History Main / GospelMusic

Gospel music refers, broadly, to the African American Christian music that directly descended from Negro spirituals, slave songs, and traditional Christian hymns, taking concepts from traditional African music like a focus on rhythm and chorus, and call and response to evolve into its own art form distinct from other forms of music, taking on a uniquely African flavor. It was from this form of music that much of modern pop music disseminated, and many a well known black artist, from then and now, got their start singing gospel in church.

Gospel has had to evolve over the years into a myriad of different forms. The universality of the Christian message has caused gospel to expand and, in a bit of irony, take concepts from rap, R&B, the blues, rock, and jazz, the very genres it inspired in the first place. Traditional gospel is still enjoyed by the older generation, but new more modern forms of Gospel have taken root and absorbed musical stylings from its "children". This has caused a divide among many Christian denominations, with many seeing modern gospel as becoming too secularized or "worldly", while the younger generation say that the older forms of music cannot reach the current generation, leading to an FandomRivalry within the gospel industry itself. That said, while more contemporary forms have found popularity even in the secular music industry, the diehards still enjoy the traditional stuff. (Conversely, music in Gospel style but with only [[AmbiguouslyChristian vaguely religious content]] should probably be filed under NotChristianRock.)

Like ChristianRock, this music is not simply the moral substitute. It has grown to take on a life of its own, speaking particularly to the black experience, but still reaching audiences of all kinds. And due to gospel's slow transformation, the concept of gospel has expanded to include any music, ''any music'', no matter the style, that is still believed to adhere to the gospel message. That means that gospel music can take attributes of any of the other types of music listed on the music index page and still be considered some form of gospel. Rule of thumb however, is that to be considered gospel music, it generally has to: A)Be based on some form of "black" music (i.e. R&B or Jazz) and/or B) Have a black artist. That being said, with recent changes in the gospel music industry, this concept of gospel music is changing, and these two concepts are no longer as strict as it used to be.

* CrowdSong: This music was made to be sang by a large group of people.

* JesusWasWayCool: Take your average church service and compared that to the swing and energy of the sing-a-long during gospel performances.
* MelismaticVocals: Arguably, the modern day version of this started in gospel music. If you hear a black R&B or Pop artist engaging in this, more than likely they learned it singing in church. As you can probably guess, it is very popular in mainstream gospel.

* Urban Contemporary Gospel, also called Black Gospel (and no, this does not necessarily cause unfortunate implications for anyone using the term) is the most common form of gospel music and the version you will most likely hear. Taking cues mostly from modern urban contemporary and R&B music, it has expanded its repertoire to include such things as reggae, Caribbean, and even Rock music.
** Music/KirkFranklin: the most famous, well respected, and highest grossing Gospel artist ''ever''. Having started his music career in 1990, he has been going strong ever since, including releasing an album which became the top selling gospel album ever released. His most famous song, and probably the biggest gospel single ever, is his single, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taeHa1qFo5s Stomp]] from that same album (note, this is actually the remix), which ended up being the first gospel song to even be aired on MTV, much less get heavy rotation. (case in point, Kirk Franklin and God's Property performed "Stomp" on both ''Series/AllThat'' and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M9E1SDTy70 SoulTrain]] That's how big the song was).

** Sounds of Blackness: The grand daddy of Black Gospel, the first gospel group to mix modern R&B with gospel music, they were the group to first cross over to the mainstream, and they were the ones many expected to get on MTV first. Can be considered part of the gospel sub-type "Choir Music" Became well known in the early 90s for mixing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMOIcxY-zhA New]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpvAil65yJc Jack]] swing in their music. Took awhile to find a company willing to release their music, because of their unique mixture of Christian music and modern R&B. Abandoned the New Jack swing by the mid-90s when it became played out. Their next album took on a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEPtPoHllbQ more]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE08EFwKyLA urban]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7Fuy4cr9aA tone]], but it was also the last album that got the group any kind of notoriety.

* Gospel Rap, also called Holy Hip Hop, a form of gospel that evolved in the 90s alongside Black Gospel. Currently rising in popularity and making in roads in the more secular rap scene as an alternate to the controversial and popular forms of rap music.

** KJ-52: One of the most well known rappers in the industry and one that has been going strong for a long time. Well known for his song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Aff1_mu1GQ "Dear Slim"]], which was a song he was writing to [[Music/{{Eminem}} Slim Shady]] Apparently, people got the idea that this was meant to be a diss, instead of an outreach song, leading to backlash from Eminem fans. To allay this belief, KJ wrote a follow-up, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1qpo7ZCpaU "Dear Slim Pt. 2"]]. Not sure whether Eminem ever really heard either one, though apparently the first song was given to Eminem at the Video Music Awards.
** B.B. Jay: A gospel rapper who gained a lot notoriety for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enS8qGirN4k sounding a lot like the Notorious B.I.G.]]

* Music/{{serpentwithfeet}}: (this but also, ClassicalMusic, NeoSoul and PBRAndB)

'''Gospel music'''. The great granddaddy of much of today's popular music, {{Jazz}}, to RAndB, to {{Blues}}, to {{Soul}}, and even {{Country Music}} owe a bit to gospel music.

* Music/RebeccaFerguson (Not to be confused by the [[Creator/RebeccaFerguson actress]] of the [[NamesTheSame same name.]])

* Music/ElvisPresley: Elvis adored gospel so much that he actually want to record more albums in this style instead.

* Creator/{{Lexi}}
* Music/{{Cimorelli}}
** ''Alive'' (Their first Christian album, excluding the songs "The Love Of A Man" and "Find Me")
* Music/SnoopDogg, [[OutOfGenreExperience believe it or not]], with ''Bible of Love'' (a 2018 double album)

!! List of Gospel musicians or artist who performed gospel songs or individual albums with gospel music.

* The Statler Brothers

* Dionne Warwick

'''Gospel music'''. The great granddaddy of much of today's popular music, from {{Jazz}}, to RAndB, to {{Blues}}, to {{Soul}}, and even {{Country Music}} owe a bit to gospel music.

* MelismaticVocals: Arguably, the modern day version of this started in gospel music. If you here a black R&B or Pop artist engaging in this, more than likely,they learned it singing in church. As you can probably guess, it is very popular in mainstream gospel.

** Sounds of Blackness: The grand daddy's of Black Gospel, the first gospel group to mix modern R&B with gospel music, they were the group to first cross over to the mainstream, and they were the ones many expected to get on MTV first. Can be considered part of the gospel sub-type "Choir Music" Became well known in the early 90s for mixing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMOIcxY-zhA New]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpvAil65yJc Jack]] swing in their music. Took awhile to find a company willing to release their music, because of their unique mixture of Christian music and modern R&B. Abandoned the New Jack swing by the mid-90s when it became played out. Their next album took on a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEPtPoHllbQ more]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE08EFwKyLA urban]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7Fuy4cr9aA tone]], but it was also the last album that got the group any kind of notoriety.

* Music/GladysKnight and Gladys Knight and the Pips

** Marvin Sapp: His song "Never Would Have Made It" topped the gospel charts for 46 week.

* The Blind Boys Of Alabama

** ''Music/TheMiseducationOfLaurynHill (1998)''

* Urban Contemporary Gospel, also called Black Gospel (and no, this does not necessarily cause UnfortunateImplications for anyone using the term) is the most common form of gospel music and the version you will most likely hear. Taking cues mostly from modern urban contemporary and R&B music, it has expanded its repertoire to include such things as reggae, Caribbean, and even Rock music.

Gospel music refers, broadly, to the African American Christian music that directly descended from negro spirituals, slave songs, and traditional Christian hymns, taking concepts from traditional African music like a focus on rhythm and chorus, and call and response to evolve into its own art form distinct from other forms of music, taking on a uniquely African flavor. It was from this form of music that much of modern pop music disseminated, and many a well known black artist, from then and now, got their start singing gospel in church.

'''Gospel music'''. The great granddaddy of much of today's popular music, from {{Jazz}}, to {{RAndB}}, to {{Blues}}, to {{Soul}}, and even {{Country Music}} owe a bit to gospel music.

* Music/ArethaFranklin

Gospel has had to evolve over the years into a myriad of different forms. The universality of the Christian message has caused gospel to expand and, in a bit of irony, take concepts from rap, R&B, the blues, rock, and jazz, the very genres it inspired in the first place. Traditional gospel is still enjoyed by the older generation, but new more modern forms of Gospel have taken root and absorbed musical stylings from its "children". This has caused a divide among many Christian denominations, with many seeing modern gospel as becoming too secularized or "worldly", while the younger generation say that the older forms of music cannot reach the current generation, leading to an FandomRivalry within the gospel industry itself. That said, while more contemporary forms have found popularity even in the secular music industry, the diehards still enjoy the traditional stuff.

* Music/{{Madonna}}
** ''Music/LikeAPrayer'' (1989): The title track is a gospel song.

* Music/{{Ylvis}}

** Music/KirkFranklin: the most famous, well respected, and highest grossing Gospel artist ''ever''. Having started his music career in 1990, he has been going strong ever since, including releasing an album which became the top selling gospel album ever released. His most famous song, and probably the biggest gospel single ever, is his single, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taeHa1qFo5s Stomp]] from that same album (note, this is actually the remix), which ended up being the first gospel song to even be aired on MTV, much less get heavy rotation. (case in point, Kirk Franklin and God's Property performed "Stomp" on both AllThat and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M9E1SDTy70 SoulTrain]] That's how big the song was).

* * Music/RebeccaFerguson: Not to be confused by the [[Creator/RebeccaFerguson actress]] of the [[NamesTheSame same name.]]

* Music/RebeccaFerguson