As artists and fans countdown to the 57th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night, the winners of the five Gospel Music categories have already been announced at the Grammy Pre-Telecast Ceremony.
This year's Grammys winners of the Christian gospel songs include Smokie Norful, Lecrae Moore, King & Country, Erica Campbell, and Mike Ferris. While Lecrae was also nominated for Best Rap Performance alongside Drake, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar was selected as this year's winner. The event will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
For the category "Best Gospel Performance/Song," the winning song was "No Greater Love" by Smokie Norful; "Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song" winner was "Messengers" by Lecrae featuring For Kings & Country; "Best Gospel Album" winner was "Help" by Erica Campbell, featuring Lecrae; "Best Contemporary Christian Music Album" winner was "Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong." by For King & Country; "Best Roots Gospel Album" winner was "Shine For All The People" by Mike Ferris.
"Love and respect to everybody out here, because this is a celebration of gifts, and there are so many people out here who are gifted. Obviously, you can't celebrate the gifts without celebrating the giver of all gifts, so I want to celebrate Jesus for gifting us all," said Lecrae Moore, upon receiving the award.
At the Thank you cam, Lecrae and King & Country gave thanks to the "Original Messenger," referring to God, the "Creator of all Music," and they thanked each other as well as all those who contributed to the production of their songs.
Of the wins, Joel and Luke Smallbone, the brothers who comprise for KING & COUNTRY released this statement: "We're incredibly humbled by these two GRAMMYs. Yes, they represent a song and an album, but more than that they recognize hope-filled music and the power of partnership. Partnership with our families, Lecrae, producers, our band, record label, and most importantly partnership with our supporters...Thanks to God for each of you. These awards belong to us all!"
Much excitement has been built up in anticipation of the one-by-one announcements of this year's Grammys winners of the 70 music categories. The Grammys is the "biggest concert night" in the entire music industry as well as the all-encompassing music award, ranging from electronic music, to country music, to classical music, to rap, and to Gospel songs.
This year, the Gospel music nominations features some of the most well-known, and liked Christian artists, including Francesca Battistelli, Crowder, MercyMe, Needtobreathe, Natalie Grant, Royal Tailor. Both old and new artists have continued to be an inspiration and influence towards the Christians in America, which is only apt that the Grammy Awards continue to include this section of the biggest music venue of the year.
While the Dove Awards are dedicated to Christian and Gospel music, the Grammy Awards includes all genres of songs, which include the Christian praise and worship, gospel music, to be recognized as part of the contemporary music landscape of American culture.
The full list of Gospel song nominations can be found at the 57th Grammy Awards website: Grammy.com/nominees.
Meanwhile, the 57th Grammy Awards was aired on CBS nationally on Feb. 8, 2015, The awards ceremony/concert that features superstar performances will also be available to watch online for free through live stream at CBS.com.
