Welcome to Gospel-Spotlight.com!! GS NEWS ROOM, 1# FIRST WITH NEWS     November 18, 2008 UPDATE!! ..  Beverly Crawford spokesperson.... Angie writes book....  November 18, 2008 UPDATE!! ..  Bishop Blake re-elected...  News News News News News News News News News ____________________________________________ In honor of National Family Literacy Day, the National Center for Family Literacy has announced that Beverly Crawford is its National Spokesperson for Literacy. Angie Winans will reveal her private grieving process after the death of her brother Ronald Winans in a new book "A Love that Heals: Letting God’s Love Give You Hope in Times of Grief." The book deals with Angie's personal journey through grief, while helping readers connect with their own loss. Bishop Charles E. Blake was re-elected Presiding Bishop of the National Church Of God In Christ for the next four years. Four of the biggest voices in country, pop, and gospel are coming together for an unprecedented single setting a tone of harmony and togetherness for the new presidency and the country’s immediate future. GRAMMY Award winning artists BeBe & CeCe Winans joined with country superstars Vince Gill and Wynonna Judd to record the new ballad "Right Now (We Need One Another)". Penned by BeBe Winans, Tyler Haynes and Ross Koper, the new song debuted on a live post-election episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. The single is available on iTunes and is the first single from the forthcoming album from BeBe & CeCe Winans due in 2009. Houston native Gary Mayes & Nu Era are gearing up to record their next effort. The live CD/DVD recording session takes place on Nov. 15, 2008 at Higher Dimension Church in Houston, Texas. This will acommemorate the group's ten-year anniversary. Olivia McClurkin sister of Donnie McClurkin and member of The McClurkin Project went home to be with the Lord on Nov. 4th, 2008. She had a nine-year battle with cancer. PAJAM artist and 21:03 lead vocalist Jor'el Quinn has just been named the co-host of BET's 106 & Gospel. This new show is slated for a 2009 launch date and is the spinoff to the successful 106 & Park. Democrat Barack Obama captured the White House on Tuesday after an extraordinary two-year campaign, defeating Republican John McCain to make history as the first black to be elected U.S. president. Obama will be sworn in as the 44th U.S. president on January 20, 2009. Celebrating their 20th anniversary, the Mississippi Mass Choir is slated to release a special commemorative CD/DVD package on November 4 titled The First Twenty Years. The DVD will include a special documentary that will be available at all retailers and several online outlets . The nominees for the 24th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards were announced today at a press conference held at the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau. Leading the list of nominees with nine nominations is chart-topping gospel star, Marvin Sapp, whose nods include 'Song of the Year' for his smash hit "Never Would Have Made It". Sapp is trailed by 'Artist of the Year' nominee Beverly Crawford, Kirk Franklin, Dorinda Clark-Cole, and Ricky Dillard, all of whom received four or more nominations. Others multiple nominees include last year's co-host CeCe Winans, Israel Houghton & New Breed, Canton Jones & Jonathan Nelson. Gospel great Marvin Winans and another of last year's co-hosts Byron Cage each picked up three nominations. Sunday, October 12th, Rev. Timothy Wright made his first public appearance since a tragic July 4th car accident that claimed the life of his grandson and wife, and left his body broken and paralyzed from the chest down. At the Circle of Sisters Expo, Rev. Wright expressed his gratitude and gave his testimony to 3,000 people packed into the concert hall of the Javits Convention Center. Timothy Wright, stated "The next time you see me, I'm gonna be walking. God bless you." Stellar award winning singer LaShun Pace has recently been released from a Atlanta medical center after undergoing a successful heart procedure. Pace was released from the hospital a week after her surgery and has been instructed by her medical team to cease traveling until full recuperation. The Atlanta based singer had a small device placed under her skin to help control heart rhythms. Pace will resume her traveling schedule in the coming weeks with stops in New York City, Washington DC, Memphis, and Philadelphia. The 2008 Induction ceremony for the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum has been postponed for this year. Originally slated for Oct. 25, 2008 in Detroit, MI, the Class of 2008 Inductees will be honored at the 2009 Ceremony. Smokie Norful is set to do a Live Recording October 23, 2008 in Memphis at the Cannon Center. Tye Tribbett and Heather Headley will appear on this project. LeCrae latest release Rebel has made gospel music history as the 1st Holy Hip-Hop album to ever debut atop Billboard's Top Gospel Charts. Rebel also sits at #2 on the Top Christian & Gospel Albums charts and #60 on Billboard's Top 200 Charts, outselling albums from Tina Turner, LL Cool J, Raphael Saadiq, The Jonas Brothers, and Usher. Seven-time GRAMMY award winner CeCe Winans has just launched a 21-city church tour in support of Thy Kingdom Come. She launched the tour in Atlanta on October 1 and 2 and will continue the tour through December 21 with stops in Baltimore, Washington DC, Detroit, Orlando, Miami, Jacksonville, and Fort Lauderdale along with other cities in Indiana and New Jersey. The tour is co-sponsored by the housing organization known as The LIGHT at Brookhaven. CeCe Winans is teaming with Brookhaven to set up a foundation that will help prospective first-time homeowners qualify for grants that will provide them with no-strings-attached down payment assistance. The semi-annual International Gospel Industry Retreat will convene in Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM Grand Resort and Spa on November 10-12. Hosted by Dr. Bobby Jones, the retreat will feature a program of music, talk shows, fashion, radio, and television. As part of the retreat, there will be a "Women of Gospel" night, which will feature prominent female vocalists including Kim Burrell, Vickie Winans, Pastor Shirley Caesar, Karen Clark-Sheard, and many others. Likewise, there will be a "Men of Gospel" night which will feature Deitrick Haddon, Tye Tribbett, Kurt Carr, Marvin Sapp and others. Hezekiah Walker is putting the final touches on his 13th CD, "SOULED OUT," scheduled for release November 4, 2008 on Zomba Gospel. The title track, also the first single, boasts the signature high-powered praise of Walker’s formidable choir. He performed "Souled Out" Tuesday, September 23, on Good Morning America as part of Gospel Music Heritage Month. Grammy winning producer Donald Lawrence will be the emcee for Verizon Wireless’ national eleven-city “How Sweet the Sound” choir competition. Marvin Sapp and Hezekiah Walker serve as judges along with a local radio personality. D. Lawrence will open the show with “The Best is Yet to Come.” Various choirs perform and the first act closes with Sapp performing his #1 smash “Never Would Have Made It.” The second act opens with Walker (or Smokie Norful in certain cities) performing one of his many hits before the competition continues. Lawrence, Sapp and Walker perform one song as a trio and Lawrence closes the concert with his #1 hit “The Blessing of Abraham.” A choir will be crowned winner in each city and compete for the national grand finale prize of $50,000 and the title of the best choir in America. Former NBA star Wayman Tisdale underwent surgery to have part of his right leg amputated after a bout with bone cancer. Tisdale first learned he had a cancerous cyst below his right knee after he broke his leg in a fall at his home in Los Angeles in February of 2007. Tisdale released a debut effort in 2003 "21 Days" and his latest album "Rebound" features the single "Grateful" with Marvin Sapp. He plans to resume touring this fall. The Allstate Gospel Superfest will take place November 1st at the Civic Center in Atlanta. It will feature 25 of gospel's top and up and coming artists. For information log on to www.gospelsuperfest.com Arthur “ Bob” Beatty Jr., The Brooklyn All Stars, Melvin Couch, Dr. Vernard Johnson, The Pilgrim Jubilees, and Rev. Ernest Davis, Jr’s Wilmington Chester Mass Choir are this year’s inductees to the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The International Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s 12th annual induction and awards fund raiser gala will be held in Detroit on Saturday, October 25, 2008. The Master of Ceremony will be Vickie Winans. The Rev. John P. Kee, Pastor of the New Life Fellowship Center, has a generous heart. Two weeks ago, Pastor Kee announced that he will be supporting Rev. Timothy Wright and the Grace Tabernacle Christian Center Church of Brooklyn by paying the mortgage on Rev. Wright's church until he returns. This is to relieve some of the financial stress on the family and the church during the healing of their father and pastor, Rev. Timothy Wright. Pastor Kee encourages all singers and fans to continue showing their support and assist with all of the medical expenses needed for this great man. For more info contact: Sheila Lakin @ (704) 377-4004 or email shelialakin@aol.com Shekinah Glory Ministry "Shekinah Glory Ministry Live," has been certified gold by RIAA. (Gold certification denotes album sales of 500,000 units.) This marks the second gold certification for the Illinois choir. Their debut release "Praise Is What I Do" also was certified gold . Congratulations to Marvin Sapp because his CD "Thirsty" has been certified Gold. Marvin Sapp took home the BET Award for Best Gospel Artist. Awarded for his Thirsty album on Verity Records, the award was handed out on June 24th, 2008 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The six-year marriage of prophetess Juanita Bynum and Bishop Thomas Weeks is now officially over. The proceedings were stopped at one point when Bynum revealed the two had sex after their separation. What's not known is if the couple had sex after the now infamous assault by Weeks on Bymum. The judge in the case, Debra Turner, left the courtroom to research whether the divorce could be granted under Georgia law, which, in part, sees sex by separated couples as a act of reconciliation. However, Randy Kessler, Weeks' attorney, said that the couple had been living in separation and that Bynum filed for divorce. Yolanda Adams has now turned in her financial records prompting the government to withdraw its request for a judge to intervene. The IRS requested details about a pair of million-dollar mortgage loan applications and sought more information about the singer's endorsements and royalties as well as music companies and foundations with which she is affiliated. Adams has to appear in court later this month. Court filings last month revealed that the IRS section that oversees small businesses and the self-employed was investigating Adams. *********************************************************************** We Spotlight Black Scientists: Fire Extinguisher - Thomas J. Martin - Pat. No. 125,063 Rotary Engine - Andrew J. Bread - Pat. No. 478,271 Pencil Sharper - John L. Love - Pat. No.594, 114 Bridle Bit- Lincoln F. Brown - Pat. No. 484, 994 Golf Tee - George F. Grant -Pat No. 638, 920 Air Conditioning Unit - Fredrick M. Jones - Pat. No. 2,475, 841 Automatic Fishing Device - George Cook - Pat. No. 625, 829 Lawn Sprinkler-Joseph H. Smith- Pat. No. 581, 785 Guitar - Robert F. Flemmings, Jr. - Pat. No. 338,727 Elevator - Alexander Miles - Pat. No. 371,207 ______________________________________ We review Hot Albums! ______________________________________________________ Gospel-Spotlight.com is an E-Magazine with it's focus on Contemporary & Traditional Gospel music. Gospel-Spotlight.com provides vital information to the Gospel Community. We are Your Source for single and album charts, album reviews, audio interviews, artists spotlights and trends that occur in Gospel Music. We are your "Inside Source." This E-Magazine is a tool for Record Companies, Artists, Retail stores, Gospel Music Lover's, Public Relations Firms, Management Companies, Advertisers and Church Choirs and more." ___________________________________ Article:Mary Mary New Releases: Updated November 2, 2008!