I love this song more than I can express– it’s just classic to me.

This isn’t the original performance, but it’s great all the same.  It’s “Jesus Saves” by Marvin Winans and the Perfected Praise Choir, and this particular video features Vickie Winans on guest vocals, too!

How about that?!

Word has it that Marvin Sapp took home a BET Award last night– he won in the category for Best Gospel Artist.  I think we all called this one and could’ve seen it comin’ a mile away.  But I’m THRILLED for him!

Also nominated in the category were Vickie Winans, Kirk Franklin presents Artists United (for Haiti Relief song), Tamela Mann and The Anointed Pace Sisters.

By the way, did anyone catch the show???

An obvious highlight for the gospel industry was Kirk Franklin’s performance of “Are You Listening?” with Fred Hammond, Marvin Sapp, Kim Burrell, Yolanda Adams and Karen Clark Sheard.  Everyone was in great voice and looked great and all that.  I could’ve used a BIT more Karen Clark Sheard on the ad libs– but couldn’t we all?

But before all that happened, we had another dope-for-gospel type of moment. I was thrilled to hear Alicia Keys, in the middle of her medley of hits, introduce Kim Burrell, who joined Keys in singing “If I Ain’t Got You” (Burrell changed the lyrics to say ”if it ain’t you, Jesus… if I ain’t got you, Jesus…”).  It was an incredible moment– the audience went BANANAS as if they, too, were die-hard Kim fans since the days of her indie release of Try Me Again (y’know, with the short haircut on it).  I’m glad for where God’s taking her.

(An aside: El DeBarge wasn’t doing gospel, but that medley ministered to my VERY SOUL, so… yeah.  Just needed to say that cuz I grew up on DeBarge.)

OKAY, tell me what you thought of the show, if you caught it, and blah blah blah…

Go!

The nominees for the 10th annual BET Awards were announced yesterday.  The awards program recognizes the gospel genre in its Best Gospel Artist category.  This year, nods in that category go to:

Marvin Sapp
The Anointed Pace Sisters
Kirk Franklin Presents Artists United For Haiti
Tamela Mann
Vickie Winans

Happy about Marvin Sapp, thrilled for the Pace Sisters (project was slept on– read my review for more info), satisfied about Tamela Mann and Vickie Winans.  I dunno that the Haiti relief project should’ve been nominated.  Don’t get me wrong– I love everything that it is, was and ever stood for… I just dunno that it should be put in the Best Gospel Artist category.  Are we saying that, merely for being there, the participants are “the best” this year?

For me, this list is missing BeBe & CeCe Winans.  After a 15-year hiatus, gospel’s most famous duo returns with the highest album debut of 2009, sales that kept them at #1 on the gospel chart for MONTHS, plus media exposure that included a performance on Oprah… and they’re not even nominated?  What must one DO?!  I don’t get the nominations criteria.

I wouldn’t be the only one, of course, as nominations are doled out by a select and secret committee comprised of… well, we’re not really told who.  By the way, what’s with awards shows not telling us who’s doing all the awardin’?!

In any case, I’m predicting Marvin Sapp on this one.  And after a record-breaking debut across all genres of music a couple of months ago, I think he deserves it.

This year’s BET Awards will be hosted by Queen Latifah and will be broadcast live from L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium on Sunday, June 27th at 8pm ET/7pm CST on BET.

What do you think of the nominees???

Not too many changes in the top 10 spots on the Gospel Albums chart at Billboard.

#1 | Marvin Sapp – Here I Am
#2 | WOW Gospel 2010
#3 | BeBe & CeCe Winans – Still
#4 |Karen Clark Sheard - All In One
#5 | Fred Hammond – Love Unstoppable
#6 | James Fortune & FIYA – Encore
#7 | Earnest Pugh – Live: Rain On Us
#8 | Hezekiah Walker & LFC – Souled Out
#9| Tamela Mann - The Master Plan
#10 | Mary Mary – The Sound

Outside of the top 10, Lucinda Moore’s Blessed Broken & Given has debuted at #13, and Vickie Winans jumped from #44 to #18, and James Hall’s church choir, Voices of Citadel, jumped from #33 to #19 with their newest release– Won’t It Be Wonderful (full review of that one coming TODAY).

I’m assuming the top 10 will stay pretty much like this for a while– I don’t know of any major releases that could cause an upset and the numbers are fairly solid.

Talk to me– which of these albums do you not have, but are considering pickin’ up???

Just wanna give you guys a quick heads-up…

New episodes of gmc’s series Best of the Stellar begin this Sunday, March 21st at 10pm ET.  It will be a “Best of The Winans” episode, featuring performances by BeBe & CeCe Winans and various performances by members of the Winans Family.

Then, the following Sunday, March 28th (at the same time), they’ll feature a ”Best of Shirley Ceasar” episode, with performances including “He’ll Do It Again,” “I Say Yes” and more.

It’s great to watch some of the throwback performances that have been done over the years– it’s a really fun show.

Tunin’ in???

More details are surfacing about the upcoming Stellar Awards Mother’s Day Gospel Music Festival I mentioned last year, hosted by Central City Productions.

The 3-day celebration will take place in Orlando, FL from Friday, May 7th through Sunday, May 9th.  Hosts for the weekend will be Vickie Winans and comedian Akintunde.

Featured performers include Byron Cage, Deitrick Haddon, James Fortune, Kierra Sheard and Jonathan Nelson on Friday; Shirley Caesar, Yolanda Adams, Vickie Winans and Crystal Aikin on Saturday; Karen Clark Sheard, Kevin LeVar and Endurance on Sunday.

In addition to your travel and hotel, you’ll have to buy tix for the big gathering.  A 3-day pass to all events can be purchased for about $162.50 from Ticketmaster.  Click here for more info on the event.

Don’t forget to tune-in to FOX tomorrow night, February 26th, at 8pm ET for the LIVE broadcoast of the NAACP’s 41st annual Image Awards.  The nominees, announced in January, for “Outstanding Gospel Album (Traditional or Contemporary)” are:

Donnie McClurkin – We All Are One
Shirley Caesar – A City Called Heaven
Fred Hammond – Love Unstoppable
BeBe & CeCe Winans – Still
Vickie Winans – How I Got Over

As I predicted earlier, I’m banking on BeBe & CeCe for this one.  Also, don’t forget that Mary Mary is nominated in the “Outstanding Song” category (the overall category, not the gospel one)… dunno if they’ll win that one, but given the favor on them lately, I can’t say I’d be surprised.  Yay Marys! LOL

To see a full list of nominees, click here.

You tuning-in???

The charts have such little activity right now, I nearly didn’t wanna look at ‘em.  And I definitely didn’t feel like typing it… but I shall.

The top 7 albums are in precisely the same spots that they were in last week…

WOW Gospel 2010 is #1, BeBe & CeCe Winans are #2, James Fortune & FIYA’s Encore is #3, Tamela Mann’s The Master Plan is #4 and Fred Hammond is #5 with Love Unstoppable, Mary Mary sits at #6 and Hezekiah Walker & LFC at #7.

Brian Courtney Wilson’s Just Love gets bumped up to #8 from its #9 spot last week.  And Vickie Winans makes a huuuuge leap, from #22 to #9 this week.  I’m assuming that’s from her appearance last week on The Mo’Nique Show on BET.

The next album to shake things up will be Marvin Sapp’s Here I Am, hitting stores in just 3 weeks, on March 16th.  But, stay close to me, folks… some of you are gonna receive it before then…

The nominees for the 41st annual Dove Awards were announced on Thursday.

Natalie Grant and Bart Millard will host the awards show on April 21st.  Unlike last year, the awards will not be broadcast live– they will air on gmc on Sunday, April 25, 2010 from 8pm-10pm EST.

There are 43 categories and you guys don’t know most of the names in ‘em, so I’m not typing it all… sorry.  BUT, you can visit http://www.gmclife.com/41st-dove-award-nominees for the full list.

In the meantime, a quick recap of some of the folks you’ll find there:

Donnie McClurkin, Israel Houghton, Melinda Watts, Freddy Washington, Brian Courtney Wilson, Mali Music, Vickie Winans, Smokie Norful, Mary Mary, Crystal Aikin, Bishop Paul Morton, Hezekiah Walker, Heather Headley, Mandisa, B. Reith, Fred Hammond, Group 1 Crew, Da’ T.R.U.T.H., BeBe & CeCe Winans… see, there are just too many to name!

Ok, more Dove Awards info and discussion as the time draws nigh.  Until then, tell me what you think about the nominee list!

Heads-up, good people… Vickie Winans (frequently dubbed “the HARDEST working woman in gospel music”) will be on The Mo’Nique Show on BET tonight at 11pm ET/10pm CST.

I do believe Mo’Nique will meet her match in Vickie’s crazy self, so it promises to be a good show.

Tunin’ in???