Singer, songwriter and producer Donald Lawrence has hosted Verizon’s “How Sweet the Sound” for fives years.
Lawrence
believes that the continued success of “How Sweet the Sound” is
confirmation that choir music is still a viable entity.
“A lot of people kind of felt like that the choir was not as relevant
as it once was. This program shows that choirs will be around forever,”
Lawrence said.
The famed choir master, who had years of success with his choir, The Tri-City Singers, believes that the choir environment is a great developmental ground for a breakout soloist.
“I think it is the best training for a person to step out as a
soloist that a person could get,” he explained. “It teaches you how to
handle an audience, how to feel an audience and not just in your own
hometown, but around the country. It’s some of the best training for an
artist.”
Grammy nominee Sheri Jones-Moffett and Stellar Award winner DeWayne Woods are among the breakout stars from Lawrence’s The Tri-City Singers.
In addition to choir participation building solo stars and being the
heartbeat of the Sunday morning service, the 51-year-old artist
acknowledged that the Gospel genre is one of the few music formats where
artists can work even without huge radio hits.
“You know, when artists that sing other genres don’t have songs on
the radio or a hit album, they don’t really work. But I know for me and
some of the others in gospel, this is one of the only genres where you
can have a light record that didn’t get a lot of airplay and you can
still work. You can do those Sunday mornings and church services, which
makes all the difference,” he expressed.
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