A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards took place in Atlanta, Georgia during 2011 and 2012, but has since moved back to Nashville. The ceremonies feature live musical performances and are broadcast on TBN.
The Oak Ridge Boys is an American country and gospel vocal quartet. The group was founded in the 1940s as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in Southern gospel during the 1950s. Their name was changed to the Oak Ridge Boys in the early 1960s, and they remained a gospel group until the mid-1970s, when they changed their image and concentrated on country music.
The 34th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1992, recognizing accomplishments by musicians from the previous year (1991). Natalie Cole won the most awards (three), including Album of the Year. Paul Simon opened the show.
Shirley Ann Caesar-Williams, known professionally as Shirley Caesar, is an American gospel singer, songwriter and recording artist whose career has spanned seven decades. A multi-award-winning artist, with 12 Grammy Awards along with Dove Awards and Stellar Awards to her credit, she is known as the "First Lady of Gospel Music" and "The Queen of Gospel Music." She began recording at the age of 12 in 1951 on Federal Records.
Kirk Dewayne Franklin is an American choir director, gospel singer, dancer, songwriter, and author. He is best known for leading urban contemporary gospel choirs such as The Family, God's Property, and One Nation Crew (1NC) among many others. He has won numerous awards, including 16 Grammy Awards. Variety dubbed Franklin as a "Reigning King of Urban Gospel", and is one of the inaugural inductees into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.
Priscilla Marie Winans Love, known professionally as CeCe Winans, is an American gospel singer. Winans has been awarded 12 Grammy Awards and 28 GMA Dove Awards, 16 Stellar Awards, 7 NAACP Image Awards, along with many other awards and honors to her credit. CeCe Winans, known as the greatest gospel artist of the time, is the best-selling and most-awarded gospel artist of all time.
Yolanda Yvette Adams is an American gospel singer and host of her own nationally syndicated morning gospel show. She has sold nearly 10 million albums worldwide, with some albums achieving multi-platinum status. She has won four Grammy Awards, four Dove Awards, five BET Awards, six NAACP Image Awards, six Soul Train Music Awards, two BMI Awards and sixteen Stellar Awards. She was the first Gospel artist to be awarded an American Music Award.
Mary Mary is a female American urban contemporary gospel duo composed of sisters Erica Campbell and Trecina Atkins-Campbell. Formed in 1998, Mary Mary was launched into mainstream recognition following the release of their best-selling debut album, Thankful (2000), which contained the hit single "Shackles ". Their followup album Incredible (2002), reached number one on the Top Gospel Albums chart. Their self-titled third album, Mary Mary (2005), which contains themes the public interpreted as a channel to the group's experience, contains the worldwide hits "Heaven", "The Real Party", and "Yesterday". Their song “Can’t Give Up Now” was acknowledged by NBA Point Guard, Chris Paul after winning the NBA Western Conference Finals on the night of June 30th, 2021.
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a satirical book written by Bobby Henderson that embodies the main beliefs of the parody religion of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism. The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) was created by Bobby Henderson in an open letter to the Kansas State Board of Education in which he parodied the concept of intelligent design. After Henderson posted the letter on his website, it became an internet phenomenon and was featured in many large newspapers, which caught the attention of book publishers. Released in March 2006 by Villard Books, The Gospel elaborates on Pastafarian beliefs and practices established in the open letter.
"Optimistic" is a song by American vocal and instrumental ensemble Sounds of Blackness, recorded for their debut studio album The Evolution of Gospel (1991). It was written and produced by Gary Hines, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and features vocals from Ann Bennett-Nesby, Carrie Harrington, Coré Cotton, Patricia Lacy, and Jamecia Bennett. The urban contemporary gospel song was released as the group's debut single and reached the top three on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles chart. A remake by August Greene featuring Brandy was released in 2018. Jadakiss also recorded a version of the song, titling it "Keep Ya Head Up". The song was included on his first album, Kiss Tha Game Goodbye.
Albertina Walker was an American gospel singer, songwriter, actress, and humanitarian.
Virtue is an American Grammy-nominated gospel music trio. The group currently consists of sisters Ebony Holland, Karima Kibble and Heather Martin.
Israel Houghton is an American Christian music singer, songwriter, producer and worship leader. He is usually credited as Israel & New Breed.
Asaph Alexander Ward is an American gospel music record producer.
Evolution is the fourth album by the American vocalist, pianist and songwriter Oleta Adams and was released in 1993. The album is the follow up to Adams' worldwide hit album Circle of One and is fully produced by Stewart Levine. Like its predecessor, Evolution consists of songs with a mix of jazz, soul, pop and gospel. Evolution features three cover versions: the James Taylor song "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight", Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind" and Ivan Lins' "Evolution". Adams wrote six of the twelve album tracks, and it also features a song written by songwriter Diane Warren.
Urban/contemporary gospel is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genre was well established by the end of the 1980s. The radio format is pitched primarily to African-Americans. Christian hip hop can be considered a subtype of this genre.
Alescia Nicole Knowles, who goes by the stage name Lisa Knowles, is an American gospel musician. She started her music career, in 2008, with the release of, Experience the Evolution, that was released independently. The second album, The Evolution Continues, released in 2014 by One Voice Media. This album would chart on two Billboard charts the Gospel Albums chart, and the Independent Albums chart.
Koryn Mattanah Hawthorne is an American contemporary Christian music and gospel singer. Hawthorne was a finalist in season 8 of NBC's singing competition The Voice, at the age of 17, as a member on Pharrell Williams's team. After placing fourth on the show, Hawthorne got signed to RCA Inspiration, a division of Sony Music dedicated to gospel music recordings. Her debut studio album, Unstoppable, was released on July 13, 2018, and earned her multiple awards nominations, including two Grammy nominations.
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