Tag: News

47th Annual GMA Dove Award nominees announced

Photo Credit | GMA Website

Tasha Cobbs, Jonathan McReynolds, Kirk Franklin, and Anthony Brown & group therAPy
are among those whose nominations were announced today (August 10) for
the 47th Annual GMA Dove Awards.  The complete list is available here.

 
This year’s awards will take place October 11, at Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena in Nashville and will air October 16, exclusively on TBN. 

Congratulations to all nominees!

RCA Inspiration announces shift To Nashville, TN under Provident Music Group

(Nashville, TN)  RCA Inspiration
will operate under the umbrella of the Provident Music Group, a
division of Sony Music Entertainment, in a shift of operations for the New York-based award-winning inspirational music label.  Under this shift, RCA Inspiration will now conduct operations based out of Nashville, TN.

Terry Hemmings,
President and CEO of Provident Music Group, says: “Provident Music
Group is delighted to welcome RCA Inspiration, and their incredible
lineup of artists whose ever-evolving and diverse sounds have continued
to make such an impact on Gospel and inspirational music. They mark a
valuable addition to Provident Music Group’s ongoing growth and shared
vision in delivering wide-ranging and uplifting entertainment across the
world.”







RCA Inspiration includes a comprehensive
breadth of artists steering the sounds of Gospel, praise and worship,
contemporary inspiration, hip hop, and more today, which also includes
artists on Kirk Franklin’s
Fo Yo Soul Recordings label.  RCA Inspiration’s top-notch roster
encompass award-winning superstars, such as prolific influencers Israel Houghton, Fred Hammond, Marvin Sapp, and Donnie McClurkin.  It also continues developing hit-making newer artists, such as Travis Greene,
Le’Andria Johnson, and Dee-1.  In relocating under Provident Music
Group, RCA Inspiration joins the division’s outstanding scope of fueling
faith-based entertainment across multiple creative platforms from
Christian music and worship to music publishing and film. Provident
Music Group’s labels and entertainment entities encompass Christian and
worship artists such as Casting Crowns, Steven Curtis Chapman, Brandon Heath, Matt Maher, Third Day, as well as Provident Films (“War Room,” “Woodlawn“), Essential Music Publishing, among other services.         


ABOUT RCA INSPIRATION
RCA
Inspiration (formerly Verity Gospel Music Group), is the Gospel label
operating under Provident Music Group, a division of Sony Music
Entertainment. Voted Billboard’s #1 “Gospel Songs Label” for the past 15
years, RCA Inspiration is the home of mega-gospel artists Donnie McClurkin, Israel Houghton, Marvin Sapp, Le’Andria Johnson, Fred Hammond and many more.

SOURCE RCA Inspiration – August 2, 2016

‘Sunday Best’ winner Amber Bullock to sing at funeral of Alton Sterling

The family of Alton Sterling is inviting the
community to mourn with them today, Friday, July 15, at a public funeral held
at Southern University in Baton Rouge.  The services will be held at the F. G. Clark
Activity Center, which will provide seating capacity for about 4,500
people. BET’s Sunday Best winner and soul singer Amber Bullock (right) are among those who will sing at the funeral.

Other special invited guests include The Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Louisiana Congressman Cedric Richmond,
who are scheduled to make remarks at the service,
according to Gary Chambers, who has been appointed by the family to
assist with funeral arrangements.

Sterling
(left) was fatally shot by police officers last week in front of the Triple S
Food Mart in North Baton Rouge. His death has contributed to the
national debate about black suspects shot by the police and drawn
hundreds to Baton Rouge for several days of protests in Sterling’s name.

The viewing for Sterling will be open casket and will go from 8 AM to 10:30 AM., with the funeral following at 11 AM CT/12 PM ET.
The funeral will air live on CNN and other local affiliates. After the
funeral, the family will be escorted by law enforcement to an undisclosed
location for a private burial.  Update (7/15/16 @ 2:00 PM ET): Now streaming at http://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-live-alton-sterling-funeral-322519619939
– J. Hardy Agency

Shirley Caesar’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Dedication set for June 28

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

Pastor Shirley Caesar’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame will be dedicated during a public ceremony at 6126 Hollywood Boulevard, in front of the Fonda Theatre, on Tuesday, June 28.  As GMF reported when the honor was announced here last June, Caesar is among only a handful of black gospel music artists to have stars cemented into the famous Los Angeles walkway.

The ceremony will begin at 11:30 AM PT (2:30 PM ET) and stream live here: Shirley Caesar – Walk of Fame Ceremony.  Gospel luminaries Kirk Franklin and Yolanda Adams will speak during the 45-minute dedication.  Read more about Pastor Caesar’s upcoming star ceremony here.

Gospel music’s reigning queen, who is also a Raleigh pastor, is currently celebrating the success of her latest project, Fill This House, which debuted in the number one spot on Billboard’s Top Gospel Album chart and features the single “It’s Alright, It’s OK” with Anthony Hamilton and the tribute song “Mother Emanuel.” 

GMF’s Libra Boyd earns doctorate

Libra Nicole Boyd, founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™, was awarded the Doctor of Philosophy degree in educational studies at the 125th Commencement of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) on Friday, May 6, 2016. Approximately 2,500 students received undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Libra’s research interests include cultural and social foundations of education, culturally responsive teaching and leadership, community-based pedagogical spaces, and the role of gospel music in social movements. In her dissertation, she explored the significance of gospel music to social activism in North Carolina. While completing doctoral studies at UNCG, she presented her research at conferences of the American Educational Studies Association, National Association for Multicultural Education, National Council for Black Studies, and the Southeastern Association of Educational Studies. She also served as a journal manuscript reviewer for Educational Studies and the Journal of Negro Education. Additionally, she published in the peer-reviewed journal, New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Development and co-authored a chapter in the forthcoming (August 2016) book, Culturally Affirming Literacy Practices for Urban Elementary Students.

The UNCG School of Education recently honored Libra for her exemplary graduate research and presented her a Graduate Research Scholar Award during its 2016 Student and Faculty Research Award Ceremony. At the awards ceremony, she gave a poster presentation on the significance of gospel music within the context of the North Carolina-based Forward Together Moral Movement.  

In addition to being GMF’s founder, editor, and primary writer, Libra is an award-winning author, speaker, musician, and educator.

The doctor is in: Lee Williams receives honorary doctorate

From LWSQCs Facebook Page

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

Congratulations are in order for Lee Williams–Dr. Lee Williams, that is.  This past weekend, the beloved quartet frontman of the Spiritual QC’s received the Honorary Doctorate of Sacred Music from Bible Believers Christian College in California.  Other members of the Spiritual QC’s–Leonard Shumpert, Patrick Hollis, and Al Hollis–were also celebrated with certificates of recognition in sacred music.

Williams began singing at eight years of age, mentored by his uncle Mitchell Thornton, who eventually formed the Spiritual QC’s.  The group established by Thornton disbanded in the 1960s, but Lee and his brother Willie maintained the group’s name and enlisted new personnel to continue singing.  His brother no longer performs with the Tupelo-based group, but Lee is a mainstay as the quartet’s lead singer and primary songwriter.  Since achieving national acclaim in the late 1990s with a pair of well-received albums–Jesus Is Alive and Well and Love Will God All the Way–he and the QC’s have become one of the most in-demand quartet gospel groups in the country with Billboard-charting albums, more than a dozen releases, and multiple Stellar Awards.  Lee Williams and the Spiritual QC’s currently travel and perform roughly 50 weeks of the year.

Desmond Pringle’s ‘Get Us Through’ single honors victims of Charleston church shootings

Desmond Pringle has a personal connection to Charleston, SC and the historic “Mother Emanuel” AME Church. The gospel singer and songwriter grew up less than a mile from the church where nine people were murdered during Bible study on June 17, 2015. Three attendees survived, including the pastor’s wife and daughter who hid.


Pringle remembers that horrific day and the national dialogue that followed concerning racism, hate crimes, and the symbolism of the Confederate flag. Exactly one year since the tragedy, he is releasing a new single, “Get Us Through,” to pay tribute to the victims and to send a message of hope and uplift to others who have been impacted by devastating events.



In a press release, Pringle shared his reaction to what has become known as the Charleston Church Massacre. He recalled, 

It
was very personal. As I watched the news, I am seeing places that
are very familiar to me–every street sign and every landmark. One of the
ladies who was killed was the wife of the pastor at the church I grew up in. I
sang at Emanuel AME just a few months prior and had been in talks with Rev. Senator
Clementa Pinckney (Emanuel AME’s pastor who was also killed) to come back and
do a concert there. It was crazy.


As
I watched the reports, I just sang to myself, ‘Get us through, Lord, Oh get us
through.’ And there the song was. It came very organically.

On June 25, Pringle will headline a gospel concert at Mother Emanuel. The concert starts at 6 PM, and will culminate a week and a half of events taking place in the city to mark the anniversary of the shootings.
“Get Us Through” will be released June 17 and will be available on iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon, and other digital platforms.

2016 BET Award nominees announced; Gospel category renamed to honor Dr. Bobby Jones

Clockwise from top left: Campbell, Lecrae, Brown, Franklin, Mann, and Cobbs

Congratulations to this year’s BET Awards gospel nominees. 

Finalists for the newly named Dr. Bobby Jones Best Gospel/Inspirational Award (formerly called the Best Gospel Artist Award) are Erica Campbell, Lecrae, Anthony Brown and group therAPy, Kirk Franklin, Tamela Mann, and Tasha Cobbs.

You can view the complete list here.

The show will take place at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on June 26, 2016, at 8 PM ET and will be broadcast live on BET.

Franklin sweeps gospel categories at Billboard Music Awards

By Libra Boyd 
Gospel Music Fever

Kirk Franklin walked with not one, but all three of the awards for which he was nominated at this year’s Billboard Music Awards.  The ceremony took place Sunday evening (May 22) in Las Vegas and aired live on ABC.  Kirk won in the categories of Top Gospel Artist, Top Gospel Album (Losing My Religion), and Top Gospel Song (“Wanna Be Happy?”).

The gospel luminary is currently enjoying the success of his “Twenty Years in One Night” World Tour–which commemorates his tenure in the music industry with songs he recorded across the span of his two decade career.

The complete list of Billboard Music Award winners is available here.

Brown, Franklin earn triple Billboard Award nominations

Brown

Congratulations to this year’s finalists for the 2016 Billboard Music Awards.  

Stellar Award history-maker Anthony Brown and group therAPy and Kirk Franklin earned noms in each gospel category–Top Gospel Artist, Top Gospel Album, and Top Gospel Song. 

Tasha Cobbs, Travis Greene, and Marvin Sapp each earned two noms.  Johnathan McReynolds, Erica Campbell, and Brian Courtney Wilson also landed one nomination each.


You can view the complete list here.

The show will take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 22, 2016, at 8 PM ET and will be broadcast live on ABC.