Artist:Rev. Milton Brunson
Song:Rise Up and Walk
Album:Praise God
Rev. Milton Brunson led Chicago's Thompson Community Singers for almost fifty years. He was also the pastor and musical director of Christ Tabernacle Church in Chicago. He recorded since the 60s but with the rise of contemporary gospel in the 80s, Brunson's music became more popular and he won some awards. Brunson's music was traditional gospel with some contemporary elements. He was born June 28,1929 in Chicago. After graduating from high school, Brunson was trained by gospel music legends Thomas A. Dorsey and Mahalia Jackson. He formed the Thompson Community Singers in 1948. After he was ordained, Brunson was pastor and music director at Christ Tabernacle Baptist Church. Brunson started recording in the 60s first on Vee Jay and then on Nashboro. With the rise of contemporary gospel artists like Andrae Crouch in the 70s, secular record companies wanted to see if it could be sold to a mass audience. Before that, gospel was sold mostly in Christian book stores. Brunson signed with Word's Myrrh label in the early 80s. And Word made agreements with A&M and Epic to market Christian music to a mainstream audience. Brunson and the Thompson Community Choir were chosen for this experiment. The one big mainstream crossover artist that came from this was Amy Grant. But the labels were happy enough with the results that they all own gospel labels today. So they must have made money or they wouldn't spend money on it. When Brunson recorded for Epic starting in the late 80s, he was nominated for Grammys and Soul Train Music Awards. Rise Up and Walk was written by Jessy Dixon and Brunson first recorded it in the 70s. This budget comp is a good intro to Brunson's music. The choir continued to record until Brunson died on Apr. 1, 1997 at age 67. The Thompson Community Choir continued to record as The Tommies. Here's Rev. Milton Brunson and the Thompson Community Choir performing Rise Up and Walk. There's no date but it looks like the 80s.
No comments:
Post a Comment