When Secular Singers Go Sacred
The Church is the most important site of Black socialization, but that was not the case in the beginning. During the years of Black enslavement in the US, church attendance was compulsory and the enslaved who found distasteful, the bizarre and boring atmosphere, clandestinely gathered in the corn fields to have their special services, which was a conduit for an emerging syncretism, that is the combination of their old belief system with the newly imposed one, Christianity.
The relaxed corn fields and the solemn church gatherings became the venues where the enslaved converged to fellowship, encourage one another, pray and hatch plans of self-liberation and escape. It was also the place where they sang all manner of songs, notably the Spirituals which embodied a fluidity comprising work songs, encoded message songs, songs about daily life, etc. The Spirituals would immensely influence subsequent genres of Black music like the Blues and Jazz. However, the direct progeny of the Spirituals is Gospel Music.
“During slavery, the sacred universe was virtually all-embracing” (Davis 7). The years of emancipation launched a paradigm shift conveyed through a bifurcation of reality. Angela Y. Davis (1998) tells us that the Spirituals in the post-slavery era was confined to the church and religious spaces. Even though the blues and spirituals shared a common origin, the former reinvented black consciousness which led to the binary oppositions of : God vs Devil, God’s music vs Devil’s music, religion vs secularism (sexuality), church performances vs shows/circuses, spiritual (old music) vs blues (new music), reflection of black religious ideology vs ancient roots. The Spirituals expressed the slaves aspiration in religious parlance, while the blues expressed liberty in immediately accessible ways (5-8). This divisive perception percolated and framed every form of music created by Black Americans.
It is common knowledge that most Black American singers began their musical apprenticeship and practice in the church. The church nourished and harnessed their singing abilities with the view that these voices would be utilized in service to the Almighty. Well, not so in a materialist and money-driven culture where there are bills to pay. Not a few singers departed the Lord’s Vineyard for the devil’s court in pursuit of fame and fortune.
And when they did, they were often vilified and shamed for elevating the devil’s music. The devil’s music is a plethora of songs which underscore the nooks and crannies of everyday life. The problem was that these songs denuded and sanitized elements of religiosity. For the religious fundamentalist, it was blasphemous and disrespectful to the Most High (who never complained, by the way) and these singers were going to burn in hell for their sinfulness (according to them, not God).
You see, these religious-mongers lived for the hereafter and obviated themselves out of sync with reality. They were shrouded in a mental psychotic veil which severed a connection to the power of presence, thereby potentiating a deficiency in stability, peace, joy and focus. How could a perusal of one’s immediate environment and concomitant connection and framing of such through music be deemed worldly, whatever worldly meant?
There are secular artists like Candi Staton and Ron Kenoly, who switched musical borders and went the gospel route, and there are those who acknowledge their church roots and express their religious beliefs in fragments with a gospel song or two. In this post, I present an inconclusive playlist of the latter group of artists who despite a sojourn in the ‘devil’s terrain’, reference their early and humble beginnings.
Stylistically, most of the songs on this list are framed within the ambit of several music forms- R&B/Soul, Funk, Country, Rap, etc, and are not particularly “churchy”. Some incorporate religious signifiers while others flatten same. Enjoy!
Angie Stone, Beyonce & The O’ Jays. "He Still Loves Me" Soundtrack to the film The Fighting Temptations (2003).
Blackstreet. "The Lord is Real (Time Will Reveal)" Another Level (1996).
Boney M. "Rivers of Babylon" Nightflight to Venus (1978).
Chanté Moore. "I Want To Thank You" A Love Supreme (1994).
Commodores. "Jesus Is Love" Heroes (1980).
Destiny’s Child. "Amazing Grace" The Writings on the Wall (1999).
Diana Ross. "He Lives In You" Every Day Is A New Day (1999).
DMX. "Lord Give Me A Sign" Year of the Dog…Again (2006).
Dolly Parton. "He's Alive" White Limozeen (1989).
Don Williams. "Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good" Especially For You (1981).
El Debarge. "Heart, Mind & Soul" Heart, Mind & Soul (1994).
Earth Wind & Fire. "Burnin' Bush" Spirit (1976).
Gladys Knight. "Somehow He Loves Me" Just For You (1994).
Jody Watley. "It All Begins With You". Affairs of the Heart (1991).
Johnny Gill. "I Know Where I Stand" Provocative (1993).
Kelly Price. "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow" Mirror Mirror (2000).
Kenny Lattimore. " I Won't Forget (Whose I Am) Kenny Lattimore (1996).
Lucky Dube. "I've Got Jah" Think About The Children (1985).
Mary J. Blige. "Hello Father" Strength of a Woman (2017).
Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly. "I Wanna Thank You" We Are One (1983).
MC Hammer. "Pray" Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em (1990).
Millie Jackson. "A Child of God (It's Hard To Believe)" Millie Jackson (1972).
Nina Simone. "Sinnerman" Pastel Blues (1965).
Oleta Adams. "Holy Is The Lamb" Come Walk With Me (1997).
Patti LaBelle. "When You've Been Blessed (Feels Like Heaven)" Burnin’ (1991).
Prince. "The Love We Make" Emancipation (1991).
Puff Johnson. "Hold On To His Hand" Miracle (1996).
R. Kelly. "U Saved Me" Happy People/U Saved Me (2004).
Shaggy. "Give Thanks" Lucky Day (2002).
Sheila E. "Mother Mary" Sex Cymbal (1991).
Whitney Houston. "Jesus Loves Me" Soundtrack to the Film The Bodyguard (1992).
REFERENCE:
Davis, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism. Vintage, 1998.
DISCLAIMER: None of the music content on this page belong to me. They are merely reference points which serve the purpose of entertainment and awareness creation, only] Please support the content creators through your subscription.
