Tag: McDonald’s GospelFest

GMF Anniversary Giveaway! (April 6)

Happy Good Friday!

In the spirit of it being more blessed to give than to receive, GMF is celebrating its first anniversary with a giveaway every Friday, through the month of April.

Here is today’s question:

Pastor Shirley Caesar told GMF in our recent interview that she would like to collaborate with which gospel singer/songwriter?

4/10/12 12:01 PM EST – Congratulations to Cameron Lewis who was the first to email us with the correct answer: Andraé Crouch.  You can read GMF’s recent interview with Pastor Caesar here: Shirley Caesar on Today’s ‘Singingest’ Women, Whitney, and the Big Screen.

Be the first to email us the correct answer at [email protected], and receive a complimentary pair of tickets to McDonald’s GospelFest 2012, to be held Mother’s Day weekend, Saturday, May 12, at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

Shirley Caesar on Today’s ‘Singingest’ Women, Whitney, and the Big Screen

Shirley CaesarBy Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

Ever since she was twelve years old, Pastor Shirley Caesar has been living and singing for Jesus.  More than six decades later, the multi-award-winning petite powerhouse shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.  To the thousands who follow her ministry, it seems she not only gets better with age, but more youthful. Pastor Caesar’s ageless beauty, high energy, and lightning quick moves across stages and pulpits all over the world are unparalleled, but it’s her unmistakable sound, unapologetic consistency and unwavering spiritual conviction that have catapulted her into a class all by herself.

Ever since she was twelve years old, Pastor Shirley Caesar has been living and singing for Jesus.  More than six decades later, the multi-award winning petite powerhouse shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.  To the thousands who follow her ministry, it seems she not only gets better with age, but more youthful. Pastor Caesar’s ageless beauty, high energy, and lightning quick moves across stages and pulpits all over the world are unparalleled, but it’s her unmistakable sound, unapologetic consistency and unwavering spiritual conviction that have catapulted her into a class all by herself.

The day I spoke with Pastor Caesar, she was prepping for a relatively light task among numerous undertakings: performing and guesting as co-ringmaster for the UniverSoul Circus in Raleigh, where she resides.  She was also discussing plans for McDonald’s GospelFest 2012, at which she will perform Mother’s Day Weekend in Newark, NJ.  This year’s theme is “Honor Thy Mother.”  It is a theme that’s dear to Pastor Caesar’s heart, for she has always been very candid about her relationship with her own.

“I watched my mom,” Pastor Caesar told GospelFlava.com a few years ago. “She didn’t teach me by word. She taught me by actions. I watched Mama and I watched her feed other folks. I saw my mom give second hand clothes to others in the community. I learned giving and sharing and through that I learned what true ministry is.”

Certainly, Pastor Caesar’s regard for her mother is evident particularly because she has recorded more “mama” songs than any other gospel artist, including her personal musical tribute “I Remember Mama.”  (“Don’t Drive Your Mama Away,” “Faded Rose,” “I Love You Mama,” “Everyday is Like Mother’s Day,” and the country-turned-gospel classic “No Charge” are also part of her mama-themed catalog.)

For “The First Lady of Gospel,” however, ministry is filled with encouragement, admonitions, and old-fashioned mother wit–not just concerning respect for the family matriarch, but for nearly all of life’s twists and turns.  Her anointing to pack a song with power that transforms may very well be the reason she has collected eleven Grammys, something she considers to be her greatest accomplishment aside from salvation.

 
Caravans

It was probably that very same quality the late Albertina Walker noticed when she invited a then-teenage Caesar (pictured at far left) to join the famous Caravans in 1958.  By no means was Walker’s group short on talent, but it was young Shirley Caesar’s vim and vocals that helped them soar to new heights.  Fast forward to 2012: if Pastor Caesar had the role of recruiting for an all-star lineup similar to the Caravans, who would she pick?

“Oh wow!  Let me tell you, one of the singingest women I know is Yolanda Adams–I would pull her out there in a heartbeat,” she declares.  “I like Kim Burrell.  I like…now we’re talking gospel, right?”

“Right,” I clarify before appending a second thought, “or if you would like to pull someone from– ”

“Aretha Franklin!” she exclaims without hesitation.  “Yes, yes, that’s my girl.  And my goddaughter who now sleeps was Whitney Houston…oh an awesome young woman gone too soon.”  Pastor Caesar pauses wistfully, but quickly resumes, “There are many other voices out there, and I would include myself right in there with them–you know we have to give [audiences] some traditional gospel…and Vanessa Bell Armstrong, yeah, I would pull her in.  And if it’s still gospel, Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle!  Wow, don’t get me started with gospel singing and women!”

Pastor Caesar also has high praise for the industry’s newest vocalists.  “We have some powerful young singers out there too that recently won [BET’s] Sunday Best.  I’d pull them in too; those are some singing women.”

Not surprisingly, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductee has performed with most if not all of the notables she mentioned.  Is there a dream collaboration that remains?

“Andraé Crouch. I’ve always wanted to sing something with him,” she says.  “But I’d like to do some more on the big screen; I’d like to do some acting.”  To date, Pastor Caesar’s movie credits consist of appearances in The Fighting Temptations, The Unseen, and a cameo in Why Do Fools Fall in Love?  She has also starred in musical stage plays and guested on sitcoms over the years.

For the living legend, acting is not a mere extension of her remarkable career.  Rather, it is yet another means to present her message, her music, and her Messiah to the masses.

 
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McDonald’s GospelFest 2012 is set for Saturday, May 12, 2012, at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.  Tickets can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com.

McClurkin headlines McDonald’s Gospelfest, talks about competitiveness in gospel music

By Libra Boyd

Shaundria Williams contributed to this feature

This is the second of a two-part feature with pastor and singer Donnie McClurkin.
 
Donnie McClurkin
“If you take a drive through any community, you will see the golden arches,” speaks Donnie McClurkin of the most recognized fast food chain in the world, “and if you drive through any community, you will see the entity of McDonald’s…has been wise enough to discern that the real pulse of the community is the church.”
 
McDonald’s Gospelfest returns to the New York Tri-State area on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.  The auditions are complete and competitors are preparing to share the stage with some of the biggest names in Gospel including Kirk Franklin, Bishop Hezekiah Walker, James Fortune & FIYA, Bobby Jones, Bishop T.D. Jakes, and the one and only Donnie McClurkin.
 
The competition, originated in 1983, showcases talent in several categories ranging from soloists and choirs to dance, step, groups, instrumentalists and gospel rappers. 

McClurkin is headlining this particular talent competition, and he will soon be seen in the judge’s chair on another.  McClurkin, who has signed onto BET’s Sunday Best again this season, recently talked with GMF about the McDonald’s Gospelfest, competition in gospel music, and some of his favorite new artists.

GMF:  Please explain the appropriateness of competition in the body of Christ.
 
McClurkin:  I don’t see it as competition.  I see it as iron sharpening iron.  I don’t see it as us competing; I see it as me being able to draw from you or critique you.  If you’re doing something right, I want to learn from it; if you’re doing something wrong, I gotta critique it and I gotta tell ya, “Hey, hey, that’s not gonna work.”  Even with Sunday Best, we’re sitting there…a thousand people come past us in every city, and [we’re] sitting there going, “Next!  Oh my God, no–don’t ever sing again!  Please, don’t ever–”  It’s all in fun, but it’s also to make sure people stay in their lane and in their place. So from that level, there’s no competition.  
On the level of myself…Fred Hammond, Kirk Franklin, CeCe Winans, Kim Burrell…there’s no competition.  Donald Lawrence–no competition.  We sharpen each other, and we sit back and wait to see who’s coming out with what CD…and it inspires us to go in and do more.  So that keeps the fresh move in the gospel industry, musically.  It keeps us on our toes and it makes sure that we get the best of quality, because we don’t compete, we compel and we push one another to do better.
 
GMF:  Along the lines of iron sharpening iron, who are some of your favorite up and coming artists?
 
McClurkin:   There’s a girl named Preashea Hilliard; she’s got a great CD!  “Fresh Fire” is one of the greatest songs.  Then you’ve got Forever Jones–the whole family–mother, father and kids.  They’ve got a great song out called “He Wants It All.”  There are some great artists coming up that you have never even heard of like Brittney Wright, people like Maurice Griffin, and even Duward Davis, and the list goes on…LeAndria Johnson…they are the new guys coming up and it’s our job to make space for them….Kirk Franklin is pushing Isaac Caree, and I’m taking Andrea Mellini and pushing her.  So, all of us are taking artists and pushing them; Donald Lawrence took DeWayne Woods and Sheri Jones-Moffett.  We’re bringing up these new artists, putting them out in the foreground, so that we can disappear one day.
 
GMF:   The Gospelfest takes place Father’s Day weekend.  Talk to us about your father or father figure and the impact he has had on your ministry.
 
McClurkin:  Well, there are two. (Read McClurkin’s complete response Father’s Day weekend right here on GMF, where he’ll talk openly about his biological father.)
 
GMF:  Beyond the gentlemen that are featured in the Gospelfest, will there be community leaders that will be honored as men of valor?
 
McClurkin:  Possibly.  We always do something for people who’ve passed away like Walter Hawkins and Albertina Walker; so some people will be honored.
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Tickets for McDonald’s Gospelfest can be purchased at the Prudential Center Box Office or through Ticketmaster by calling 800.745.3000, or at www.ticketmaster.com. For further information, please call the McDonald’s Gospelfest Hotline at 866.898.7772.