Key Significant Benchmarks in the African American Black Music industry Pt 8

Rap artist extraordinaire Lecrae

Rap artist extraordinaire Lecrae is the most successful artist in gospel Hip Hop music. He is the president, co-owner and co-founder of the independent record label Reach Record, and the co-founder and president of the non-profit organization ReachLife Ministries.

Lecrae is quickly developing into one of the biggest music stories of the year and his Cinderella rise has been noted everywhere from Rolling Stone Magazine, XXL Magazine, Vibe Magazine, The New York Times, The Atlantic and the cover of The Huffington Post Magazine to industry trades such as Billboard Magazine, Variety and Vulture. His performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, perfectly timed with his album’s release, had fans buzzing as he performed multiple hit records from his recently album “Anomaly”. He went on to  collects his first number-one album on the Billboard 200 Album Charts as his new “Anomaly” actually  opened at top the chart listing week-ending 14^th September 2014 (1 week)  It sold over 88,000 copies  according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's also the first chart-topper for Lecrae's label, Reach Records on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and the first album to top both the 200 and the Gospel chart simultaneously.

The album “Anomaly” is Lecrae’s best sales performance since the release of “Gravity” album in 2012, which debuted and peaked at number- three on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart with over 72,000 units sold that week. “Anomaly” is the Grammy winner's sixth number-one on the Billboard Gospel Albums Chart and his fifth leader on Christian Albums. (Most Christian hip-hop releases are eligible to appear on both sales charts.)

                                          

                                          Researched and compiled by               

                                          Mr K Tomlin Music Historian                   
                                          ©Signaturesoundsonline2013-2014 

Key Significant Benchmarks in the African American Black Music industry (Part 7).

Tamela Mann is the only black female Gospel
artist in recent years to
 receive a gold plaque from RIAA
for a digital single.

The song featured on Tamela’s number-one selling 2012 album ‘Best Days’ was released to Gospel radio. The track quickly climbed to number-one  on the Gospel radio chart where it remained for more than 25 weeks. While Tamela has performed this song on numerous TV shows, including the BET Awards, Sunday Best, and the Stellar Awards, the song has found a special place in all her concerts as an inspiring high point of the powerhouse vocalist’s set.

The CD is almost gold certified with units sold in America in the excess of 470,000 copies to date. “Best Days”  is the third studio album by African  American recording artist  Tamela Mann, released on Mann's own independent record label  Tillyman Music Group on 14^th August  2012. The CD debuted at number fourteen on the US Billboard 200 Albums Chart  and topped the Billboard Top Gospel Albums Chart, becoming Mann's highest charting album to date. "Take Me to the King" was original released on  12^th June 12  2012 as the lead single from Mann's third studio album, “Best Day".

 At the 55th Grammy Awards Ceremony, the song received a Grammy   nomination for "Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance". The was  song also a huge commercial success, "Take Me to the King" topped the  US Billboard  Gospel Songs Chart for 19 consecutive weeks. Mann is the only black female so far in recent years to receive a gold plaque from RIAA for digital recording which has sold over half a million copies in America according to RIAA ,which is the new certification level for digital singles established by RIAA. 

Key Significant Benchmarks in the African American Black Music industry (Part 6).

The CD "Best Day" features the  gold certified
digital single
 "Take Me To The King"

Tamela  Mann was born on 6^th June 1966, she is both a gospel recording artist and also actress, best known for her roles in several Tyler Perry films such as “ Dairy of the Mad Black Woman”, “I Can Do Dad All By Myself”, “Meet the Browns” and the list goes on. At one time she was a member of Kirk Franklin and The Family group during the early 1990s. That was the time she started her career as a gospel artist. Mann was a featuredsoloist on several tracks while with Franklin's group, including "Don't Take Your Joy Away" ,  "Now Behold the Lamb" and also “Lean On Me”

She started her solo career in 2005 with the debut album “Gotta Keep Movin’ “. Mann went on to released her second album in 2009 entitled “The Master Plan”, which charted at number-two on the Billboard Top Gospel albums Chart that year.

This is a quote from her website stating the success of her recent studio album “Best Days”. DALLAS (5^th August 2014) –Grammy Award and Nominee Tamela Mann and Gospel Icon Kirk Franklin have a lot to celebrate. The “Take Me To The King” digital single, written and produced by Franklin and recorded and performed by Tamela, has been RIAA Certified Gold, having sold more than 500,000 digital copies. Tillymann Music Group label head and Tamela’s manager and husband, David Mann, presented Tamela with her RIAA Certified Gold plaque during their Comedy and Concert event on Friday, 1^st August   2014 at the Victoria Fine Arts Center in Victoria, Texas.

 She went on to say, “What an amazing surprise to be presented with my first RIAA Certified Gold plaque by my husband of 26 years,” said Tamela. “I thank God every day for my family, friends, music and the many blessings in my life. Kirk is a dear friend and an incredibly talented artist, writer and producer. I’m so grateful to him for penning such a powerful lyric and asking me to lend my voice to such an important message.”

“Take Me To The King” was also recently named one of the most performed songs on Gospel radio in 2013 during BMI’s 2014 Christian Music Awards held at BMI in Nashville, Tenn.

                                          Researched and compiled by               
                                          Mr K Tomlin Music Historian                   
                                          ©Signaturesoundsonline2013-2014

Key Significant Benchmarks in the African American Black Music industry (Part 5).

African American in the gospel music industry who have their own labels.

Fred Hammond:

Fred Hammond, 
the multi-instrumentalist

A multi-instrumentalist, producer, and vocalist for the soulful black gospel group Commissioned during the 1980s and '90s, Fred Hammond also became one of the most popular praise & worship leaders in the world. He is originally from Detroit where he was born. During his time in Detroit, he began singing with his church choir in his early teenage years. He also played bass and sang with the Winans during the early '80s, then joined Commissioned  later in the decade, showcasing his superb arranging, production, and song writing skill as well as his soaring vocals.

Hammond has now established  his own label imprint, Hammond Family Entertainment, and released the several CD/DVD set which include "Liv e in the Word" (2010) and   "God, Love & Romance", released in 2012.         

Donnie McClurkin:                                                         

Donnie McClurkin

Donnie McClurkin, an African American worship leader, recording artist and minister of the gospel. He became a major recording artist during 1990s with several successful recording projects to his credit. He has received two gold albums and two platinum albums since 1996. McClurkin currently owns his own indy label, called Camdon Music.

Kirk Franklin:

Kirk Franklin, creative master mind.

Fo Yo Soul Productions is Kirk Franklin’s record label. His label produced one of the most gospel successful soundtracks in 2001. Several of his albums were released by Fo Yo Soul Productions jointly B-Rite Records and GospoCentric Records. Kirk Franklin is the second best selling gospel artist worldwide behind Amy Grant with 25 million records sold during his career.

CeCe Winans:

CeCe Winans, the second best selling 
female gospel artist in the world.

CeCe Winans founded Puresprings Gospel label in 1999 when it was originally called Wellspring before it was changed to the present name. CeCe Winans is also one of the best-selling African America female gospel artist in the world with 11 million copies sold. Both CeCe and Yolanda Adams are the only female solo gospel artists to have achieved platinum certification within America over the last fifteen years.

                                   




                                   Researched and compiled by               
                                   Mr K Tomlin Music Historian                   
                                  ©RCM Music/Signaturesoundsonline2013-2014