Home Featured Content Verizon’s How Sweet The Sound- Presenting the Choir Storm to America

Verizon’s How Sweet The Sound- Presenting the Choir Storm to America

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■Gospel Music News

by ROOTmagazine - Sep 20, 2012

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Verizon’s How Sweet The Sound- Presenting the Choir Storm to America for 5th year

By Hasan James

Photos by Landon Nordeman

Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.

For the 5^th year in a row, Verizon’s How Sweet the Sound is on a search to find the best church choir in America. This year, Verizon decided to add community choirs in the competition in an effort to add more versatility and flare. After stops in Dallas, Atlanta and Washington D.C., the competition landed in the birthplace of our beloved Whitney Houston, Newark, New Jersey. Verizon Wireless remains the #1 cellular service provider in America; however, their commitment goes far beyond telecommunications. “We want to make people aware of Verizon’s commitment to partnering with the community and sharing our success stories”, said Cameka Crawford, Manager of Multi-Cultural Communications and Community Relations.

Bishop Hezekiah Walker singing his #1 hit song, “Souled Out”

With multi-million dollar, state of the art production, the show opened with Bishop Hezekiah Walker and the Vy Higginsen’s Youth Choir singing the #1 hit song “Souled Out”, ironically to a sold-out crowd of over 15,000! Hosts for the evening were multi-platinum and GRAMMY® award-winning gospel artist, Yolanda Adams and How Sweet The Sound alum and GRAMMY® award-winning producer, Donald Lawrence.

From left to right: Fred Hammond, Erica Campbell, Hezekiah Walker and CeCe Winans

The judges for the evening was a “Who’s Who” of gospel artist and all are GRAMMY® award-winning musicians, which included singer/songwriter, Fred Hammond, one half of the supergroup Mary Mary- Erica Campbell, choir master and pastor, Bishop Hezekiah Walker and the incomparable and lovely, CeCe Winans. When asked if there was a difference between her last judging gig on Sunday Best and How Sweet The Sound’s choir competition, CeCe stated, “There is really no difference. You look for the same thing; quality, appearance and tone. Whether it’s an artist or a choir, you want the best for gospel music.”

How Sweet The Sound Hosts: Yolanda Adams and Donald Lawrence

Root Magazine broke the story that How Sweet the Sound has partnered with e-One distribution to form How Sweet The Sound Records and the overall winner of the competition will not only receive a cash prize, but will also be the inaugural act on the label. “I think it’s an awesome edition to the cash prize that they already receive as well as appearances on platforms like Bobby Jones Gospel, The Stellar Awards and Super Bowl Gospel. The record contract is major because contracts for choirs nowadays are almost non-existent”, said co-host Yolanda Adams. Donald Lawrence went on to say, “Momentum (Global Marketing Agency for Verizon) is one of the biggest branding agencies in the world and they have clients like American Express. You never know what you can infuse gospel into, so it exposes them to so many other outlets outside of gospel music.”

2nd Place Winners, SIII & The Truth

Sean Tillery & Changed

The first choir of the night was SIII and the Truth, who started out with an A cappella version of “It is Well”. The choir had great energy and the director was full of personality, according to the judges. Next group on deck was Sean Tillery and Change, who did a modern version of the classic hymn, “Blessed Assurance”. They looked great in a gray and turquoise ensemble and had very strong voices and great showmanship, however the judges were not that impressed and gave moderate feedback.

Powerfied Youth Choir from Salisbury, MD

The third group of the night was Powerfied Youth Choir from Salisbury Maryland, who rendered the James Hall classic, “God Wants a Yes”. As James Hall himself looked on from the front row, the choir didn’t quite hit the notes like Worship and Praise; however, they had great stage presence and ended very strong.

Professor James Hall enjoys the competition as two choirs sang some of his classic songs

As the night got off to a very exciting start, co-host, Yolanda Adams sang her radio hit, “Be Still” while Fred Hammond rendered a medley of his hits like “Let the Praise Begin”, “This is the Day” and “Glory to Glory” and CeCe Winans sang the heartfelt, “He’s Concerned” from her seventh solo project, “Purified”.

Kergyma Community Choir dazzles the crowd of thousands at Newark’s Prudential Center

The fourth choir of the evening was Kergyma Community Choir from New Haven Connecticut, who stood out in their blue and yellow robes as they sang “Jesus I Won’t Forget”. They sounded great and gave excellent showmanship and seemed to be the crowd favorite.

Philadelphia natives, Zak Williams and 1/Akord

As the night was winding down, Philadelphia’s own, Zak Williams and 1/Akord, hit the stage decked out in dapper blue suits and chic fuchsia dresses. For the second time in the evening, another James Hall classic was bestowed upon the crowd as Zak and 1/A sang “Caught Up”. This choir was by far the most stylish and energetic of the night, dancing around the stage in “Roaring Twenties” fashion and singing with power and conviction, however, it seemed to be too innovative for some of the judges and attendees. Resident judge, Fred Hammond, said, “I enjoyed your singing and I understood where you were trying to take it with your choreography.” Speaking of Fred Hammond, over the past 30 years, he has been contributed to every facet of gospel music including playing bass guitar for The Winans, singing with the group Commissioned, forming the choir Radical for Christ and being a solo act. When asked what he enjoyed most about hos HSTS experience, Hammond said, “There are some extremely talented groups out there and I feel like I can make a difference by giving the choirs constructive criticism and vote the best choir in America to get that record contract.”

Power In Praise Mass Choir from New York City

The sixth and final choir of the evening was Power In Praise Mass Choir from New York City and they sang the old hymnal, “Ride on King Jesus” as they lived by the words of the song, not allowing any man, woman, boy or girl to hinder them from wining the competition for their region. From the very first note, they started off strong and literally commanded the atmosphere for praise and worship; ending the competition on a high note.

While the votes were being tallied, Erica Campbell hit the stage without her other half, Tina, and amazed the crowd by doing a solo version of the Mary Mary hit, “Yesterday”. Bishop Hezekiah Walker hit the stage for the second time with “Your All I Need” and syndicated radio host, Lonnie Hunter, also performed his latest single- “Anyway”. Verizon’s How Sweet The Sound proved to be much more than a choir competition but also a chance to see your favorite gospel artists all in one place singing some of the crowd favorites. “I am so honored to be around legends that I looked up to my entire life, I am in gospel heaven right now”, said a jovial Erica Campbell of Mary Mary.

Miss Robbie and Tim greet the Prudential Center crowd

Miss Robbie and her son Tim paid a special visit to HSTS and admonished the crowd to tune in to the new season of their hit reality show, “Welcome to Sweetie Pies” on the OWN network.

First and Second Place Winners: Power In Praise Mass Choir and SIII & The Truth

The moment of truth had arrived and Power In Praise Mass Choir was the Regional winners as well as the People’s Choice, winning a total of $15,000. The runner up was surprisingly, SIII and The Truth from Newark, New Jersey and they were awarded a check for $5,000. Each choir walked away with $3,000 just for participating; further proving Verizon’s commitment, loyalty and generosity to the Church Choir.