On Wednesday, I recapped my great trip to the McDonald’s Inspiration Celebration Gospel Tour on its Chicago, IL tour stop.  While I was there, I caught up with songstress Regina Belle and chatted about a few things.  What initially stood out to me was how cool and down-to-earth she is (I think I may have dubbed her my auntie in my head).

Regina Belle says that the experience with McDonald’s and the Inspiration Celebration Gospel Tour has been great.  Incidentally, her first job was at a McDonald’s, so she’s kinda having a full-circle moment.

We chatted briefly about the success of her radio hit, “God Is Good,” at which time she shared that it was the last song to make her debut gospel album, Love Forever Shines.  Her brother wrote the tune after hearing her full album and remarking that it didn’t have anything from their childhood, their roots, on it… and it needed to.  She had no idea how incredibly successful it would be at radio and in churches every Sunday morning!

She also shared some of a recent testimony with me– how she was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year (though it had been growing since childhood), in the midst of promoting her album.  “It was one of the most ‘alone’ moments I had ever had in my life,” she recounted.  “That’s when I had to make the things that I talk about and sing about… that’s when I had to make them work for me.  I had to exercise my own relationship with God.”  Even now, after having recovered from the grueling multiple surgeries, she is clinically deaf in her left ear.  Her joy and commitment to her calling, though, remains unfettered– she’s not stopping!

Of course, we touched on the whole “R&B turned gospel artist” issue that seems to plague anyone who records a gospel album after experiencnig even a modicum of success in mainstream music.  Belle set the record straight: “I could make waaaay more money, with no hit record– actually, with no record out at all– by continuing on in R&B.  I am here because of a calling and, trust me, I fought God tooth and nail.”  She is grateful for the road she traveled, especially because she gets to go back to areas that other church people aren’t able to go– and she takes the gospel message with her.

Before we parted, I had to prove to her that I was a bona fide Regina Belle fan from back in the day by bringing up her soundtrack work from the movies Tap and Leonard 6 (y’all don’t know nothin’ about that).  She certified me a “for real” fan.

Regina Belle is working on a new gospel album, which will incorporate musical discussions about some serious social issues facing the world today.  The project will feature assistance from J Moss, Chris Walker, her brother Bernard Bell, and Micah Stampley, among others.

And that’s about it!  Regina Belle was a delight to chat with and I’m excited for what she’s doing and for what’s to come!

How about you???