3/8/15 O&A Gospel Sunday: Dottie Peoples

GOSPEL SUNDAY

Dottie Peoples has been a star in the gospel music industry for more than 30 years, since she was nine years old. Called the Songbird of the South by Atlanta WAOK radio announcer Brother Esmond Patterson, Peoples won the top four honors at the 1995 Stellar Awards with her album, On Time God.

unnamed

On Time God

 Peoples’s 1995 album, On Time God, would change her role in gospel music. At the Stellar Awards, she won Female Vocalist of the Year for traditional music, Choir of the Year for traditional music, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year for On Time God. That same year, Peoples would receive a Vision Award by Bobby Jones Gospel of Black Entertainment Television (BET) and Gospel Today Magazine. On Time God would also win the Atlanta Gospel Choice Award for Song of the Year.

MI0001864227

In 1999, God Can and God Will: Live In Atlanta became her ninth album. She sang songs from the new release to an audience of 4,500 at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia. An inspiring 225-member choir backed her performance.

Oh What A Time

hqdefault

God Can

3/1/15 O&A Gospel Sunday: Ledisi- Be Grateful, Tell The World I Love Them, Thank You Lord and Precious Lord

GOSPEL SUNDAYledisi2010-screenshot-med-wide

Ledisi has shared her gift at Walter Hawkins Tribute Concert (Be Grateful), Andrea Crouch Final Funeral Service (Tell The World I Love Them) The Potter’s House (Thank You Lord) and Selma (Precious Lord).Ledisi has shared her gift at Walter Hawkins Tribute Concert (Be Grateful), Andrea Crouch Final Funeral Service (Tell The World I Love Them) The Potter’s House (Thank You Lord) and Selma (Precious Lord). This talented recording artist, songwriter and actress played Mahalia Jackson in the historical drama film, Selma. First name means “to bring forth” or “to come here” in Yoruba.   Continue reading

2/22/15 O&A Gospel Sunday: The Canton Spirituals

GOSPEL SUNDAY

canton20spirituals

The Canton Spirituals are regarded as pioneers in the genre of traditional gospel music. Founded in Canton, Mississippi in 1943, the original Canton Spirituals were Reverend I.S. Watkins, Claude “Bubba” Nichols, Warren G. Ward, Isaac Bolton, Eddie Jackson, Theo Thompson, Roscoe Lucious and founder Harvey Watkins, Sr. (December 5, 1929 – November 16, 1994). The present group is fronted by Watkins’ son, Harvey Watkins Jr., and consists of Cornelius Dwayne Watkins, Billy Voss, David Curry, Merlin Lucious, Shannon Lee, and Rodrick Jones.

Continue reading

2/15/15 O&A Gospel Sunday: BeBe and CeCe Winans

GOSPEL SUNDAY

bebececewinans1

BeBe (Benjamin) and CeCe (Priscilla) Winans are the seventh and eighth of “Mom” and “Pop” Winans’ ten children, most of whom have had gospel music careers. Together, they have received several awards, including three Grammys. While BeBe and CeCe were in high school, four of their elder brothers formed the successful Gospel music group The Winans. Continue reading

(Repost) 2/25/16 O&A NYC DANCE: Mourner’s Bench- Talley Beatty Choreographer

mourn2

Talley Beatty choreographed and performed Mourner’s Bench in 1947. It represents the anguish and loss for former slaves, now free men, killed during the Reconstruction Era at the beginning of the rise of the Klu Klux Klan. Beatty explained to me, “People were murdered by the Klan and at daybreak their relatives would find their bodies in the fields still covered in the morning dew.”

Continue reading

1/4/14 O&A Gospel Sunday: Donald Lawrence and The Tri-City Singers

GOSPEL SUNDAY

33AFE64852EF4F5C04982AF3AC9961C7

Donald Lawrence took on The Tri-City Singers after a friend vacated his position as musical director. They derived the name from the three cities that The Tri-City Singers come from are Spartanburg, SC, Gastonia, NC, and Charlotte, NC. In 1993 the group debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top Gospel Charts with A Songwriter’s Point Of View on a then-brand-new independent record label called GospoCentric Records. Continue reading

12/28/14 O&A Gospel Sunday: Richard Smallwood

GOSPEL SUNDAY

122211-shows-bobby-jones-gospel-richard-smallwood-4

Richard Smallwood is the Black Brahms of Gospel music. His lush orchestrations and choral arrangements are the hallmarks of his signature sound. An accomplished pianist, composer, arranger, vocalist and choral conductor Smallwood graduated cum laude from Howard University with degrees in both vocal performance and piano, and  graduate work in the field of ethnomusicology. He finished his Masters degree in Divinity from Howard University in 2004 and was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2006. 
Continue reading

12/14/14 O&A Gospel Sunday Holiday Series: Donnie McClurkin

Gospel Sunday

2013 BET Experience - Sunday Best Gospel Stage

American gospel music singer and minister Donald Andrew “Donnie” McClurkin, Jr. has won three Grammy awards, ten Stellar awards, two BET awards, two Soul Train awards, one Dove award and one NAACP Image award for his work. He is one of the top-selling Gospel music artists, selling over 10 million albums worldwide. In 2001 McClurkin was ordained and sent out by Winans to establish Perfecting Faith Church in Freeport, New York, where he is now Senior Pastor.
Continue reading

12/17/17 O&A Gospel Sunday Holiday Series: CeCe Winans

Gospel Sundaybebeandcece-743-croppedCeCe Winans continues to bring in the holiday spirit with three Christmas songs  Because a Child is Born, Jesus Your Beautiful, and Oh, Holy Night (Live).
Continue reading