Sherri Shepherd– comedian, actress and co-host of the wildly popular talk show The View– has been announced as the host of the 42nd Annual Dove Awards, to be held on Wednesday, April 20th in Atlanta, GA at the Fabulous Fox Theatre.

The announcement of Shepherd as host is the most recent in what seems to be several cross-cultural initiatives of the Gospel Music Association.  The organization’s awards ceremony was moved from its Nashville home to Atlanta last year, and it has announced the upcoming involvement of several gospel artists– including Bishop Paul Morton and Lecrae– in the upcoming Dove Awards press conference, to be held on February 16, 2011.

The awards program will air on gmc on Sunday, April 24th.

I’m dubbing yesterday “Gospel Day at ABC.” 

Marvin Sapp performed “Fresh Wind” on Good Morning America and Fred Hammond performed “They That Wait” on The View (the show also featured Vice President Joe Biden– can you say EXPOSURE?!).

I’m thrilled for the mainstream opportunities and I’m sooo proud of both of ‘em.

For your viewing pleasure, I’ve embedded the videos–

Marvin Sapp:

Fred Hammond (click on the last dot on the timeline):

Now, tell me what you think!

I like this news…

Make sure you tune in to ABC tomorrow morning to catch Marvin Sapp perform his hit single, “The Best In Me,” on Good Morning America in the 8:30am-9:00am ET segment.

Then, catch Fred Hammond on The View at 11am ET, where he’ll be performing his single “They That Wait.”

Shout-out, also, to Sherri Shepherd (co-host of The View)… Fred’s coming to perform as part of her birthday celebration (last year, she brought The Clark Sisters)… that’s cool!

*clappin’*  Yay!  I love broadened horizons and mainstream access.  Congrats, guys!

Who’s tuning in???

Make sure you tune in to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno TOMORROW NIGHT (Tuesday, May 5th) to catch The Clark Sisters performing “Higher Ground,” from the recent compilation Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration.  Check your local listings.

Dag y’all… first The View, now The Tonight Show with Jay Leno… Oprah next???

Word has it that the whole Clark Sisters Live: One Last Time, wasn’t their “last time” by ANY means!

Apparently, the ladies are slated to release a CHRISTMAS album at the end of this year AND another full project in 2010, both to be released on EMI Gospel.

And, you know how I mentioned that Karen and her husband, J. Drew Sheard, have started Karew Records?  Well, the label is an imprint of EMI Gospel and the intention is that the sisters will, one-by-one, be added to the artist roster as solo artists AND have ownership of their own masters.  Plus, their son, J. Drew, is slated to be A&R rep for Karew.  Coolness!

AND, don’t forget that they’re performing “Higher Ground” (which I featured on this site last week) and “You Brought The Sunshine” on ABC’s The View this morning!!!

Shout-out to Jawn Murray for sharing ALL of that Clark Sisters info with the industry (and, Happy-Day-After-Your-Birthday, dude!).  And props to our loyal reader, Curtis, for nudging me to talk about it all.

Ok, talk to me:

(1) How do we feel about the Christmas album idea– hit or miss?

(2) Are we excited for the 2010 project, and can Donald Lawrence produce it again, please?!

(3) When/how is Dorinda gonna be added to Karew Records?  Is her GospoCentric contract gonna be up???

Thoughts???

Word has it that The Clark Sisters will be appearing on The View this Wednesday, April 22nd, as part of a birthday celebration for Sherri Shepherd.  That’s HOT.

Check your local listings for airtimes: http://abc.go.com/.