Hezekiah Walker & The Love Fellowship Crusade Choir

Hezekiah Walker is a survivor. He survived a childhood on the mean streets of Brooklyn, New York. He endured the death of his father while he was still a boy, and he rose above an environment where the overwhelming majority of young men were destined for either jail or an early grave. From the harsh, inner-city surroundings, Hezekiah has today risen to be the founder, builder and leader of one of America’s cutting-edge gospel choirs.

Fittingly, Hezekiah & the Love Fellowship Crusade Choir (LFCC) are celebrating their 15th Anniversary together with the release of the appropriately titled “Family Affair” – and the music, the message, the ministry, and the beat goes on stronger than ever. “Family Affair” continues Hez’s hit-making tradition of mixing high-energy, modern R&B with traditional Gospel roots into an amalgam that can almost single-handedly be credited with birthing the now pervasive genre of contemporary, urban gospel.

Hez and LFCC deliver irresistible uptempo grooves on “Power Belongs To God” and “Wonderful Is Your Name,” while turning soft and poignant on the moving ballad, “Oh, I Feel Jesus,” produced by Gospel superstar Donald Lawrence. Handling production chores on 12 of the album’s 13 cuts is heavyweight hit-master, J. Moss. Moss fine-tunes the trademark LFCC sound into the most mass-friendly radio-ready collection of the choir’s already extraordinary career.

“I’ve always tried to incorporate the same excitement people find in secular music into Gospel music and into what we are doing for the Lord,” said Hezekiah, “and J. was the perfect man for the job and knew exactly what he was going for. In every aspect – production, songs, performance – this is the most exciting record we’ve ever made. After 15 years to be able to say that is a real good feeling.”

Without a doubt the biggest head-turner of Hezekiah’s ongoing musical outreach is the no-hold-barred hip hop and rap of “Let’s Dance,” a departure to be sure from anything Hezekiah and LFCC have offered to date, but also an undeniable, smash-hit jam poised to carry the Gospel message farther, wider and deeper than ever before.

“‘Let’s Dance,’ is a statement that nothing less than total commitment to the Lord will do,” says Hez. “It is an explanation of who He is and it is a pure up-to-the-minute celebration and praise jam to Him that young people can latch onto in a heartbeat.”

Now-classic songs by Hez & LFCC including “Clean Inside,” and “Jesus Is The Light” have become anthems for the young Gospel church and Hez has become a teacher and mentor to a whole movement. With a coveted Grammy Award, as well as Stellar, Vision, and Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA) awards, plus numerous Dove and Soul Train award nominations to their credit; Hezekiah & the Love Fellowship have raised their presence even higher in recent years with a long list of mainstream major-media appearances.

Numerous bookings on The Today Show and a profile on the ABC Evening News with Peter Jennings have accompanied the choir’s appearance on the 1996 Grammy Award show backing Whitney Houston, CeCe Winans, and Shirley Caesar. Among their memorable performances, include backing up rap impresario, Sean “Puffy” Combs during a stirring performance of “I’ll Be Missing You,” on the 1998 MTV Music Awards. They were also featured on the cut “The Lord Is My Shepherd,” with Cissy Houston on the hit film soundtrack to The Preacher’s Wife.

Hezekiah himself was raised in the church and in a home where the sounds of sweet Gospel music filled the air and church attendance was assumed. In a world where life seemed harsh and unfair, Hezekiah’s mother shepherded her boy out of harm’s way and into church where he gave his life to Christ at the age of 13.

Since the age of eight, Hezekiah had been singing solos in the church, and began putting together and writing songs for a small gospel ensemble during his mid-teens. When he started the Love Fellowship Crusade Choir in 1985, he envisioned it as nothing more than a weekend outlet for his musical talents. But the Almighty had bigger plans in mind...

Two independent albums by the choir in 1987 and 1990 were soon followed by their move to the majors, where they were quickly catapulted to national prominence. Hezekiah is now pastor of the thriving Love Fellowship Church, still in his native Brooklyn, New York, where he lives with his wife, Monique, and the couple’s children.

Having watched his ministry grown in 15 years from 12 people to the globe-spanning outreach it is today, Hezekiah is quick to point out to Whom the credit and praises belong. “To watch my ministry go from a tiny seed to a tree filled with good fruit is an amazing blessing and incredibly exciting,” he said. “The Lord has used this choir, this church and this entire ministry to reach thousands and thousands of souls for Him.”