Four New Compilations From Join Legacy’s Essential Series

ESSENTIALS follow-up 2006-2007 Praise & Worship collections by Yolanda Adams, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Twinkie Clark, Daryl Coley, Commissioned, and Richard Smallwood, plus first two multi-artist volumes
of The Very Best Of Praise & Worship

Four collections arrive in stores September 25, 2007, on Verity/Legacy

Contemporary Gospel soars into the Legacy catalog on the wings of the Zomba Gospel Group’s Verity Records imprint, and a quartet of double-CD Essential Series collections on four of the most prominent figures in the entire genre: Fred Hammond, Pastor John P. Kee and his New Life Community Choir, Pastor Donnie McClurkin, and Pastor Hezekiah Walker and his Love Fellowship Crusade Choir. All four packages – with separate liner notes on each written by Bill Carpenter, author of Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia – will arrive in stores September 25th on Verity/Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAIN­MENT.

Legacy’s growing catalog of Contemporary Gospel titles got off to a righteous start in June 2006, with six Praise & Worship compilations from the works of Yolanda Adams, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Twinkie Clark, Daryl Coley, Commissioned, and Richard Smallwood, along with the first volume of The Very Best Of Praise & Worship (16-songs). Exactly one year later in June 2007, Holla: The Best Of Trin-I-Tee 5:7 and the 14-song The Very Best Of Praise & Worship, Volume 2 both arrived in stores.

Contemporary Gospel now joins the prestigious double-CD Essential Series with these four new collections. Individual details are follows:

The Essential Fred Hammond

Detroit native Fred Hammond was destined to be a major catalyst in bringing rhythmic R&B and Gospel grooves to the formerly white bread Praise & Worship field, as Bil Carpenter notes. Former bassist for the Winans in the early ’80s, Hammond was a founding member of the Urban crossover Gospel group Commissioned in 1984, and stayed with them a full decade – though the beginning of his solo career on Verity took place with 1991’s I Am Persuaded album (with “Mender Of Broken Hearts”). Three years later he left Commissioned and formed the Radical for Christ Choir, an innovative shot in the arm for P&W. Hammond made deep impressions as one of the triple head­liners with Yolanda Adams and Rev. Hezekiah Walker on 1996’s Shakin’ The House – Live In L.A. (“Unconditional”), and his fourth solo album that same year, Spirit Of David (“When The Spirit Of The Lord”).

The stage was set for 1998’s ambitious but ultimately successful double-CD Pages Of Life: Chapters I & II, with disc one’s 16 solo studio tracks (among them “Please Don’t Pass Me By,” “Jesus Is All,” “Just To Be Close To You,” and “Let The Praise Begin,” which won the 1998 Dove Award for Best Contemporary Gospel Song, with Radical for Christ) and disc two’s electrifying live concert with Radical for Christ in Detroit (“Glory To Glory To Glory,” “No Weapon,” “We’re Blessed/Shout Unto God”). The album went gold and platinum, and was followed up with another gold seller with Radical for Christ in 2000, Purpose By Design (with “Let Me Praise You Now,” “Give Me A Clean Heart,” and live versions of “You Are The Living Word,” “I Want My Destiny,” and the remake of Sam Cooke’s “Jesus Be A Fence Around Me”).

Hammond’s only Christmas album was released on the fateful day of September 11, 2001, Christmas… Just Remember (“His Name Is Jesus”). Exactly one year later came Speak Those Things: POL Chapter 3 (with two live opening tracks, including “You Are My Daily Bread,” then 13 studio cuts, among them “Show Me Your Face”), and crossed to Top 30 R&B and Top 40 Pop on the album charts. Hammond was one of a dozen contributors to 2003’s Gospel Today Presents Praise & Worship Volume 2: Live At The Gospel Heritage Conference (“You Are My Life/Total Praise”), returning with 2004’s 19-track Somethin’ ’Bout Love (Top 5 R&B, Top 40 Pop, with “Celebrate (He Lives)” and “Praise Belongs To You”). His most recent album, Free To Worship – Live At The Potter’s House (Top 30 Pop, with “This Is The Day”) pays homage to the Dallas sanctuary of Bishop T.D. Jakes, of which Hammond is now a member.

The Essential Fred Hammond

(Verity/Legacy 88697 15385 2) Disc One – Selections: 1. Jesus Be A Fence Around Me (Live) (E) • 2. Please Don’t Pass Me By (D) • 3. When The Spirit Of The Lord (Live) (C) • 4. Mender Of Broken Hearts (A) • 5. Glory To Glory To Glory (Live) (D) • 6. His Name Is Jesus (F) • 7. Show Me Your Face (G) • 8. No Weapon (Live) (D) • 9. You Are The Living Word (Live) (E) • 10. Celebrate (He Lives) (I) • 11. You Are My Daily Bread (Live) (G) • 12. Let The Praise Begin (D).

Disc Two – Selections: 1. Unconditional (Live) (B) • 2. I Want My Destiny (Live) (E) • 3. We’re Blessed/Shout Unto God (Live) (D) • 4. Jesus Is All (D) • 5. Let Me Praise You Now (E) • 6. Give Me A Clean Heart (E) • 7. I Am Persuaded (A) • 8. This Is The Day (Live) (J) • 9. Praise Belongs To You (I) • 10. Just To Be Close To You (D) • 11. I Will Find A Way (I) • 12. You Are My Life/Total Praise (Live) (H).

From album:
A – I Am Persuaded (originally released 1991, as Benson 84418-2727-2; and 1997, as Verity 43045)
B – Shakin’ The House – Live In L.A. (originally released March 1996, as Benson 4272, and 1997, as Verity 43068)
C – Spirit Of David (originally released August 1996, as Benson 4320, and 1997, as Verity 43047)
D – Pages Of Life: Chapters I & II (originally released April 1998, as Verity 43110)
E – Purpose By Design (originally released March 2000, as Verity 43140)
F – Christmas… Just Remember (originally released Sept. 11, 2001, as Verity 43174)
G – Speak Those Things: POL Chapter 3 (orig. rel. Sept. 2002, as Verity 43197)
H – Gospel Today Presents Praise & Worship Volume 2: Live At The Gospel Heritage Conference (originally released December 2003, as Verity 58248)
I – Somethin’ ’Bout Love (originally released June 2004, as Verity 58744)
J – Free To Worship – Live At The Potter’s House (orig. rel. Jan. 2007, as Verity 86952)

The Essential JohnP. Kee

God delivered John P. (for Prince) Kee, the 15th of 16 children, from a street life of dissolution as a troubled teen to a pastor’s calling at his New Life Fellowship Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, which he formed in 1981 and has led ever since. In the course of his leadership and his prolific work with other artists, Bil Carpenter declares Kee “number one in line to inherit the throne of gospel’s king, Rev. James Cleveland,” who passed on in 1991. Kee’s incorporation of southern gospel, Urban soul and R&B, old school shout band technique, and (more recently) hip-hop beats, has won legions of fans across the country.

Kee and his choir recorded at least five albums before breaking through with 1989’s Wait On Him, which hit Top 5 on the Billboard gospel sales chart and won three Stellar awards, including Song Of The Year for “It Will Be Alright.” The choir has showcased many singers over the years, starting here with Sheila Lakin on “The Anointing.” Kee has recorded more than a dozen albums under the Verity banner, nearly twice that many in his career, but this collection cleaves closely to his (primarily) live material with the NLCC. After releasing Wash Me in 1991 (with “Standing In The Need,” “More Like Jesus” again featuring Sheila Lakin, and Kee’s duet with Lowell Pye from Men Of Standard on “Jesus Is Real”), they came back even stronger the next year on We Walk By Faith. The album was their first to top the Gospel chart at #1 and included “He’s Able” (with Sheila Lakin’s lead vocal), “We Glorify” (Kee’s duet with Vanessa Bell Armstrong), and “New Life.”

The first album to cross over to the Top 10 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart was 1994’s Show Up! (“The Lord Is Able,” “Show Up!,” “He’ll Welcome Me,” and “God Has Been So Good” with Tina Morrison on lead vocal). The gold album generated five Stellar Awards, a Soul Train Music Award, and a Grammy Award nomination. Kee busted Heatseekers again in 1996, with Stand!, and finally hit #1 on the chart the next year with Strength (“Clap Your Hands,” “I Do Worship,” “Mighty God,” and Kee’s duet with Drea’ Randle on the title track). Three years later, Kee issued his first double-album, Not Guilty… The Experience (“You Blessed Me,” “Greater,” “Sovereign,” “I Believe,” “Rain On Us”), a mammothly successful project that crossed over from #1 Heatseekers to #4 CCM and #41 R&B.

The Essential JohnP. Kee (Verity/Legacy 88697 15908 2) Disc One – Selections: 1. Wash Me (B) • 2. Standing In The Need (B) • 3. The Lord Is Able (D) • 4. More Like Jesus (B, Sheila Lakin, lead vocal) • 5. My Mind Is Made Up (C) • 6. You Blessed Me (G) • 7. Greater (G) • 8. Clap Your Hands (F) • 9. He’s Able (C, Sheila Lakin, lead vocal) • 10. We Glorify (C, John P. Kee & Vanessa Bell Armstrong, lead vocals) • 11. Show Up! (D) • 12. I Do Worship (F) • 13. God Has Been So Good (D, Tina Morrison, lead vocal).

Disc Two – Selections: 1. Strength (F, John P. Kee & Drea’ Randle, lead vocals) • 2. It Will Be Alright (A) • 3. Jesus Is Real (B, John P. Kee & Lowell Pye, lead vocals) • 4. New Life (C) • 5. He’ll Welcome Me (D) • 6. Sovereign (G) • 7. I Believe (G) • 8. Wait On Him (A) • 9. Rain On Us (G) • 10. The Anointing (A, Sheila Lakin, lead vocal) • 11. Stand! (E) • 12. Mighty God (F) • 13. Thank You Lord (He Did It All) (F). (All songs on both discs with John P. Kee, lead vocal, unless otherwise noted. All songs recorded live except Disc One, tracks 7, 10, 11; and Disc Two, tracks 7, 8, 13.)

From album:
(Note: all titles preceded by New Life Community Choir Featuring John P. Kee – )
A – Wait On Him (originally released 1989; reissued 1993, as Jive 43003)
B – Wash Me (originally released 1991; reissued 1993, as Verity 43004)
C – We Walk By Faith (originally released 1992; reissued 1993, as Verity 43005)
D – Show Up! (originally released 1994; reissued 1995, as Verity 43010)
E – Stand! (originally released 1996, as Verity 43014)
F – Strength (originally released 1997, as Verity 43108)
G – Not Guilty… The Experience (originally released 2000, as Verity 43139)

The Essential Donnie Mcclurkin

A singer’s singer blessed with a “booming, nearly-operatic tenor,” as Bil Carpener describes his voice, Donnie McClurkin overcame childhood adversities to rise to the pantheon of Gospel music’s most beloved performers. Several of his recordings, “Stand,” “We Fall Down” and “I Call You Faithful” among them, are contemporary Gospel standards. And all four of his principal albums (which are the source for this collection) – including the Grammy award-winning Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album of 2003, …Again, and Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album of 2005, Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs – have reached the top rungs of the Gospel, Pop, R&B, CCM, and Heatseekers charts. Yet for all his success, which includes tv cameos and a starring movie role, he continually hints at devoting himself full-time to his duties as pastor of the Perfecting Faith Church in Long Island, New York that he founded in 2002, against which all his other activities take second place.

His success began early on, in a church-based household where one of his aunts, a singer with Andrae Crouch, introduced Donnie to the Gospel don, who became a mentor to him. Donnie began on the piano as a teen and organized his six siblings into the McClurkin Singers. Later on, there was the New York Restoration Choir (on Savoy Records in the 1990s), and connections with the Winans that raised Donnie’s profile. This period culminated in a deal with Warner Alliance Records and his self-titled album debut in 1996 – which Oprah Winfrey turned into a home run when she discovered “Stand” and had Donnie sing it on her show.

Ironically, this early success was not immediately followed up. Instead, his next album did not arrive until 2000 – but its release was an explosive event: Live In London And More… (with eight of its 14 tracks included here), recorded at Fairfield Hall, introduced “We Fall Down” and kept Donnie’s reputation intact as one of the genre’s great songwriters and performers. It rose to #1 Gospel, #1 CCM, #1 Heatseekers, and #22 R&B. Another long hiatus between albums was finally ended when …Again was finally released in 2003. Fans rallied to the album which again crossed over on every chart: #1 Gospel, #3 CCM, #12 R&B, and #31 Pop. Six of its 11 tracks are featured on this collection, including the duet with Yolanda Adams on Carol Bayer Sager & David Foster’s “The Prayer,” produced by Foster. (…Again was subsequently issued in DualDisc format with 5.1 Surround Sound and enhanced stereo.) Donnie’s most recent album (which is nearly three years old as of this writing) was a return to live performance, the double-CD Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs. 10 of its 21 tracks are reprised here, including all four extended-length medleys: “Church Medley,” “Blood Medley,” “Jesus Medley,” and “Language Medley,” as well as his climactic version of the Five Stairsteps’ “Ooh Child.”

The Essential Donnie Mcclurkin (Verity/Legacy 88697 15388 2) Disc One – Selections: 1. That’s What I Believe (B) • 2. Just For Me (B) • 3. Caribbean Medley (B) • 4. Great Is Your Mercy (B) • 5. Church Medley: We’ve Come This Far By Faith/I Will Trust In The Lord (D) • 6. The Prayer (C, duet with Yolanda Adams) • 7. I’ll Trust You, Lord (B) • 8. Special Gift (C) • 9. Create In Me A Clean Heart (C) • 10. Again (C) • 11. I Call You Faithful (D) • 12. Holy (C) • 13. Stand (A).

Disc Two – Selections: 1. Days Of Elijah (D) • 2. Only You Are Holy (D) • 3. Agnus Dei (D) • 4. Blood Medley (D) • 5. I’m Walking (C) • 6. Total Praise (D) • 7. We Fall Down (B) • 8. Jesus Medley (D) • 9. Ooh Child (D) • 10. Victory Chant (Hail Jesus) (B) • 11. Who Would’ve Thought… (B) • 12. Language Medley (D). (All songs recorded live except Disc One, tracks 6, 8-9, 10, 12; and Disc Two, track 5.)

From album:
A – Donnie McClurkin (originally released October 1996, as Warner Alliance 46297)
B – Live In London And More… (originally released August 2000, as Verity 43150)
C – …Again (originally released March 2003, as Verity 43199)
D – Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs (orig. rel. October 2004, as Verity 64137).

The Essential Hezekiah Walker

Brooklyn’s Love Fellowship Tabernacle is home since 1994 to one of the most high profile pastors in all of contemporary Gospel music, the two-time Grammy Award winning Hezekiah Walker. He is nicknamed the Hip-Hop Pastor because he has been able to attract such urban stars as Russell Simmons, Coko, P. Diddy, Lil’ Kim, and Foxy Brown to his Sunday services. They come, but so do the seniors reared on old school Pentecostal fervor. “Walker’s gift,” writes Bil Carpenter, “is in crafting his arrangements from the standpoint of what the average church listener wants to hear rather than asserting some cutting-edge or arcane musical vision that might not go over with the generally conservative church folks who make up his fan base.”

Walker’s Love Fellowship Crusade Choir has been getting their praise on since 1987, when they recorded the first of two albums for Philadelphia’s indie Sweet Rain label. This collection moves ahead five years to songs from their first of three A&M albums, Focus On Glory (“Jesus Is The Light Of The World,” “Let The Redeemed,” and the title tune). With the 1993 release, Live In Toronto (“Lord, Send Your Spirit Down,” “Clean Inside,” “This Is The Gospel Of Jesus Christ,” “Anyway You Bless Me”), they discovered the joys of live concert recording and never looked back. Their breakthrough Live In Atlanta At Morehouse College (“Make It To That City,” “That’s Where I’ll Be,” “Love Lifted Me,” “Calling My Name”) won the 1994 Grammy Award for Best Gospel Album By Choir Or Chorus. A move to Benson Records brought the 1995 Live In New York By Any Means… (“I’ll Be Satisfied,” “Second Chance,” “How Much We Can Bear,” “I’ll Fly Away,” and Dorothy Love Coates’ “99½”) and the first entry outside of the Gospel chart as they crossed into CCM and Heatseekers territory.

The Love Fellowship Crusade Choir then finally arrived at Verity, who acquired most of their previous albums into the catalog, in conjunction with the 1997 release of the historic Live In London At Wembley (“Jesus Is My Help”). In order to develop and strengthen the LFC’s Urban appeal, Walker made a sophisticated studio recording his next priority, 1999’s Family Affair (“Wonderful Is Your Name,” “I’ve Got A Reason (Draper’s Legacy),” “Power Belongs To God,” and the club-friendly “Let’s Dance,” heard here in a remix version with B.B. Jay and Dave Hollister). The energy of that project found its way to the stage, and was captured in all its fury in February 2002, as heard on Family Affair II: Live At Radio City Music Hall (“I Need You To Survive,” “The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow”). Walker and the LFC’s most recent album was released in September 2005, 20/85 The Experience (“Lift Him Up,” “Grateful”), which maintained their crossover string as it rose to #2 Heatseekers, #4 Gospel, and #34 R&B in Billboard.

The Essential Hezekiah Walker (Verity/Legacy 88697 15389 2) Disc One – Selections: 1. Lord, Send Your Spirit Down (B) • 2. Clean Inside (B) • 3. Focus On Glory (A) • 4. I’ll Be Satisfied (D) • 5. Second Chance (D) • 6. Make It To That City (C) • 7. I Need You To Survive (G) • 8. Wonderful Is Your Name (F) • 9. I’ve Got A Reason (Draper’s Legacy) (F) • 10. How Much We Can Bear (D) • 11. 99½ (D) • 12. That’s Where I’ll Be (C) • 13. Love Lifted Me (C).

Disc Two – Selections: 1. Lift Him Up (H) • 2. Grateful (H) • 3. This Is The Gospel Of Jesus Christ (B) • 4. Anyway You Bless Me (B) • 5. I’ll Fly Away (D) • 6. Calling My Name (C) • 7. Jesus Is My Help (E) • 8. Jesus Is The Light Of The World (A) • 9. Let The Redeemed (A) • 10. The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow (G) • 11. I’ll Make It (G, featuring John P. Kee) • 12. Let’s Dance (Remix) (F, featuring B.B. Jay and Dave Hollister) • 13. Power Belongs To God (F). (All songs recorded live except Disc One, tracks 3, 8-9; and Disc Two, track 1-2, 8-9, 12-13.)

From album:
(Note: all titles preceded by Hezekiah Walker & The Love Fellowship Crusade Choir –)
A – Focus On Glory (originally released May 1992, as A&M 8535; reissued 1997, as Verity 43063)
B – Live In Toronto (originally released June 1993, as A&M 540121; reissued 1997, as Verity 43065)
C – Live In Atlanta At Morehouse College (originally released June 1994, as A&M 161097; reissued 1997, as Zomba 08441 84006 4)
D – Live In New York By Any Means… (originally released 1995, as Benson 4168; reissued 1997, as Verity 43062)
E – Live In London At Wembley (originally released 1997, as Verity 43023)
F – Family Affair (originally released 1999, as Verity 43132)
G – Family Affair II: Live At Radio City Music Hall (orig. rel. 2002, as Verity 43176) H – 20/85 The Experience (originally released 2005, as Verity 62829)