Damita has proclaimed 2012 a year of great things for the body of Christ and plans to creatively express her love for God in many ways this year. The buzz surrounding Damita is that she is aggressively completing her 2012 CD release on Tyscot Music & Entertainment. Her new music has been described as refreshing, anointed, dynamic and lyrically sound.

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This week, Tyscot serviced the much-talked-about track “I Love You” to radio and it has quickly been added in rotation at several stations across the country. “I Love You” speaks of God’s endless love and Damita’s commitment to Him, no matter what life may bring. It won’t take long for radio listeners and Damita fans to catch on to the lyrics and melody.

In the song, she sings the heartfelt lyrics “When I need a shelter, I run to you, when I need help Lord, you bring me through and that’s why I love you”. “I Love You” is a great lead single for Damita’s much anticipated 2012 release.

On the heels of his successful U.K. tour, and multple appearances surrounding the Stellar Awards, including a presenter slot at the Pre Stellar Awards, Isaac Simpson prepares to delight listeners with his new release, The Process, a compelling song that encapsulates the true meaning of God's grace and mercy, and is a true testament of Isaac Simpson's life.

According to WLOU's music director, Boderick Pervis, "The Process' by Isaac SImpson & DP, is a moving song that touches you in such a way that it pushes you to move forward even while you're yet in your storm. Powerful!"

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A moving ballad that's close to home simply says:

I know you feel that you can't make it/I know you feel like what's the use/I'm holding on to something that feels so far away/Let me remind you that He's here and he cares/Don't give up now you've come too far to turnaround/Keep holding on to what God has promised and believe it is in His word.

"The Process is about enduring the fight with the love of God, and the reality about the struggle and the reminder of the everlasting presence of God with us," explains Simpson.

As a three-time Gospel Music Academy Award winner, songwriter, vocalist and producer, Issac Simpson & DP has shared the stage with gospel greats as Vicki Winans, James Moore, Marvin Sapp, Kurt Carr, and Rance Allen, and was chosen as a special vocalist to honor Coretta Scott-King.

A man whose testimony will shock many began honing his skills at an early age directing citywide choirs. By the time he was twenty-six he had conducted workshops throughout the U.S., the Caribbean Islands, Great Britain and Europe.

"Isaac Simpson & DP are definitely a group that you must keep your eye as well as ears on! They are destined to be a powerful new voice in current musical paradigm shift." --Lee Michaels, program director WCAO AM.

Check out Isaac's testimony here

The Sounds of Blackness have been bringing hope and inspiration to people through its music globally for the past four decades. The group has awed audiences on five continents with the depth and breadth of its artistry, covering all forms of African-American music from gospel and soul to jazz, R&B, reggae, hip-rop, rock and blues, to ragtime, field hollers, work songs and traditional spirituals. As Sounds of Blackness celebrates 40 years of music and inspiration, the group offers a superb self-titled 15-track CD that is a dazzling showcase for its all-encompassing musicality.

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The five-time NAACP Image Award nominees' latest album focuses on the themes of reconciliation and healing. "Music can be our primary method, mode and means of avoiding annihilation and achieving peace," explains group's founder, Gary Hines. "Music is God's perfect form of communication, because what comes from the heart reaches the heart. What comes from the soul reaches the soul and what comes from the spirit reaches the spirit."

The Sounds of Blackness is filled with material that celebrates life and offers encouragement during trying times. In addition to serving as executive producer for the album, Hines was co-producer on most of the tracks on the project. However, like all of the group's projects, it was a collective effort.

Over the past 20 years, the group's accomplishments include garnering three Stellar Awards, one Soul Train Award, five NAACP Image Award nominations, an Emmy nomination, three GRAMMY Awards and five GRAMMY Award nominations. They've performed at the White House on five separate occasions and have been seen performing before more than one billion people worldwide on televised events such as the 1996 Olympics, the 1994 World Cup and the 1998 World Figure Skating Championships.

The list of artists with whom the group has performed or recorded includes: Quincy Jones; Stevie Wonder; Sting; Santana; Eric Clapton; Usher; Elton John; Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber; Aretha Franklin; Anita Baker; Dolly Parton; Vince Gill; Bob Dylan; Patti LaBelle; Earth Wind & Fire; Shirley Caesar; Yolanda Adams; Kirk Franklin; Kenny G; Lena Horne; Isaac Hayes; Little Richard; B.B. King; Johnny Mathis; Billy Crystal; Robin Williams; Jim Carrey; Whoopi Goldberg; Robert Duvall; Maya Angelou and many others.

Reflecting on the past four decades, founder Hines says, "To quote the Gospel song, 'How I Got Over,' my soul looks back and wonders...I know it's by the grace of God that Sounds Of Blackness has thrived, and it's incomprehensible to me that as an original member, it's been forty years."

Now proud to be associated with Malaco Music Group, whose commitment to black music in its many forms also stretches back over decades, The Sounds Of Blackness present a self-titled album that is a fit for the challenging times, while offering energy, optimism, compassion, and as always, giving praise. "This ranks amongst our best work," says Hines proudly. "We're incredibly excited about it. Lyrically, musically and thematically, it's on time and it embodies the spirit of togetherness, healing, Ubuntu and inspiration that is at the heart of who we are."  

Written by LeJuene and Cedric Thompson, the first single from the CD, “Let God Do It,” was penned at a time when they were both feeling discouraged. Having worked on the album for almost two years, the journey was filled with challenges including family illnesses and deaths. “We were both at rock bottom, ground zero and we came to the realization that there was nothing we could do about these situations on our own, so we had to just sit back and let God do it,” she said. “We wrote this song to let people know that even when no amount of money, no amount of friends, can change your situation, you can let God do it.” This mid-tempo song is performed in a classic contemporary gospel style, with a laid back musical accompaniment that allows LeJuene to show off her warm tones, wide range, and signature flourishes in a song that both implores and challenges the listener to “Let God Do It.” The single was produced by Cedric Thompson for Ced’s Productions. It also features their son Cedric“CJ” Thompson, Jr. on the drums.

LeJuene will showcase her new single and other music at the three-day Stellar Award Weekend. On Thursday, January 12, she will perform at the Urban Soul Café salute to Dorinda Clark Cole, Kim Burrell and the Rance Allen Group; followed by the Preacher Kid Production Presents Friday Night Live event, which will also feature artists such as BET’s Sunday Best alumnae Amber Bullock and Shari Addison, among others. On Saturday, February 14, she will perform at the Stellar Award After Concert event at Hopewell Baptist Church. Also, during the Stellar Award Weekend, she will attend the BMI 13th Annual Trailblazer of Gospel Music Awards Luncheon and the 27th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards.

LeJuene is thrilled to be in the midst of completing her forthcoming album. It is nothing less than a true Labor of Love. She wrote several songs on the CD with her husband, Cedric Thompson, a veteran and award-winning musician, songwriter and producer. For LeJuene, writing is a relatively new venture for her, but she says that sharing her experiences is a blessing for her, and she hopes it will bless others.

The forthcoming CD, The Evolution of Me, is very special and very personal to LeJuene. She says it represents a journey of faith and understanding that she believes others can relate to—and that the sometimes—difficult process of putting this CD project together helped her learn the power of ‘no.’ She notes, “I used to be afraid of hearing ‘no,’ but now when I hear it, I just keep pushing until I get that ‘yes’! I’ve learned to be comfortable with knowing what I want and asking for it. I think for me and other women in my shoes, there is a lesson to be learned about letting go of fear and being happy with who you are. This was part of my evolution on this project.”

“More than anything, I hope the songs on this CD will give people hope and strength,” she said. “In these difficult times, people need to hear that there is hope. They just need to know that they don’t have to be afraid, because there is light at the end of the tunnel and that, no matter what happens, they can pick up the pieces and build upon whatever they have left and make it into whatever they want it to be.”

LeJuene is an award-winning, contemporary gospel singer, with a voice so compelling and a singing style so captivating that she has been dubbed “The Diva in Waiting” by Billboard magazine. But this diva has not had to wait for much. She has been a featured artist with top gospel groups, recorded two CDs, and partnered with her husband, Cedric, to start an independent label—all while finishing school, getting married, and raising three sons.

LeJuene was born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. She is part of a close-knit family with ten children—she is number nine. She says that her family always understood that she was going to sing. She traces her soulful, contemporary gospel style to the varied musical influences she had growing up. Her parents divorced, so she would listen to Christian musicians such as the Walter Hawkins Singers and the Clark Sisters while at home with her mother, who was an evangelical minister, and listen to secular music when she was with her father. It was at her father’s house, she says, where she fell in love with Al Green’s voice and music when she was five years old.

As a young girl, she met and was mentored by singer and worship leader Nancy Carree Wilson (mother of gospel artist Isaac Carree). Carree hosted a local television program, Gospel Expo, and Thompson performed on that program several times. In the mid-1980s, she was introduced to the world-renowned pastor and gospel musician John P. Kee. Pastor Kee took LeJuene under his wings and she began her professional recording career. It was while she was singing with him that she met and married Cedric Thompson. She has continued to sing with Pastor Kee over the years, even after launching her solo career. In the early 1990s, she put together a gospel group, The Promise, which released an album on the national Christian music label, Word Records.

LeJuene later became a featured singer with the award-winning, gospel chart-topping group, Donald Lawrence and The Tri-City singers. Along the way, she has also worked with some of the nation’s premier artists, such as Twinkie Clark, Dorinda Clark Cole, Karen Clark Sheard, Shirley Caesar, Bishop T. D. Jakes, Micah Stampley, Anthony Hamilton, Oleta Adams, Queen Latifah, Aaron Neville, Tyler Perry, and many others.

LeJuene recorded her first solo project in 2001 with EMI Gospel. The album, Soul Inspiration, was nominated for Stellar, GMA Dove and Gospel Excellence Awards. Her long-awaited sophomore CD project Metamorphosis, was released in July 2008 to rave reviews. Metamorphosis was released on their independent label, Le Ce Entertainment.