Baby, Baby…can you believe it’s been 25 years since Amy Grant’s album, Heart In Motion, was released? Amy became the first Christian artist to score a #1 hit in the United States when the album’s first single, “Baby Baby”, took the country by storm.
Upon its original release, “Baby Baby” reached No. 1 on both the Top 40 and Billboard Hot 100 charts, while simultaneously hitting top 10 in 10 countries. The album bearing the song (Heart In Motion) garnered four Grammy nominations and was RIAA certified 5x platinum.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of this project, Tori Kelly has recorded a new version of “Baby Baby.” Listen to it below.
When a new musical based on the life of BeBe Winans makes its world premiere at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta this month, theatergoers will be transported back to the Reagan-era rise and scandal-riddled fall of televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Born for This: The BeBe Winans Story, cowritten and composed by the Grammy-winning R&B and gospel star himself, tells the unlikely story of how Winans and his sister CeCe were plucked by the Bakkers from teenage obscurity in Detroit to perform on the Praise the Lord Network.
The musical, which Winans and his cowriter and director Charles Randolph-Wright spent years fine-tuning, has already earned approval from Oprah, who led the audience in a standing ovation when she attended an early reading. Now Winans and Randolph-Wright are hoping that it will join the handful of productions, including the Tony-winning The Color Purple and Aida, that have made the jump from the Alliance’s stage to Broadway.
U2 and frontman Bono marked the surprise death of music superstar Prince by posting the lyrics to one of his most famous Christian songs on Instagram. Just hours after his death, Bono posted an image of the lyrics to 'The Cross', a song from Prince's album Sign o' the Times.
"I never met Mozart, I never met Duke Ellington or Charlie Parker
I never met Elvis But I met Prince – Bono"
The song's lyrics talk about how "the Cross" is a symbol of hope which counters all of the darkness in this world. He reassures those without hope that "he [Jesus] is coming", promises there will one day be "bread 4 all", and urges listeners to "bear the cross" too, an allusion to Jesus' words in Luke 9:23: "Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'"
Poignantly, 'The Cross' has Prince repeatedly uttering the urgent words "don't die without knowing the cross". While his religious journey was varied and complicated, given the content of this song and many others like it, it seems very likely that he followed his own advice.
It's been 20 years since Gordon Kennedy, Jeff Balding, Blair Masters, John Hammond and Jimmie Sloas joined forces as Dogs of Peace to record Speak, a groundbreaking album that was musically inventive, lyrically insightful and both playful and poignant all at the same time.
Now the Dogs are back with Heel, a potent collection of tunes that percolate with the same passion that gave voice to Speak. "The message is just a proclamation of what we believe to be the truth and we try to tell it the best way we can. We're just trying to write the best songs and record them to the best of our ability, and hopefully that's what we've done again."
Each song is brought to life by five well-accomplished musicians.
Kennedy is a legendary guitarist and two-time Grammy winner who co-wrote Eric Clapton's Grammy winning Song of the Year "Change the World." Currently on tour with Peter Frampton, Kennedy has written songs for Don Henley, Garth Brooks, Ricky Skaggs, Bruce Hornsby, Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood among others as a player, has worked with Little Big Town, Kenny Loggins, Reba McEntire, Amy Grant, PFR, Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins and many more.
Sloas is a world-renowned bass player/songwriter and producer whose credits include Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Megadeth, PFR, Thomas Rhett and others. He has performed with different artists on "Good Morning America," "The Tonight Show," "Saturday Night Live," "Conan" and the CMA Awards Show.
Blair Masters is a keyboardist/composer/producer who has recorded with Frankie Valli, Amy Grant, Casting Crowns, Steven Curtis Chapman, Megadeth and Jeremy Camp. As a producer, he has worked with Jim Brickman, Twila Paris and Point of Grace. He has toured with Frampton, McDonald, MercyMe, Giant and Steve Wariner, and he has composed music for television shows on A&E, the Discovery Channel, ABC, NBC and CBS.
John Hammond has recorded or performed drums with Vince Gill, Jewel, Faith Hill, Olivia Newton-John, Barry Manilow, Whitney Houston, Peter Cetera, Kristin Chenoweth, Bill Gaither, Christopher Cross, Cliff Richard and many others. He has performed on "The Today Show," "Pepsi Smash," "The Tonight Show," The Dove Awards and for the President as part of an In Command Performance at the White House.
Balding's credits include Taylor Swift, Don Henley, Shakira, Little Big Town, Megadeth, Keith Urban and Jewel. Balding has held elected positions with The Recording Academy and serves on Belmont University's Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business and the Pearl-Cohn Entertainment Magnet High School Academy Advisory Board.
In recording Heel, the Dogs enlisted special friends to lend their talents. Michael Omartian plays piano on "Friend of the Groom." Skaggs lends his mandolin to "Only the Gold" and Frampton puts his signature guitar licks on "Healed." PFR's Joel Hanson, Whiteheart alum Rick Florian and the McCrary Sisters provide guests vocals on "He's the Light of the World." As much as they enjoyed having friends add to their musical offerings, for the Dogs of Peace, the biggest reward was just in being back together and getting a chance to howl once again. "This was a passion project for us all," says Masters. "We didn't go, 'Let's make a record that has a hit song!' It was really, 'Let's make some music that we love making.' That's what inspired everybody and there's a quote from Gordon that we all embrace: 'If nothing else happens with this other than it being an offering, then that alone is enough reason to do it.' That's the heart behind the record. If it's an offering we put at His feet, then that's enough and is the reason for this record."
On his second LP, Christian rapper NF addresses coping with fame. After his debut album, Mansion, reached the top 10 of Billboard’s Rap chart in 2015, NF (born Nate Feuerstein) felt intense pressure to keep his stride.
He seems to be off to a good start as on release day he sits at #2 on iTunes Rap chart and #8 overall. The charts are currently dominated by Prince post-death.
NF opens Therapy Session with an earnest question: "I’m back, did anyone miss me? They said the second record could be tricky.” NF is known for his raw honesty and powerful pacing, and uses this album to weigh the dark sides of celebrity (including gruesome death threats) against his gratitude.
Christian artist, Jordan Feliz, currently sits at #34.
V.Rose can be seen in this week's episode of TLC's Jill & Jessa: Counting On as the cameras follow Ben & Jessa, along with their son Spurgeon, on a trip to St. Louis. The episode premiered Tuesday on TLC.
V. Rose is featured with friends Flame and Mike Real as they are in the recording studio. The cameras capture the dynamic between the artists as they write the new song, "Don't Fear" from Flame & Mike Real's upcoming project.
Grammy nominated rock band RED has received its second RIAA Gold Certification for its album End of Silence, which was the group's debut. To celebrate the album's 10-year anniversary, RED will release a 10th Anniversary Edition on June 3, featuring two never-before-released songs as well as acoustic versions of some of the album's biggest songs. This release will be followed by an anniversary tour in the fall. End of Silence also yielded the group's RIAA Gold Certified single, "Breathe Into Me."
RED just completed the spring Winter Jam tour, playing for more than half a million fans in more than 45 major markets and arenas across the country. Last week, the group received its 20th consecutive No. 1 rock radio single for "Take Me Over," which is from its album of Beauty and Rage.
Over the past decade, RED has received two Grammy nominations, one RIAA Gold Certified album, one RIAA Gold Certified single, two Top 10 Active Rock singles, three Top 10 Mainstream Rock singles and 20 consecutive No. 1 hits at Christian radio. The band has sold more than one million albums collectively with of Beauty and Rage, Release The Panic, Until We Have Faces, Innocence & Instinct and End of Silence. RED currently is Michael Barnes (vocals) and twin brothers Anthony Armstrong (guitar) and Randy Armstrong (bass). The band also boasts more than one million Facebook fans.
Faith-based hit Miracles from Heaven declined by 35% to $4.7M and Sony has taken in a solid $53.7M overall. Fellow religion-themed drama God's Not Dead 2 fell 47% after a weak opening to $4.1M for a cume of $14M for Pure Flix.
The sequel God's Not Dead 2 opened in fourth place with below-expectations results grossing $7.6M from 2,419 locations for a $3,152 average. Both the gross and average were below what its predecessor generated two years ago in March 2014. The first God's Not Dead opened with $9.2M from 1/3 of the theaters for a potent $11,852 average.
Another faith-based film sat in the top five with Miracles from Heaven grossing $7.3M in its third week. It has earned an impressive $46.5M to date which is more than three times the film's production cost.
Baby, Baby…can you believe it’s been 25 years since Amy Grant’s album, Heart In Motion, was released? Amy became the first Christian artist to score a #1 hit in the United States when the album’s first single, “Baby Baby”, took the country by storm. 
