Gospel Today Launches New Label

Gospel Today Magazine Founder Teresa Hairston Launches Gospel Today Entertainment Music Label

Donald Lawrence Produces First Project Featuring Martha Munizzi, Stephen Hurd, Dewayne Woods, Rodney Posey, Lecresia Campbell and Melonie Daniels

Gospel Today magazine publisher, Teresa Hairston, has launched a new recording label, Gospel Today Entertainment. The Atlanta, Georgia-based firm’s first CD Gospel Today Presents: Praise & Worship Volume 3 (a.k.a. GT3) releases in May 2005. The project was produced by Grammy-nominated recording artist Donald Lawrence and recorded live at the New Birth Cathedral Church in Atlanta last year.

The tracks on the project include: “Todah” by Stephen Hurd, “El Shaddai” by Rodney Posey, “Harvest” by Rasean Buckley, “Safety (Part 1)” by Lecresia Campbell, “Safety (Part 2)” by Juandolyn Stokes, “The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” by Donald Lawrence and Dewayne Woods & When Singers Meet, “Living Water” by Kristine Soto, “I Will Always Love You” by Martha Munizzi, “Lord, I Kiss Your Presence” by Jason Nelson and “Precious Jesus” by Melonie Daniels, who was once one of Mariah Carey’s featured background singers.

Founding a recording label is a natural progression for Hairston who began to play piano when she was 4 years old. She later earned music degrees from Bowling Green State University and Southern Illinois University. Before founding SCORE (which evolved into Gospel Today) in 1989, Hairston was a promotions director for Savoy Records and later Benson Records. She used her vast music industry experiences and connections to build Gospel Today’s profile and develop a circulation of 250,000. In 1996, Hairston founded the Gospel Heritage Foundation, a non-profit organization that plans to launch the world’s first International Gospel Heritage Center, a facility that will serve as a repository of gospel music history and artifacts.

The year of 2002 was one of several new beginnings for Gospel Today. Hairston relocated the operation from Nashville to Atlanta. That year she produced the first of her annual Gospel Heritage Praise & Worship conferences that draw thousands of music ministers from across the country. That was also the year that Gospel Today co-ventured with Verity Records to produce the hit CD Gospel Today Presents: Praise & Worship ’02. The follow-up project, Gospel Today Presents: Praise & Worship Volume 2 was released in 2004 and featured artists such as Vickie Winans and Donnie McClurkin.