I’m actually REEEEEALLY excited for this– gmc is airing a special program called Soul Train Gospel Experience this Sunday, August 1st at 8pm ET.
The program will feature the best gospel performances from the hit show Soul Train, including performances by BeBe & CeCe Winans, Al Green, Take 6, Karen Clark Sheard, Mary Mary and more.
I can only imagine how classic some of the clips will be– kudos to gmc for the innovative throwback programming.
*glares at another network who perpetually drops the ball… and you know who you are!*
Word has it that Israel Houghton is set to release his new album on August 31st, titled Love God. Love People.
The 12-track project features guest vocals from Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond and Take 6. He’s also co-written a few tracks with wife Meleasa, Tommy Sims, Aaron Lindsey and Michael Gungor. The album was recorded at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios (hence the visual homage to the Beatles’ Abbey Road album).
According to Israel, “Love God. Love People. is a return to a simple, foundational Gospel command: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.”
The full track listing for the project is as follows:
1. Love God Love People
2. Yahweh (The Lifter)
3. Love Rev
4. That’s Why I Love You
5. Others
6. You Hold My World
7. You Won’t Let Me Go
8. Our God
9. Mercies (feat. Kirk Franklin)
10. Surprises (feat. Fred Hammond)
11. Name of Love
12. Hosanna (Be Lifted Higher) (feat. Take 6)
Sounds niiiiiice! Okay, talk to me– who’s pickin’ it up?!
Dunno how many of you know Kayla Parker by name or face, but I’m sure that you know of her music. She passed in April of 2007, but the mark she left on the gospel industry is undeniable and more than noteworthy.
With musical influences ranging from Stevie Wonder to The Clark Sisters to Take 6, this singer/songwriter/producer/arranger from Detroit penned hit songs like “He’s Concerned” by CeCe Winans, “Now Are We” by Marvin Winans & the Perfected Praise Choir, and countless others. Her vocal arrangements were beautifully complex (most recently, you can hear them on Vickie Winans’ Woman To Woman album).
There aren’t too many videos available of Kayla on YouTube, but this one blesses me… so I’m posting it to bless you.
I could go on about her, but you’ll learn more if you take a minute to visit her official website: http://www.kaylaparker.com.
I think folks might have slept on the Feels Good album from Take 6. So, here’s my humble attempt to wake you up…
I don’t think I’m being dramatic when I say that Take 6 is one of the most gifted groups to ever enter the music industry, period. And this album was in keeping with that reality.
Feels Good was released in 2006 and featured GREAT hits like the jazzy “Just In Time,” the more urban “More Than Ever” and “Feels Good,” and an incredibly powerful a cappella remake of the classic Twila Paris cut “Lamb Of God.” They also re-made the Andraé Crouch hit “This Is Another Day,” and did it JUSTICE.
I was gonna embed a link to the audio, but I figured I may as well embed a VIDEO of them singing on TBN a while back. Trust me, what they do on this stage sounds PRECISELY like the album, cuz they’re dope like that. Here’s “Come On Everybody”:
And just cuz I NEED you to pay attention, here’s “Lamb Of God” at the same live performance. WOWWW:
Do you have the album? Do you love it? Did you pass on it? If so, why?
Okay, y’all have waited long enough… Let’s continue our conversation with Melonie Daniels. If you missed PART ONE, make sure you click here to get caught up on things, then come right back!
In this segment, Melonie continues talking about her performing experience with Mariah Carey. Then, she discusses her own voice, why she actually does NOT think it’s that spectacular, and why she continues to train it.
I hope you enjoy. Here’s PART TWO…
* * *
EJ: Talk to me more about your work with Mariah Carey. What was it like?
MD: It was incredible. I filled up a passport, had to add pages, and then pay for another one. *laughing*
EJ: Someone wanted me to ask you this and I told them I would: If Mariah was ever hoarse on stage, did you ever do her whistle tone notes for her?
MD: Oh, heck no. Mmmmm… That ain’t my ministry. *laughing*
EJ: You can do that!
MD: Not those whistle notes, I can’t do that whistle stuff. Well, I can do it, but it’s not controlled. It’s like a happenstance.
EJ: But you used to do her soundchecks for her, right?
MD: Yeah, cuz she wouldn’t come. *laughing*
EJ: *laughs*
MD: But, it’s like… at a certain point in your career, you know what you’re gonna do and you know what you’re gonna sound like. And if you have people working with you who know your characteristics, and they’re able to handle it, you let them do what they do.
I don’t think it was a “diva” thing. People who reach a certain status have so many people around them who overload their schedules. So, she would have interviews, photo shoots, TV tapings and all kinds of stuff, up ’til an hour before a performance. She wasn’t able to even come to the soundcheck. So, I would end up checking for her and her sound guys– so on point. They knew what hertz, what megahertz, the treble… all that stuff. And I was able to mimic her voice enough that they could get exactly what they needed, so that when she hit the stage, it was ready to go.
EJ: What was the road like with her? How did you fare, as a little Baptist girl, thrown into the mainstream industry like that?
MD: I was scared outta my mind! *laughing* And I had a moment– I was like “God, I know you didn’t give us the spirit of fear, but I’ve gotta be honest and say that I am scared witless that You’d allow me to go into this situation where I may be one of few, or maybe the ONLY one… I need You to shine through each and every thing I do– the way I work, carry myself, and sing.” I didn’t put singing first– I wanted my interactions before the singing because, at that point, singing was secondary. I had rehearsed and practiced enough.
EJ: How many years were you with Mariah?
MD: Eleven. From ’92 to 2003.
EJ: Do you miss working with her?
MD: I do and don’t. I did the road for eleven years and it was wearing. I walked away without it being a bad taste in my mouth. So, if an opportunity presented itself again, I would go. But I don’t think it would be with that camp because I believe that, whatever my assignment was, it’s done.
EJ: But, how did you know that? Why did you stop?
MD: Umm… God said it was time to move. I didn’t have a plan, I didn’t know where He was moving me, but it was a faith walk. And it was about taking the lessons that I learned in that professional surrounding and bringing that level of excellence to whatever was next, which happened to be Greater Allen Cathedral in Jamaica, New York.
I got there with people that had been in the industry with me, and because of our expertise, we were able to pour into the music ministry the things we had learned, to make a more excellent offering to God. Not just to build a music ministry and walk away, but to show people that it can be done excellently and still allow for the Holy Spirit to do what He wants to do.
EJ: That’s needed in the Body. So, do you ever get star-struck? Like, do you still have those “I can’t believe I’m here for this gig” types of moments?
MD: Yeah, I have those. Like, any of the awards shows. Because you turn one way, there’s Stevie Wonder. You turn another way, it’s Eric Clapton. You turn another way, there’s Boyz II Men (at that time)… Then, you’ve got David Foster walking past you and here comes Clive Davis and Aretha Franklin, Faith Hill and Celine Dion… You either take it in and process it, or you pass out from all the excitement. *laughing*
EJ: *laughs*
MD: I’m the kind that takes it in and processes it. The only person I get twisted over is Stevie Wonder. *laughing* I stop breathing when the man walks into the room because his ears are impeccable.
EJ: *laughing* But you’ve sung with him before, right?
MD: I’ve never sung with him. But when BET did the Walk Of Fame thing a few years ago, Mariah had to sing.
EJ: I remember that. She did “You And I.”
MD: Right. And I did the vocal arrangement for the backgrounds, because he didn’t have background vocals on that song.
EJ: I remember the performance AND the background vocals, and I could hear you loud and clear!
MD: *laughs* And I did her soundcheck. I’m glad they told me afterwards, but he was sitting in the back listening to me. And I was like “WHAT?!”
EJ: Oh wow.
MD: And I was like “I’m glad y’all didn’t tell me” because I would’ve said “I’m not doing it… somebody else do it!”
EJ: Are you kiddin’ me?!
MD: I’m so serious.
EJ: But don’t you KNOW… you know how great your voice is, right?
MD: Mmmm…
EJ: You really don’t?
MD: I don’t agree. *laughing* I do not agree. I hate to hear my voice. The only reason I listen to myself is for recording situations, if I have to match what I’ve done, or stack vocals.
EJ: What do you think is wrong with it?
MD: It’s not pleasing to me. I believe I have a decent voice, but it’s not pleasing to me.
EJ: But, you don’t think you have a nice tone?
MD: No. I think it does what it needs to do. But you’ll never get “high praise” about my voice from me.
EJ: I hear that. But that’s most vocalists, I think. How did you train your voice? Was it classical, jazz, piano lessons, what did you do?
MD: All of the above. I didn’t grow up playing piano, but when I went to college at Five Towns College, it was part of the curriculum. My ear was developed enough that I could take piano classes and make the connection between my voice and the music, and I was able to understand that it shouldn’t be separated.
And, just outside stuff with groups growing up– David Gates & Love, Peace and Joy, another group called God’s Creation, and another called One Accord, as well as being choir director at my church.
EJ: So, tons of formal training and experience, plus some informal work. How many octaves is your range, really?
MD: I think it’s four. I’ve not tested it in a minute, but I think it’s four. And females have less of a range than males do, actually.
EJ: Really?
MD: Yes. Claude V. McKnight is my principal example for this– he sings first soprano with Take 6, but he can sing as low as Alvin Chea.
EJ: He sings bass in the group, right?
MD: Yeah. So he has, like, a 6-octave voice. And the reason that guys have a wider range is because at puberty, when your voice changes, you get the low end, but you still keep that prepubescent high end, which most guys use as their falsetto.
For many females, three octaves is it. Some have four or five. I think I’m maybe four, or four and a half. When I was a kid, like around 12, I had a freakish situation as far as my voice was concerned– my voice changed in puberty.
EJ: Really?
MD: I was singing soprano like a squeaky little girl and, next day, I was singing tenor. I was devastated. So, my mom took me to voice lessons and I began exercising those top parts of my register. I have a pretty low break for a female– the break is that place where your voice changes from chest voice to head voice. For me, it’s pretty low. So, all that stuff you hear with me doing the high stuff is usually my falsetto and it’s been exercised to a point of strength, such that it sounds like my chest voice.
EJ: RIDICULOUS!
MD: But I did it out of a strange devastation. *laughing hard*
EJ: *laughs*
MD: I was like ”I’m a freak. I don’t wanna be a freak.” Please, it devastated me.
EJ: Did kids make fun of you?
MD: They didn’t make fun of me because they didn’t know what was going on. All they knew was that I was a chick with a low voice. *laughing*
EJ: Now, how did you learn to work a song so well? Some people start right in with all they’ve got and, by the vamp, there’s nowhere else to go. How did you train for that performance aspect?
MD: It’s about knowing the choices, knowing what your voice is capable of and not capable of… knowing what is comfortable for you. As far as ad libbing, if you don’t have the Word of God in your heart and your mouth, you have nothing to say.
EJ: SAY it!
MD: All it’ll be is riffs and “oh” and “yeah” and “no”. And that’s the extent of your WORD repertoire. You can tell if people are worshippers by how they ad lib on a song. You can tell what they have to offer by how they deliver a song.
Now, ”oh” and “yeah” is not always a bad thing, but it’s up to the individual with the gift to work your education of that gift. The gift comes from God, but the gifted are not perfect vessels, so we have to hone and train the gift in order for it to become effective.
EJ: It’s funny you mention honing and training the gift. A while back, your Facebook status update said you were on your way to a vocal lesson, and I laughed so hard because everybody was like “WHAT?! Not YOU!”
MD: Maaan, they blacked OUT! *laughing*
EJ: *laughs hard*
MD: I mean, I got so many comments for putting that up– “what do you mean?” or “you should be teaching it!”
EJ: Right. What’s the problem with those types of responses?
MD: It’s ignorance to think you don’t need it. But it’s also “celebritizing” things. Like, Meryl Streep– I wouldn’t be surprised if she goes and does stuff to keep herself sharp, and we call her one of the greatest actresses of the century. Or, like Denzel… he still shows up and does Shakespeare in Central Park. You know? Just to keep himself sharp.
There’s always room for improvement and the moment you think you’ve got it all, or that you don’t need anyone to show you anything… go on and pick out your casket.
* * *
Wowwww… good stuff, right?!
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m ending each interview segment with a clip of Mel doing her thing. Someone posted this video on YouTube and, though the video is not great, it’s MORE than worth the listen!
When we did the interview, she had just gotten back from this performance at the Gospel Heritage conference a couple of months ago. She told me that she had been sick with an upper respiratory infection (which almost turned into bronchitis) for several weeks. She had been on vocal rest during that time, and THIS PERFORMANCE was the FIRST DAY that she had sung in weeks. You’d never have known it cuz she held it down, as always…
Here’s Melonie singing “Precious Jesus”:
Lemme know what you think about the clip, but make sure you gimme feedback about the INTERVIEW too!
New series. I had a chat with a good friend the other day about an album that we thought was severely overlooked by folks– Marvin Winans’Alone But Not Alone. And that convo was the impetus for this new series on GospelPundit.com– Slept On.
It’s gonna feature artists and albums that were underrated or overlooked by consumers and the gospel industry. Hopefully, we can talk about good music ministries that should’ve gotten more attention than they received. If you’ve got some ideas for folks that should be featured, email me at ej@gospelpundit.com.
In the meantime, back to Marvin Winans. It was his loooooooooong-awaited debut solo album, he was singing like nobody’s business AND it featured some great guest artists– Carvin Winans, Deshondra Rideout, the late Ron Winans, Kim Burrell with Take 6 on bgv’s… Tommy Sims writing on it and what not… what more could you WANT?!
Listen here to one of my faves, “I Still Believe.” The lyrics, bgvs, the VAMP…
Anybody have it and LOVE it like I do? Anybody decided to pass on it and care to explain why? Anybody wanna tell me why folks Slept On it?!
The nominees for the 40th Annual Dove Awards are in! Some major gospel artists have been nominated in the biggest categories: Marvin Sapp is nominated for Artist of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year, Mary Mary is up for Group of the Year, and Jonathan Nelson is a nominee for New Artist of the Year.
Other notable nominees include Damita Haddon, Grits, J.R. (remember him? he’s the dude that performed at the Urban Soul Cafe during the Stellar Awards weekend that I came back raaaaving about), Kirk Franklin, Bishop Paul Morton, Regina Belle, Hezekiah Walker, Dorinda Clark-Cole, Take 6, Tye Tribbett, Deitrick Haddon… gee whiz… a little of everybody.
I’m annoyed by the absence of two groups from the list of nominees: Ashmont Hill and 21:03. Both groups are awesome and gave us some great music in the past year. So… what’s going on here?! But, I’m not boycotting… yet.
Click here to see the full list of nominees! Fan voting, which commences later this week, will determine the winners in the Artist of the Year and New Artist of the Year categories. More on that later.
Thoughts, anyone???
Oh, by the way: the show airs LIVE on Thursday, April 23rd at 8pm ET on Gospel Music Channel.
Not that you’d have known it from watching the telecast, but Mary Mary walked away with the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Gospel Artist (Traditional or Contemporary) at last night’s 40th annual awards show. Also nominated were Hezekiah Walker, Marvin Sapp, Regina Belle, Take 6.
Really??? Okay. I’m a bit surprised cuz I thought everyone was loving Marvin Sapp right now. Well, kudos ladies and rock on!
On a side note, I’ma need the producers of the show to get it together. All you needed was ONE uber-excited intern to be responsible for updating a Twitter feed, which could have been placed on your website, giving us real-time results and info on the winners. I had to scour the web just to confirm who won the gospel category! Aaarrrrggggh…
Shout-out to The Envelope at the LA Times for their full list– click here to see it.
Nominees for the 40th annual NAACP Image Awards were announced yesterday. They offer an “Outstanding Gospel Artist (Traditional or Contemporary)” award… and the nominees are:
Hezekiah Walker | Marvin Sapp | Mary Mary | Regina Belle | Take 6
Taking nothing from the other nominees, my money is on Marvin Sapp cuz I think the industry and the fans love him A LOT right now. And rightfully so.
The show, hosted by Halle Berry and Tyler Perry (cute… rhyming…) airs live on Thursday, February 12th on FOX at 8pm ET/PT (to my wife: I’m prolly gonna forget, so can you help me remember to set the DVR?).
This is Part II of this series and, of course, we can’t talk about phenomenal must-have Christmas music without saying this: Take 6. They’ve done two holiday albums, but one stood out to me– He Is Christmas.
As usual, their harmonies are impeccable and the blend is airtight. The arrangements are wildly incredible. It’s Take 6 at their best.
Notable tracks are the title track, “Sweet Little Jesus Boy,” “Silent Night” and probably the best version of “Little Drummer Boy” that I’ve ever heard in my life.
Your Christmas music collection, and probably your appreciation of Take 6, is sorely limited until you’ve at least heard this album.
Word has it that Israel Houghton is set to release his new album on August 31st, titled Love God. Love People.
I think folks might have slept on the Feels Good album from Take 6. So, here’s my humble attempt to wake you up…
Okay, y’all have waited long enough… Let’s continue our conversation with Melonie Daniels. If you missed PART ONE, make sure you 
EJ: I remember the performance AND the background vocals, and I could hear you loud and clear!
I had a chat with a good friend the other day about an album that we thought was severely overlooked by folks– Marvin Winans’ Alone But Not Alone. And that convo was the impetus for this new series on GospelPundit.com– Slept On.
In the meantime, back to Marvin Winans. It was his loooooooooong-awaited debut solo album, he was singing like nobody’s business AND it featured some great guest artists– Carvin Winans, Deshondra Rideout, the late Ron Winans, Kim Burrell with Take 6 on bgv’s… Tommy Sims writing on it and what not… what more could you WANT?!
This is Part II of this series and, of course, we can’t talk about phenomenal must-have Christmas music without saying this: Take 6. They’ve done two holiday albums, but one stood out to me– He Is Christmas.
