Gospel

March 11, 2003 in Dallas, Texas. Albertina was the queen of modern soul music. She started out in the vocal group “The Caravans” and went on to fame as a solo singer. I photographed her many times at the Chicago Gospel Festival, but this image was taken at a large gathering of gospel legends put together by Bill Gaither and held at Reverend TD Jakes’ church in Dallas, Texas. It was a mind-boggling array of talent for one day of music, and a great time was had by all.

March 11, 2003 in Dallas, Texas. Bill is a singer, bandleader, master of ceremonies and a promoter that puts on gospel tours that allow 15 to 20 gospel artists or groups to perform in front of 15,000 people each night. They all perform in the round with Bill as the master of the night. On this night he brought together 40 of the biggest gospel artists in America at a church in Dallas. He flew me down to be the official photographer, as this was being recorded for a series of cd’s and dvd’s and they needed photographs for the covers. It was an exhausting but wonderful day.

March 11, 2003 in Dallas, Texas. Cissy is Whitney’s aunt, and a legendary gospel singer in her own right!

March 11, 2003 in Dallas, Texas. Also performing at Jakes’ church, Mary Mary is a younger gospel act, built to attract a teen audience.

March 11, 2003 in Dallas, Texas. Smokie is a gospel piano player and singer. He is Bill Gaither’s first choice to be the bandleader on his shows.

October 31st, 2004 in Chicago. Kirk is a legend of gospel music. His high energy performances keep the crowd on their feet from start to finish. This was an assignment for People Magazine.

October 31st, 2004 in Chicago. Yolanda has an amazing (almost opera like) voice and a commanding stage presence, and is wonderful to photograph.

june 25th, 2017 in Chicago. This band is an example of how Christian music has entered the world at large. This is basically a hard rock band singing about religious subjects. Very good band and fun to shoot!

June 4th, 2006 in Chicago. Although Albertina Walker had performed solo many times at the Chicago Gospel Festival, this was the first time in many years that The Caravans reunited to perform in front of an audience.

March 11th, 2003 in Dallas, Texas. One of Vestal Goodman’s last performances was at TD Jakes’ church at a Bill Gaither gathering.

January 19th, 1993 in Rosemont, Illinois. This was my introduction to the world of Gospel music. It was a Christmas presentation of Handel’s “Messiah” performed in an arena setting by most of the most popular Christian performers of that period. It was done in the round, which provided some great lighting opportunities.

December 3rd, 2004 in Champaign, Illinois. A road trip for Shure Microphones to the middle of Illinois. Didn’t know much about him when I took off but knew that I had to get a good shot of the microphone.

June 4th, 2005 in Chicago. Legendary soul singer Soloman Burke went back to his roots with a gospel set at the Chicago Gospel Festival.