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When a song can make you want to shed a tear, the artist has done his job.  Simply put, Gregory Porter is my new obsession.

A few months ago, I was sitting around watching videos when I saw a video for a song called “Be Good (Lion’s Song)” by Gregory Porter. He had a great voice but I kept thinking that a voice like that doesn’t seem like it would come from a man who likes like a football player (silly me, I know, but oh well). I never thought to look up his music until late last week.

I. Have. Been Sleeping.

Gregory Porter is a gem of an artist. He’s a jazz singer, and that’s pretty clear when listening to his latest album Be Good, but that’s not all he is.  Porter mixes jazz, R&B, soul and gospel into his sound that gives him such a rich tone that all you can find yourself doing is closing your eyes and zoning out.

Be Good is one of those albums that you can play from start to finish without stopping it.  Even if you’re not a jazz fan, you will likely find something to enjoy about the album if you open your mind a bit.

It is amazing that he’s been out since 2010 (when his first album, Water, debuted) and is just beginning to get a little more mainstream notice.  His song, “Real Good Hands” was nominated for best R&B traditional performance at the 55th Grammy Awards.

Here’s the bottom line, because I could go on and on: You really need to check out his music. If you love him like I do, you’ll see if he’s coming to your city soon. Here’s the thing: Porter is booked straight through February 2014.  That’s what happens when you do something organic and real and people appreciate it.  But don’t let that stop you from looking to see if you can get some tickets anyway!

Check out “Real Good Hands” and you’ll hear why I got my tickets as soon as I saw he was coming to my city!

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From Essence

Fred Hammond has been one of the most innovative figures in Gospel for the past two decades. True to form, he continues to push the envelope by reaching across the musical divide and bridging the gap with his new group, United Tenors featuring R&B singers Dave Hollister, Eric Roberson, and gospel singer Brian Courtney Wilson. All accomplished in their own right, the four singers have united to re-imbue the male ensemble sound and inspire men to worship God, says Hammond. We caught up with the Grammy winner to talk about forming United Tenors, blending R&B with Gospel and what listeners should expect to hear on United Tenors’ new album.

How United Tenors Came Together

“I felt like it was time to bring the sound of men worshipping back to the forefront in the music world. Groups like The Winans and Commissioned are absent from today’s pool of Gospel music artists. We all felt that this was a great time for us to come together and offer that missing link. We sing inspirational songs, songs of praise and worship, and about how good and how big God is. We are magnifying the Lord.”

On the message in the music:

“Our goal is to get men together to sings songs of worship. There’s a beautiful signature female sound that resounds in Gospel music, but I believe that it’s time for men to step up and have more of a presence. Women have carried the Gospel sound for many years and we want to support them and present a strong collective of male voices. Women are a key part of the sound of the groups that accompany male singers like Kirk Franklin, Israel Houghton, and myself. We want to offer a sound that will compliment this standard.”

Check out the rest of Fred Hammond’s interview over on Essence. This should actually be a good project; you don’t have to be a religious person or even a Gospel music fan to appreciate good singing and music!

Since its debut, Bounce TV has continued to grow. The African-American network has now announced that is will produce its first original non-scripted series.

Bounce, which claims to be the fastest growing black network in television, will begin production on the network’s first-ever original reality series which will center around the daily lives of the Grammy-nominated family gospel group, forever JONES.

According to the press release, Bounce TV has ordered an initial six episodes of forever JONES with production beginning later this month in Shreveport, LA, the band’s hometown. The show will debut forever JONES this summer.

A forever JONES Holiday will dig deeper into the daily lives and challenges of this close-knit, faith-based family and address how they balance religion with success.

Will you watch? Get to know forever Jones with a video clip available after the jump.

Source: WENN

From Essence

Mary Mary is known for spreading lots of positive light to their fans through their music and through their reality TV show, but the ladies are going a bit deeper these days.

The duo, who’s set to take a break this year, has taken it upon themselves to define “a good woman” in an inspirational message on their Facebook fan page

They define a good woman as someone who “is proud of herself. Respects herself and others. She is aware of who she is. She neither seeks definition from the person she is with, nor does she expect them to read her mind. She is quite capable of articulating her needs. A good woman has a dash of inspiration, a dabble of endurance. She knows that she will at times, have to inspire others to reach the potential God gave them.”

The duo didn’t stop there; to check out Mary Mary’s full definition of  a “good” woman, head to Essence.

Do you agree with them? What’s your definition of a “good woman?

If you watched the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” last night, you saw Kandi doing something quite out of the ordinary from her usual, “spice up your sex life with some Bedroom Kandi” salesmanship– very out of the ordinary actually. Instead of talking keggle balls and adult toys, Kandi took us to church, surprising everybody, including her own daddy, with her exclamation that she wanted to make a gospel record.

And that’s exactly what she did, inviting famed gospel singer Marvin Sapp to jump on a track she wrote titled, “Stay Prayed Up.” Though Kandi’s father was ecstatic about the song, the way things left off last night, the single seemed a bit… unfinished. But apparently it’s a done deal now as the song is already topping the charts — of iTunes anyway. Kandi just tweeted:

My song with @MarvinSapp Stay Prayed Up is #1 on #itunesgospel music! Thanks everyone for the love & support!

Sounds like staying prayed up is working for the queen of money making. Now as far as her rectifying her dual revenue streams (sex and gospel), which she clearly is/was conflicted about, well she better stay prayed up on that too. Especially considering that she was just defending her right to put out a gospel track on her Instagram page last week.

“On this episode of #RHOA you see part of the gospel song I was working on. I knew when I decided to do it that I would be criticized. That’s to be expected. I’m a single mom that had a child out of wedlock, I speak openly about sex on #KandiKoatedNights, I have #BedroomKandi, etc… I’m very honest about who I am. My great grand father & my grandfather were Bishops in The Church of God Holiness. I believe in God but I have always struggled with the rules of the church, just like a lot of people. The song “Stay Prayed Up” is like a testimony for me. Hopefully people with a similar struggle can relate. I’m posting the lyrics to the hook… The song clearly states that I’m a sinner. Relates 2 people who believe n God but they’re not perfect christians…The song is my testimony of what I’ve been thru & how I deal with things,” she posted.

What do you think of Kandi’s gospel track?

I guess it’s not enough to be part of one of the most important families in the history of Gospel music. Nope, not for Michael Winans, Jr., son of The Winans member, Michael Winans (pictured above on the far left).  He plead guilty last week in a Detroit court to federal charges that he was defrauding investors out of 8 million dollars in a Ponzi scheme.

The long and short of it is that 30 year old Michael represented Winans Trust, saying it was a company that invested in crude oil bonds in Saudia Arabia.  He retained 11 “shareholders” and told them that to keep their place, they needed to recruit other investors and have them send their funds to Winans Trust.  The “shareholders,” who knew nothing about this whole scheme, were collectively able to get over 1,000 investors involved who gave a total of over 8 million dollars to a company that didn’t exist. Michael then changed most of the “company money” into funds for himself using the rest to pay back initial investors. The problem was that the “pay back” money was really just money from new “clients” and not a real return on investment.

Michael will be sentenced in February 2013 and faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years.

Why?! Why must you be a rebel? Your daddy was a member of The Winans, for goodness sakes! Do something meaningful like becoming a teacher or nurse or doctor. Everybody in the entire Winans clan (and we all know its like 1,000 of them) can sing – put out an album!!  What an embarrassment for such a legendary family.

Am I the only one too scared of prison to do something this dumb?

Source

Source: Sandra Rose

If there was any reason to stay tuned into the finale of “American Idol” last night, it had to be because your girl Fantasia came out of hiding to perform the song, “Take Me to the Pilot” with former “Idol” contestant and fan favorite, Joshua Ledet. If you didn’t know by now, Ledet has a “take ‘em to church” powerful voice, and that’s exactly what he did for the crowd–he took them to church. After he killed the first verse, Fanny came strolling out in a sequin catsuit with sheer panels on the side (and shoes on!), and her extra long weave. I don’t know if the outfit was very appropriate for the song they were singing, but she looked good body-wise in it. I enjoyed the performance, though I could have done without all the screaming near the end. But then again, that’s what they do! However, I love these two and hope Ledet blows up post-”Idol.” What did you think of the performance?

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Grammy winners. Gospel duo. Wives. Mothers. Erica and Tina Campbell, sister-songstresses better known as Mary Mary, are showcasing snippets of their life in a new WEtv series. The show, which aptly uses their stage name as its title, gives fans—old and new— a peek into sisters’ lives as performers, parents and even Erica’s pregnancy! The series rolls out as Mary Mary continues to perform, tour and record new music while running busy lives on the home front. Erica and husband, producer/songwriter Warryn Campbell, raise three children and eventually a newborn baby. Meanwhile Tina and husband, Ricky Minor Band drummer Teddy Campbell, balance raising a blended family of four while Teddy plays nightly on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. There’s a dollop family and professional feuding (their sister/stylist Goo clashes with their manager Mitch and Erica and Tina have seven siblings), but in the end, family trumps all. Whether as Mary Mary or simply Erica and Tina, music and family are their true passion, and they are determined to reach even greater heights—together.

Tune into WEtv every Thursday 9 ET/8CT to catch episodes of Mary Mary.

For a sneak peak at the season, watch the video below.

It’s part praise, part worship, part party and a whole lot of celebration. , featuring performances by Kirk Franklin, Yolanda Adams, Fred Hammond and Pastor Shirley Caesar. Other performances include Faith Evans, Johnny Gill and Kelly Price.

Hosted by Steve Harvey, the show is a perfect combination of mainstream artists and gospel greats who come together to make a joyful noise. For example, original Dream Girl Jennifer Holliday and “Glee” star Amber Riley joined gospel legends Pastor Shirley Caesar and Yolanda Adams to pay tribute to Mahalia Jackson, the “Mother of Gospel Music,” four-time Grammy award winner, civil rights activist and vocal powerhouse. Also expect a superlative performance by Ledisi, who left audience members speechless singing “Holy One.”

Celebration of Gospel 2012 airs Sunday April 1^st at 8 p.m. ET. For more information, visit BET.com.

Source: WeTV

WeTV is gearing up to debut it’s new reality show about the gospel duo Mary Mary and they’ve just released a trailer for what’s to come on the show’s first season.

The series will follow Erica and Tina Campbell through personal and professional conflicts as they try to balance their lives as working mothers and wives. Issues arise when their manager, Mitch Solarek, questions whether their other sister and stylist, Goo, is really capable of giving the gospel act the type of style needed to achieve the level of success he has in mind and that’s where things seem to take a turn for the worst. We’ll also get a glimpse into the sisters’ home lives and Erica’s pregnancy journey, as well as their own career ambitions, which may include going solo.

Overall, this looks like a pretty good show. Check out the trailer and tell us what you think.

“Mary Mary” will premiere Thursday, Mar. 29 at 10pm, with regular episodes airing at 9pm starting the following week. Will you tune in?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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