GOSPEL NEWS

New York, NY – Marvin

Sapp’s new CD/DVD Here I
Am has debuted at the top of
six Billboard sales charts and
marks the first time in the 54-
year history of the Billboard
Top 200 chart that a Gospel
release has landed in its #2
position. This is the biggest
first week release from a
Gospel artist since the release
of God’s Property in 1997, and
is also the highest digital first
week ever for a Gospel
release. Marvin Sapp says: “I
am tremendously honored and
extremely excited today! All I
wanted to do on this CD was
pour out what God poured into
me, and sing the songs that He
told me I needed to sing. I am
grateful for the opportunity to
minister in song and I hope
this is just the beginning of
where this CD is going.” Here
I Am, the follow-up to Sapp’s
2007 breakout project Thirsty,
was recorded live in Grand
Rapids, Michigan and is a
shining example of the gift of
music that resides in Marvin
Sapp and has received
glowing reviews from media
including USA Today and The
Washington Post. The CD’s
first single, “The Best In Me,”
is currently #1 at Gospel radio
and #20 with a bullet at urban
radio.  According to Billboard,
it has already surpassed the
2008 peak of Sapp’s seminal
“Never Would Have Made It.”
“The Best In Me” also
recently achieved the largest
position jump (#78 – #14 Hot
R&B/Hot Songs Chart) in 18
years by a gospel track, as
well as the largest jump in
four years among all genres.

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 THE FIRST LADY OF GOSPEL

SHIRLEY CAESAR
Invites You To

A CITY CALLED HEAVEN

Features Single
“Nobody”
With Hit Producer J. Moss
www.shirleycaesar.com
If not preaching at her church in Raleigh-
Durham, NC Shirley is traveling the world
singing and uplifting God’s children –
preparing them for ‘A City Called Heaven.”
Songs on the CD that either touched my
heart or are my favorite inspirational
selections include the first single “Nobody,”
featuring J Moss, a gusty Urban Gospel
selection; “In This Place” a sweet love song
about God’s love which I feel in time will
become a traditional Gospel song; the title
track “A City Called Heaven” a beautiful
emotional ballad of God’s promise of an
eternal life; “Cornerstone,” written by
Caesar, is a traditional sounding selection
that has a touch of Jazz thanks to the horn
support; “Been So Good” a great Praise and
Worship” song, and “Can’t Even Walk
(Without Him Holding My Hand)” another
traditional Gospel song of testimony.

J MOSS GUEST APPEARANCE IN NEW “That’s all I do,” Shirley said.

MOVIE BY DEITRICK HADDEN
Deitrick Haddon is preparing to make a
“I sing. I feel I can pretty
motion picture debut Blessed and Cursed. much sing any kind of
The movie serves as a modern day Gospel.”
adaption of the Biblical account of Saul and
David and there are several other guests
like Mother & Daughter Kierra & Karen
Clark- Sheard, Bobby Jones, and Sheryl
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Lee Ralph. To be released to DVD on July
27, 2010.
TOP TEN GOSPEL ALBUMS 2010

HERE I AM WOW GOSPEL 2010 MORE PASSION

Marvin Sapp Various Artists Juanita Bynum
#1 #2 #3

STILL SOULED OUT ALL IN ONE

BeBe & CeCe Winans Hezekiah Walker Karen Clark-Sheard
#4 #5 #6

THE MASTER PLAN LOVE UNSTOPPABLE COCO BROTHERS LIVE PRESENTS JUST LOVE
Tamela Mann Fred Hammond Various Artists Brian Courtney
#7 #8 #9 Wilson
#10

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JUANITA BYNUM SIGNS WITH MATTHEW KNOWLES-
Famed preacher and artist Juanita Bynum has signed both a recording contract and management deal with
Matthew Knowles and Music World Entertainment. Earlier this month, Bynum released her latest effort More
Passion. This deal sees her releasing another effort later this year titled The Diary of Juanita Bynum.

MARVIN SAPP MAKES HISTORIC CHART DEBUT

Here I Am, the new release from Marvin Sapp has made a historic debut onto this week's Billboard charts. With
over 75,000 units sold, the album debuts at #1 on five different charts including Billboard Top Gospel Charts, Top
Christian/Gospel Charts, Top R&B Charts, Top Christian/Gospel Digital Albums Charts, and Top Christian Music
Video Chart. In addition, the album comes in at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 Charts, marking the first time a gospel
album has ever charted #2 in Billboard's 54-year history. The album also charts at #8 on the Digital Albums
charts, also marking the highest digital first week ever for a Gospel release

MARY MARY RELEASED A NEW BOOK

Sisterly duo and Sony/My Block recording artists Mary Mary released their first book titled Be U. The new book is
also the launch of their new brand of the same name which will encompass a clothing line and bath and body
products.

YOLANDA ADAMS JOINED BET SUNDAY BEST

Legendary vocalist Yolanda Adams is the newest member of the hit show BET Sunday Best. The radio
personality and author joins Mary Mary and Donnie McClurkin as celebrity judges for the third season of the
popular TV show. Adams recently released her first book titled Points of Power. The addition of Adams to the mix
continues the Sunday Best tradition as the only music reality show with Grammy award winning celebrity judges.

TONEX IS THE FIRST HIGH-PROFILE GOSPEL SINGER TO ADMIT HE WAS

HOMOSEXUAL IN THE HISTORY OF GOSPEL MUSIC
Profile of gospel singer Tonéx. Anthony Charles Williams II has never had a comfortable relationship with the industry that made him
famous. Fans know him as Tonéx. His eccentric style and vertiginous high notes helped make him one of the most acclaimed praise singers
of the past decade, and, for a time, one of the most successful. He had a certain hip-hop swagger and the status of a sex symbol. 

A boisterous live double CD, "Out the Box," won him six trophies at the 2005 Stellar Awards, gospel's most prestigious event. Tonéx was a
welcome guest at all the biggest black churches, a regular presence on BET's gospel shows, and a headliner at gospel festivals. He has
released dozens of CDs, which contain some of the strangest and most seductive Christian pop music since the glory days of James
Cleveland; his most evident musical forbears are adventurous pop stars such as Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson, and Erykah Badu. He made
it a habit to tweak old-fashioned, upstanding churchgoers. 

In 2005, Tonéx was divorced, after four years of marriage to Yvette Graham. This past September, the television host known as Lexi
broadcast an interview with Tonéx on the Word Network, a gospel channel, in which he made his clearest public statements about his
sexual orientation. He is, within the church world, the first high-profile gospel singer in history to come out of the closet. Within hours, he
started to realize what he had done. His relationship with the mainstream gospel industry was effectively over. 

Tonéx was brought up in the church. The Williams family belonged to the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (P.A.W.), and his father, A.
C. Williams, founded Truth Apostolic Community Church. Mentions the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). Nearly all the Pentecostal
gospel stars were COGIC. Mentions T. L. Carter. In the nineties, Tonéx was signed by a local Christian label called Rescue, and then by
Jive Records. Mentions his first album, "Pronounced Toe-Nay" (2000) and his second album, "Out the Box" (2004). 

Tonéx sensed early on that he was attracted to other boys, and he spent the better part of three decades trying to figure out what that might
mean for him. Along the way, he has honed a style of his own, a sly but ecstatic form of electronic pop. Early last year, he made a major-
label comeback with "Unspoken," but the album was largely ignored by the gospel industry. By going public, and by suggesting that a
homosexual relationship can be as godly (or ungodly) as a heterosexual one, Tonéx went from being just another sinner to being a high-
profile heretic. 

Mentions Long Island pastor Donnie McClurkin. As a stock character in African-American folklore, the gay choir director probably
predates gospel music. Mentions Alex Bradford, Prophet Jones, and Rev. James Cleveland. In Bishop Yvette Flunder's view, gospel music
is gay music, with vanishingly few exceptions; she estimates that the proportion of gospel performers who are, or have been, same-gender- 4
loving might be as high as ninety per cent. Gospel music has offered generations of same-gender-loving singers a place to call home, in
exchange for their obedience, or their silence. By talking plainly about his sexual identity, Tonéx has scrambled his professional identity.