Gospel Songs

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BET Continues to Make A Joyful Noise With Celebration of Gospel IV
By Adell Henderson, Special to BET.com

Posted January 25, 2004-- Well on its way to becoming producing more sequels then Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Rocky,’ BET’s “Celebration of Gospel IV” won again, over the weekend, by way of another unanimous decision. A capacity crowd gathered at the downtown Los Angeles Orpheum Theatre to witness comedian Steve Harvey continue his tradition of mastering the ceremonies of this anointed taped telecast which will air Tuesday, February 24th at 9 p.m. (ET/PT.) This year’s joyful noises came courtesy of an assortment of seasoned songbirds including Cece Winans featuring the Born Again Choir, Yolanda Adams, Fred Hammond, Pastor Shirley Caesar, John P. Kee & the New Life Choir and Dr. Bobby Jones -- leaving soulful R&B crooner Anthony Hamilton as the only non-gospel artist to participate. “This is one of the best shows that BET does annually,” assures BET's VP of Music Programming Steven Hill. “There was more of a secular presence last year but this year we decided to really focus on gospel acts and gospel singers that don’t get enough recognition or notice and really use this show to catapult them.”

While most of the talent showed up at rehearsals dressed down in jeans, sweats, hats, ponytails and sneakers as soon as the music began the theatre immediately turned into church. Whether it was Cece setting it off with her choir and dancers perfecting her opening routine or Anthony Hamilton covering a Sam Cooke classic to let you know church is where he comes from or Pastor Caesar proving the point that she is still in a league of her own there was never a dull moment. The biggest shocker of them all came from 7-year old newcomer Jamia Simone’ Nash whose powerful presentation of “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” dropped jaws in rehearsals and earned her a well deserved standing ovation during the actual show. Most of the performers came early or stayed late to rejoice and support their fellow partners in praise. Nothing but love and smiles for miles decked the halls for the joyous two days of pre-production. Even after things got restless following a long day’s work you couldn’t find a prayer hater in site. With the theme of this year’s program being “We’ve Come This Far By Faith,” the show was consciously designed to spice things up a bit to remain fresh and keep audiences coming back for more. “This year we’re gonna do it a little differently,” says inspirational giant Donnie McClurkin.” We’re not going to do anything from our CD’s, we’re gonna do it mainly from our spirit. Our goal this year is to usher in the presence of the lord. Not too much to be commercial but to really bring the presence of God.”

Now with four years of successfully producing this joyous annual event, the Superbowl of spiritual music has made it evident that “Celebration of Gospel” is here to stay. “When they called me and told me that I was selected to be on this show this year I was so happy because I’ve watched them all,” confesses Grammy nominated veteran Vickie Winans. “I was sitting in rehearsals just screaming and hollering. The performances, Ricky Minor and the (house) band, everybody’s just phenomenal. The 4th Annual Celebration of Gospel is all that!” Be sure to tune in on February 24th and find out why.


I will be watching it! Will you?