gospel – Page 4

The Goodmans | Looking For a City

Our follower Kent P. has submitted this classic Southern Gospel tune by the family group The Happy Goodmans, “Looking for a City” (written in 1943). In 1968, the group won the first Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance. They produced 15 #1 singles and entered into the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 1998.

“Starting off in B flat, each performer “one-ups” the other in a higher key. This legendary performance goes tit for tat a number of times…well, you’ll just have to watch and see who makes it higher. Or does Vestal Goodman‘s hairdo win that prize?”

Sam Cooke | This Little Light of Mine

Here’s Sam Cooke’s rendition of the spiritual “This Little Light of Mine” (1964), which played a prominent role throughout the Civil Rights movement. Key changes at 1:09 and 1:43.

Deborah Cox | Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here

R&B chanteuse Deborah Cox released “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here,” the track for which she’s perhaps best known, in 1998.

“‘The song crossed my path in early ’98. I had taken a little time off — I got married in Jamaica — and was really searching for a direction for the second album,” (Billboard). “When Anthony ‘Shep’ Crawford and Montell Jordan (the co-writers) played it for me, I immediately knew the song was a smash. I just remember hearing it and going, ‘Oh my God, this speaks to me!’ I had just gone through the same thing: I was caught off guard with the love of my life, so it really resonated.”

This gospel-infused ballad builds to a big modulation at 3:00.

Yolanda Adams | I Gotta Believe

Here’s Yolanda Adams with “I Gotta Believe” (2001). Dubbed the “Reigning Queen of Urban Gospel” by Variety and Billboard‘s #1 Gospel Artist of the 2000s, Adams has sold over 8 million albums worldwide. Modulation at 2:48.

Todd Rundgren | Hawking

Here’s a 1989 tune by musician, composer, and producer/engineer Todd Rundgren written in honor of Stephen Hawking, the theoretical physicist and cosmologist. It’s a gospel meditation on the challenges of grasping the unknown and maintaining one’s love for humanity.

The modulation arrives with the bridge at 2:57, reverting to the original key at 4:07.

Niya Norwood + Nikko Ielasi | Black Girl Magic

Happy February! In honor of Black History Month, here’s a lushly orchestrated, gospel-infused R&B tune, “Black Girl Magic” (2016), co-written by the lead vocalist, Niya Norwood, and performed by Berklee College of Music musicians, led by Nikko Ielasi.

The bridge starts with a sublime modulation at 3:16 and ends with a reversion to the original key at 3:42.