Influenced by the preaching style of her mentor and spiritual mom Pastor Shirley Caesar, Dorinda preaches and sings more fearlessly today than ever before about overcoming trials and tribulations.
She’s been called “the Rose of Gospel,” “the church girl,” and “evangelist” but more than anything else, three time Grammy award winner Dorinda Clark Cole is a fired up sister for Christ and one of the most gifted vocalists in the music world today.
Professor Wilbur Belton hailing from the Nation’s Capital, has carved out an illustrious musical career that’s been highlighted by work with gospel’s finest including Vickie Winans, Marvin Sapp and Richard Smallwood, and meny award recognitions.
In 2005, a friend suggested that Belton record one of his choirs during the Labor Day Weekend Youth Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and LADWEC was born. Originally, the group consisted of 59 vocalists, but due to travel constraints, LADWEC, with members from another gospel group Chosen, was merged and eventually whittled down to a 22-member ensemble.
Timothy Wright started on piano at age 12, and sang and composed for his church choir as a teenager at the St. John’s Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God in Brooklyn. He played piano for Bishop F. D. Washington and Isaac Douglas in the 1960s and 1970s, including on recordings, and he formed his own gospel ensemble in the mid-1970s, the Timothy Wright Concert Choir. He eventually became pastor of the Pentecostal Grace Tabernacle Christian Center Church of God in Christ located in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York and issued albums regularly from 1990.
Rev. Wright’s 1994 album Come Thou Almighty King, with the New York Fellowship Mass Choir, made Billboard’s Top 20 chart for gospel albums and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album, as was his 1999 release Been There Done That.
On July 4, 2008, Rev. Wright was critically injured in a car crash on Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania, a crash which killed his wife and grandson as well as the driver of the oncoming car. Nine months after the devastating car crash left him paralyzed he died April 24, 2009 as a result of these injuries, at the age of 61. bio credit:wikipedia.org
“We would be delayed, but we would not be denied.” Bishop Bryant Robinson Jr. said in an interview. In September 2011 the church that made headlines was nearing completion for the second time after an arson fire burned the building to the ground. It was just hours after election results declared that Barack Obama had become president. Prosecutors alleged in a three-week trial that Michael Jacques, 27, of Springfield, Mass. and two white friends were motivated by racial resentment when they doused the building with gasoline and torched it.
The original church construction had begun in 2007 and the nearly-finished Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Springfield, Massachusetts,was about 80% complete when the phone rang at 3:00 am, November 5, 2008. Pastor Robinson arrived in time to watch his church disappear into a fire.
The crime drew international attention and with the help of Gov. Deval L. Patrick, new financing was secured. Volunteers came in from Chicago, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, Ca. and a host of other places, bringing their own tools and paying their own expenses in an effort to help rebuild. “It’s remarkable,” the pastor said in an interview with Jack Flynn on masslive.com. “In the beginning, all we saw was flames and smoke. But we asked for the Lord’s help and we have received it.”
Keeping up a tradition of going to church the day before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, President Obama and his family worshipped at the Zion Baptist Church in Northwest D.C. Last year the first family attended services at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church just before the King holiday. The Obamas did not actively participate in the church service, but listened from their pew as pastor, the Rev. Keith Byrd Sr., deliver his sermon. Rev. Byrd invoked William Shakespeare’s “To be, or not to be” during the ceremony telling parishioners that was the question Dr. King had to answer during a time of social upheaval.
“Be a source of hope,” the reverend told the congregation.
The service also included a reading from King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
The roots of gospel music are not well documented. Early recordings were lost. Stories behind the songs weren't written down. A book recounts the history of the beloved American art form.
NPR's Michele Norris discusses the rich history of gospel and spirituals with Robert Darden, author of People Get Ready. Click Here: www.npr.org
If you're looking for sheet music, we recommend Sheet Music Plus.
They have the world's largest selection, guaranteed low prices, and
great customer service.
Bulletin Board
CHOIR WORKSHOPS
If you are having a choir workshop, let us know and we'll post it here. Tell us when, where and leave a contact name & number or email address.
