St. Louis, MO

Washington Metropolitan AME Zion Church was organized in 1865. It began with house to house prayer meetings led by the first known Pastor, Rev. Gary Matthews. Later, in 1865 the prayer group moved into it’s first building located at Fourteenth and Market Streets, St. Louis, MO.
The choir loft is situated directly behind the pulpit. For many years, Cathedral Choir has produced celestial sounds in the form of anthems, hymns and canticles and the acoustics of the church are the finest of any cathedral in the area.

Tallahassee, Florida

The mission of the Florida A&M University Choral Music Division is to provide the highest quality vocal / piano music at the undergraduate level for music majors embarking on careers as teachers, scholars, performers or composers. It is also the mission of the division to teach non-majors and members of the community about music as a part of human culture and experience.

With its 200-plus members representing some 100 churches of various denominations from throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the DFW Mass Choir was organized on March 20, 1990 by the Rev. Armond W. Brown, Pastor of the Fellowship Baptist Church of Oak Cliff, and the Rev. Milton Biggham, Executive Producer, Savoy Record Company of New York City. Making their live recorded debut that July 14 with I’ll Let Nothing Separate Me, the choir then toured the country’s urban centers; subsequent recordings include For His Glory, Another Chance and I’d Rather Have Jesus.

Written by Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Franklin was raised by his great aunt Gertrude, having been abandoned as a baby by his mother. Gertrude collected and resold aluminum cans to raise money for Kirk to take piano lessons from the age of 4. Kirk excelled in music, able to read and write music by ear. He received his first contract offer at the age of 7, which his aunt turned down. He joined the church choir and became music director of the Mt. Rose Baptist Church adult choir, at the age of eleven. Despite his strict religious upbringing, Franklin rebelled in his teenage years, and in an attempt to keep him out of trouble, his great aunt arranged an audition for him at a professional youth conservatory associated with a local university. He was accepted and while his life seemed to be on track for a while, the announcement of a girlfriend’s pregnancy and his eventual expulsion from school for behavioral problems proved otherwise.

After the shooting death of a friend, Franklin returned to the church, where he began to direct the choir once again. He also co-founded a gospel group, The Humble Hearts, which recorded one of Franklin’s compositions and got the attention of gospel music legend Milton Biggham. Impressed, Bigham enlisted him to lead the DFW Mass Choir in a recording of Franklin’s song “Every Day with Jesus.” This led to Bigham hiring Franklin (at just twenty years old) to lead the choir at the 1990 Gospel Music Workshop of America Convention, a major industry gathering.

Chicago, IL.

The Fellowship Choir featuring Sister Loretta Oliver calls Chicago home, refered to by it’s members as “the ship”, Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church was founded by Rev. Dr. Clay Evans in 1950.
He has and is a leader in the Civil Rights Movement since 1965. He is the Founding National Board Chairman of Operation, (PUSH) and he held this position for five years. Reverend Evans has been a featured soloist on albums with the Voice Choir of the Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church and with the Voice Choir of the African American Religious Connection(AARC), winning the 1996 Stellar Award for Best Gospel Album of the Year, which included the song “I’ve Got a Testimony”. Reverend Evans retired on December 8, 2000 as the Pastor of the Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church and now holds the title of Founder and Senior Pastor of the church.

Dorinda sings at Gospel Superfest 2006

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.

Atlanta, Georgia

The New Life Inspirational Gospel Choir (New Life) was founded in August of 1984 by the Reverend Jonathan Alvarado, a graduate of Morehouse College and presently the pastor of Total Grace Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia. He was succeeded by the Rev. Sirdelrol Vonzel Drayton, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, who also attended Morehouse College.

Under the leadership of Rev. Drayton, New Life grew from a mere eight members to nearly 100 dedicated voices. From his directorship sprang forth many dedicated assistant directors, including Ms. Stephanie Pugh, Rev. James Fields, Ms. JoAnn Carrington, Mr. William Durham, Mr. Andre Harrison, and Min. George Luster IV. In March, 1993, Rev. Drayton was succeeded by Rev. Jeronn C. Williams, then a student and now a graduate of Morehouse College and the Pastor of the New Life International Family Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

From its founding to the present, the spirit of ministry has been deeply embedded into the hearts of the members of the New Life Inspirational Gospel Choir. They presently have members representing the entire Atlanta University Center, which includes Morehouse College, Spelman College,Clark Atlanta University, Morris Brown College, and the Interdenominational Theological Seminary, also members from Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Emory University, Kennesaw State University, Atlanta Metropolitan College, Georgia Perimeter College, Luther Rice Seminary, and Devry University.

Whites Creek, TN

Mount Zion Baptist Church is one of the oldest black churches organized in Nashville, TN. The church was organized in 1866; just three years after President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Throughout its rich history, Mount Zion was led by 14 dynamic pastors and currently Bishop Walker serves as Bishop of Senior Pastors International for the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship under the leadership of International Presiding Bishop Paul S. Morton, Sr.

Macon, Georgia

Formed in 1983, the 150-voice Georgia Mass Choir came to prominence through highly visible appearances in the Whitney Houston film The Preacher’s Wife and at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Lead voice, songwriter, and founder Rev. Milton Biggham had spent time organizing Savoy Records, but returned to his home state to organize the choir from over 600 applicants. Naturally, the Georgia Mass Choir began recording for Savoy, and released their first album Yes, He Can in the mid-’80s. Additional albums followed, and by the early ’90s, the group began to be recognized around the nation as one of the leading gospel choirs through Grammy and Dove Award nominations, and the gift of the Keys to the City of Atlanta. Film director Penny Marshall cast them in The Preacher’s Wife in 1996, and the choir also received a Gospel Music Workshop of America Excellence Award.

Biography by John Bush, All Music Guide