Regina Belle releases first gospel project
By Deborah Evans Price, senior music editor, GospelMusicChannel.com
Regina Belle is a firm believer that all things happen in God’s perfect timing. After years of contemplating a gospel album, the GRAMMY-winning R&B star is releasing her first gospel project, Love Forever Shines, on May 13 via Pendulum Records/Walker Davis Entertainment.
“God said the time is right. He’s transitioning me to do a work for him. It was opportune,” says Belle, a New Jersey native who grew up singing in church.
Belle began her career recording a duet with the GRAMMY-winning group the Manhattans and heading out on tour as their opening act. She signed with Columbia Records and blossomed into one of R&B’s hottest stars, riding the top of the charts with hits such as Baby Come to Me, This is Love, Make It Like it Was, and A Whole New World, a duet with Peabo Bryson from Disney’s Alladin soundtrack. Having firmly established herself as one of R&B’s most talented divas, she indulged her passion for jazz on the 2004 chart-topping jazz album Lazy Afternoon.
Recording a gospel project is a natural step for Belle, who is currently Minister of Music at New Shield of Faith Ministries in Atlanta where her husband of 17 years, John S. Battle, III, is senior pastor.
Belle wrote the bulk of the album and tried out some of the new music on her home congregation before recording Love Forever Shines. “One of the songs – Come Into This Place – is seven or eight years old,” she says. “I wrote that in choir rehearsal. I was trying to teach them a song and it was a difficult task because we were missing some much-needed voices in the soprano department and alto section. I was getting so frustrated, so I sat down and started writing a song. I thought if I can’t teach what I want us to sing, then I’ll write what I want us to sing.”
Another of Belle’s favorite songs on the album is I’ll Never Leave You Alone. “I wrote that song in a hotel in Detroit,” she recalls. “I was alone and feeling like God has forgotten about me. I was having my own little pity party, and I heard this voice, almost like someone was in the room with me. I got up and looked around and thought ‘Okay, on top of my depression, I’m going crazy.’ Then I realized the Lord was confirming with me that he will never leave me alone. I got up and went to the desk and began to pen this song. My brain was so far ahead of my hand it was crazy. It was like I couldn’t even get the words down fast enough. The whole song was written in 15 minutes.”
Chris Walker of Walker Davis Entertainment produced 12 of the albums’ 14 tracks with the remaining cuts produced by Belle’s brother, Bernard Belle, who helmed God is Good and Good to Be Loved. Melvin Williams, of the Williams Brothers, contributes vocals to both those songs.
God is Good is the first single and is already garnering enthusiastic from gospel radio stations. Belle admits the song is special to her because it’s so traditional and reminiscent of the music she heard growing up. “When we played it for my father he just cried,” she relates. “It was so touching. I wish I’d had a camera at that moment. He just realized that all of the stuff he was playing for us when we were little like the Sensational Nightingales and Mighty Clouds of Joy – all those groups that we used to listen to – he didn’t realize how much they were impacting our lives. Now to hear the outcome, it was overwhelming for him.”
Belle’s new album also reunites her with Ruben Rodriguez, who was senior VP at Columbia Records during her tenure on the label. Rodriguez re-launched his Pendulum Records and Love Forever Shines is his first release. “What a great way to re-launch Pendulum with God and Regina Belle,” he says enthusiastically.
Belle is equally happy about teaming with Rodriguez again. “One of the key factors is that I had to be able to work with somebody who knew how to work the record and I knew Ruben from way back when,” says Belle. “He’s passionate about everything he puts his hands on. So when he said he’d come on board, it was a real simple [decision].”
To promote the album, Belle will be singing at churches across the country. “We’ll be going into churches for nine consecutive Sundays. The tour begins April 20th in Dallas,” says Rodriguez of the Sunday Brunch tour, which will also include stops in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Houston, Oakland and other cities. The visits will include brunch with the pastors in those markets. “She’s going to be calling radio stations around the country doing phone [interviews] and she’ll be calling retailers. She’s going to be working very hard.”
It’s all a labor of love for Belle. “These songs come from my life experiences,” she says. “This album is very personal to me. I want to let the music speak for itself.”
Though some people in the music industry might be surprised at her new musical direction, Belle says her fans won’t be surprised. “My fans know that I’ve been talking about the Lord for a long time,” she says. “When they come hear me, they know they aren’t just going to get songs like Baby Come to Me and If I Could, they are going to get I Surrender All and There Is None Like You. Sometimes I’ll break out into Donnie McClurkin’s Stand. It’s whatever God puts on my heart for that particular time.”
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About the Writer
Deborah Evans Price has covered Christian/Gospel music for Billboard magazine since 1994. She also contributes regularly to Country Weekly, CMA Close Up, Devo’Zine, Christian Single, HomeLife, BMI Music World, and other publications.
A Nashville resident since 1983, Deborah has held editorial posts at Radio & Records, Country News, American Songwriter and Billboard. Amy Grant, Trace Adkins, Brad Paisley, Charlie Daniels, 3 Doors Down, Third Day, Don Henley, Bon Jovi, Chris Rice, Sandra Bullock, Mercy Me, Alan Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Carrie Underwood and Steven Curtis Chapman are among her many interviews. Additionally, she's a sought-after music industry analyst who has been interviewed on CNN, MSNBC, TNN, The Today Show, and ABC PrimeTime Live, among other outlets.
Deborah is a member of the Gospel Music Association's board of directors and a graduate of Leadership Music. She resides south of Nashville with her husband, Gary, and 17-year-old son Trey.
