luther Barnes inks exclusive recording deal with SRT Entertainment

From D.A. Johnson


(Flowood, MS)  SRT Entertainment is proud to announce the signing of Grammy Award nominated, Stellar Award winning producer, artist, songwriter Luther Barnes to an exclusive recording agreement.

Luther Barnes brings his very successful solo career as well as his Sunset Jubilaires, Red Budd Gospel Choir and Barnes Family Reunion brands to the label.

Luther Barnes, son of “Mr. Rough Side Of The Mountain” the late great Bishop F. C. Barnes, has forged his own place and has made his own mark in the history of Gospel music. Cherished as one of the greatest balladeers of all time in any genre (urban, gospel, or blues), Luther Barnes has enjoyed airplay and sales  success with his many styles of gospel recorded albums from  quartet, choir, praise & worship to contemporary.


As a producer and songwriter, Luther Barnes has produced and penned timeless classics such as “I’m Still Holding On,” “So Satisfied,” and the Grammy nominated, Stellar winning “It’s Your Time,” Stellar nominated “Somehow Someway” and “You Keep On Blessing Me,” which was a Top 10 Billboard Gospel Song and experienced crossover success into the Urban mainstream, receiving airplay on Urban AC stations around the country. 


And just when you think he couldn’t get any better, continuing his family lineage, Luther Barnes has accepted the pastoral call on his life and is the senior pastor and founder of Restoration Worship Center in Rocky Mount, NC.

Virtue joins Pres. Obama and others in concert commemorating Selma March this Sunday

From Jason Hardy


Grammy-nominated sister trio Virtue joins President Obama, Tamar Braxton, Harry Belafonte, Kirk Franklin, Doug E. Fresh and more to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Selma with an All-Star Concert set to stream online live this Sunday, March 8, 2015 on BET.COM and CentricTV.com at 5pm ET, hosted by AJ Calloway.


Centric/BET Networks, in partnership with the Selma-to-Montgomery 50th Commemoration Foundation, will present a historical and all-star celebration concert that will honor those who stood up for freedom, equal rights, and the right to vote.


The concert will be held on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where the original march took place in 1965, and will feature performances by Aloe Blacc, Anthony Hamilton, Arrested Development, Bebe Winans, Fantasia, Bell Biv DeVoe, D-Nice, Donnie McClurkin, Eddie Levert, Eric Benet, Flavor Flav, Keith Sweat, Kelly Price, MC Lyte, Rick Ross,Tank, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Tyrese, and Vanilla Ice.


President Obama will deliver a civil rights speech and Harry Belafonte and Peter Yarrow (two original Selma marchers), Bill Withers, Cicely Tyson, Malcolm Jamal Warner, and Tom Joyner are slated to make appearances.

With Grammy, Dove, and Stellar Award nominations, over 500K in career sales, five recorded studio albums, and signature hits like “Get Ready,” “Put Your War Clothes On,” “Til’ You Believe,” “Lord, I Lift My Hands,” and “Follow Me,” Virtue is back on the music scene after a 10-year recording hiatus with their new rising radio single “You Are.”