Print: DONALD LAWRENCE - Interview on BlackGospel.com, Your Music Ministry Source

Interview with Donald Lawrence
April 2006, BlackGospel.com

With the current release of the highly anticipated, critically acclaimed album, befittingly entitled THE FINALE (EMI Gospel), songwriter, director, producer and impresario Donald Lawrence carefully crafted a series of signature songs with one of America’s most beloved recording choirs, for one last time.

As the face and voice for the Tri-City Singers over the last twelve years, Donald Lawrence was a capable ambassador and excellent leader for this music ministry that branded itself for its flamboyant presentation, its distinctive sound and its unforgettable selections. Few will forget the choir’s Afrocentric apparel, their impeccable vocal pitch and enunciation or the timeless songs that stick in the minds of its fans like anthems…“Never Seen The Righteous”, “The Best Is Yet To Come” and “Bless Me (The Prayer Of Jabez)” will certainly outlive its composer.

Mr. Lawrence is responsible for navigating this cruise ship affectionately known at “Tri-City” to the shores of success with little disturbance and lots of favor from God. BLACKGOSPEL.COM spoke with one of true visionaries in Gospel music today, who’s always understood the important connection between time, space and opportunity. His remarks on the evolution of one of the greatest music ministries of our time was certainly enlightening and, at times, provocative. We pray that our exclusive interview with Donald Lawrence will fuel many artists, producers and servants of God with inspiration to go get your life back, for the best is certainly yet to come.

Christopher Heron: Donald, let’s start with the obvious question which comes to my mind. Why after twelve to thirteen years of choral ministry, six very memorable albums and an incredible run as one of the most beloved and respected recording choirs, why was it time now to bring this special ministry known as the Tri-City Singers to an end?

Donald Lawrence: Well I just think its time for us to make a transition. There’s talent in the choir that’s transitioning into their own careers and Tri-City hasn’t really had a big turnover, in terms of members. We’ve either been all of us or none of us. So rather than just reestablish the choir or all the members I would prefer to just kind of close this chapter and then you know, maybe later on do a Tri-City Second Generation that would be like with a whole younger group of singers. And just my instinct, I think this is just the time that we need to transition.

CH: Well, once everyone was finally of one accord and everyone understood that this was in fact the final chapter for Tri-City, what was the mood among the members and how did you go about deciding the concept for the final recording, for instance which songs to remake and who the special guests would be and where the recording would actually take place?

DL: Definitely the mood is bittersweet. I think some of the members understand and I think some of them kinda don’t. But they accept it; I’ll put it like that…you know…when you’re in something special and it’s cool and you don’t want it to end. But one thing that I’ve learned and I’ve always said this in a lot of my interviews; Bishop TD Jakes told me something that was really profound “There’s a season for killing and there’s a season for dividing your spoils” and he said “sometimes you’ll see people that are looking really, really old and really sad. It’s because they haven’t understood that their season for killing was over and now they just need to go and enjoy the fruit of their labor.” You have to transition into the time of sitting back and enjoying what you did as opposed to working in it. It doesn’t mean that you stop doing anything; it just means that you transition and you start a new page or something. So, I think that our season of working really, really hard as Tri-City Singers is really come to an end and we just need to sit back and enjoy what we’ve accomplished as everybody gets ready to transition and start a new page in their ministries and in their lives.

CH: As far as Donald Lawrence is concerned, what will you miss most about the ministry you were so intimately tied to over the years?

DL: Well, definitely just the memories of what we did, what we accomplished, thinking about how we started it. You know it definitely feels good to have thirty, thirty-five people behind you who train to sing your music the way you feel it. So all of that, I will definitely miss. I’ll miss rehearsals. I’ll miss introducing new songs to them and watching their eyes as I introduce it to them and how much they appreciated the music once they interpreted the song and the song came together. All of those things I’ll definitely miss. It’s the hardest thing for me because I sacrificed for the group. I wrote the songs, I taught the choir how to look, how to stand, how to walk onstage, how to walk offstage; I just taught them everything I knew. It’s one of those things. I’m mature enough to understand change; I’m mature enough to understand when you have to finalize something and move to the next page. I think that’s always been something I’ve always been aware of.

CH: I can remember watching the Tri-City Singers for the first time back at the GospoCentric showcase at the GMWA convention in Indianapolis back in 1994, with the choir in their flamboyant Kente cloth choir robes. They looked like royalty, they sounded like angels and they left quite an impression with all the industry representatives in the room. The choir has certainly evolved over the last twelve years. What was your special vision for the choir back then and how has it evolved over the years to the present day?

DL: I think my vision for the choir was first of all to encourage everybody, to promote healing and just the quality of life, to understand that life is something that God gave us as a gift and that we really need to enjoy this gift that he gave to us. I especially wanted to brand a place for us in gospel music because it’s really difficult to brand a choir. What can you do different that nobody has already done? So I learned that it had a lot to do with music, it had a lot to do with sound, it had a lot to do with a look. Therefore I kind of created what a lot of people thought was African, but its really on the cusp of being a neo-soul look. I just thought it was fashion forward. And to this day, I stick with designers and stylists who’ve worked with people like Erykah Badu and Angie Stone, and Lauryn Hill. I just stuck with that because I thought that it would be a timeless look, it would never get old. It was trendy, but not so trendy that it would look outdated fifteen years from when we first started. And that’s pretty much how I branded us. I branded us by look, sound and songs.

CH: You’ve always paid tribute and homage to the forefathers of gospel music. I’m gonna name a few names that you’ve honored over the years. Tell me what was so special about their music in terms of their impact on today’s gospel music and on your ministry? Three names come to mind: the late Benny Cummings, the late Thomas Whitfield and of course Andræ Crouch.

DL: I think Benny Cummings took a lot of risks with choirs. It was just nothing that he wouldn’t try with them. It was definitely over the top sometimes but it was great, just a great sound, great energy, very funky, very, very contemporary. He was way, way ahead of his time when he lived. So when I first heard them, I was just like wow. I didn’t really understand that you could really do that with a choir but I guess you can.

With Thomas Whitfield, it’s all about the way his music felt. It was just the space in the music, the lyrical content of the music and the way he would approach it. I’ll never forget one of the first songs I heard with The Whitfield Company - “I Shall Wear A Crown” - and just the richness of the tones. I was forever sold once I heard them do that song. It was one of my favorite songs. It was his whole approach through the music. Also it was the place that he would take you in his music. He was really a worshipper and that would come through in the lyrics, in the harmony, the way he played. It was unbelievable.

And Andræ is one of those songwriters that are just timeless. He’s simply one of the best songwriters in the world, not just gospel, just songwriters. He really is. He can speak any language. And when I say any language, I mean you could put him on “The Color Purple” with Bill Gates or you could put him with Dr. Seuss or you could put him with Kirk Franklin; he is just one of the most phenomenal songwriters that we’ve ever had.

I’ve always wanted to be a songwriter that wrote music that would last way past my time, that would become standards for the church or just standards period and that people would use as cover years later. I tended to study people with that ability. And also, some people are a brand. If you know Benny Cummings when you hear his music, you say it sounds like Benny Cummings or Whitfield when you hear his music, it sounds like Whitfield or Andræ when you hear his music, sounds like Andræ. The whole branding thing…I think it’s really important to carve out a place in music.

CH: There are so many memorable songs recorded by the Tri-City Singers. My personal favorites are the “The Best Is Yet To Come” “O Peter” “When Sunday Comes” and probably the one that sticks in my head most is “God’s Favor” featuring the finest assembling of gospel voices for one song that I can think of with Karen (Clark Sheard), Kim (Burrell) and Kelly (Price). Tell me Donald, what songs do you hope stand the test of time and will be remembered and redone by choirs to come?

DL: Well, I hope a few of them will be like “The Prayer of Jabez (Bless Me)”, “Seasons”, “Never Seen The Righteous”, “The Best Is Yet To Come”, and even songs that are current. We have such a big catalogue. One of my favorite songs is “God’s Favor”. I really hope that a lot of people will just go back and put their spin on the songs and just do it the way they would do something by Richard Smallwood or a cover from Andræ Crouch or even Walter & Edwin Hawkins or Thomas Whitfield or Twinkie Clark. I’m hoping you’ll look back through our catalogue and do that with the songs.

CH: Over the years, you’ve also spotlighted some of the greatest voices of our time in your recordings like Darryl Coley, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Karen Clark Sheard, Peabo Bryson and Bishop Walter Hawkins. Who are a few of the favorite vocalists in your catalogue of all time?

DL: Anybody that knows me knows that I’m probably the biggest Layla Hathaway fan. The BIGGEST Layla Hathaway fan!!! She’s just such a phenomenal vocalist, I mean just her tone, quality, and just her approach is so unique. So she’s one of my favorites, but all of them, I’m a connoisseur of singers. Everybody loves Vanessa Bell Armstrong. I love The Clark Sisters, Karen, and Walter... I just try to select vocalists based on the pace of a song in and I kinda play games with some of my bigger artists, to see if I can make that branded song with that song. Like “Seasons” is such a Walter Hawkins song. When I wrote it, I told him I was nervous because nobody writes for him better than him. I was just really hoping that it would become a favorite of our people. Now, you have “Thank You”, you have “Marvelous”, you have “Change” and you have “Seasons”. All the songs in the Walter Hawkins catalogue are just classic hits.

CH: There are a number of personalities who’ve definitely left an imprint on the Tri-City Singers. I’m gonna name a few names and I would like for you to tell me what was their legacy to the choir. The late Robin Rowe-Stewart,

DL: Robin Rowe-Stewart was one of my best friends. People always knew that we would do something musical together. We were actually in the first grade together. So she’s kinda like my sister. We’ve been around each other all our entire lives. I’ve always coached her a lot vocally and I tried to develop who she became as a vocalist. She was an incredible vocalist. I still can’t believe that she’s not with us. When people would see me they would see her. I would write the songs and she would sing ‘em. My first time doing anything national was the Gospel Music Workshop of America. I wrote a song. Rhodena Preston requested it. Robin Rowe-Stewart was the vocalist. I just came and directed the choir. Anytime I would get the opportunity, I would afford her the opportunity to sing it. And we just always planned on doing what I do now together. It’s more for our connection, way before the Tri-City Singers.

CH: Richard Odom.

DL: Richard Odom was actually the first choir director but was also in my group Company. At the time, I was also Stephanie Mills’ musical director and I took a group of guys to sing back up vocals for her. He sang in that group, an all-male group and again it was before my involvement with Tri-City. He was directing the choir. I had no connection to the choir. He knew I was writing a lot of music and would take a lot of the choir music that I had sitting around, which he loved and teach it to the choir. I would come home sometimes from being out on the road and I would hear them do the songs and I would always say, “Whenever I get ready to do an album with a choir, I’m going to let them sing it”. By the time I was ready to record, he wasn’t with the choir anymore. The choir was still together but they weren’t really active. There were about fifteen members, so I brought together a few of my childhood singing friends which were also Robin’s friends along with Erica McCullough’s and Arnetta Murrill-Coombs and other people that I grew up with. And I merged them with the choir and that’s how we ended up with the new Tri-City Singers.

CH: LeJeune and Cedric Thompson…

DL: I’ve known LeJeune for a long, long time. I remember her when she was a child and she always sang well. Robin and I would actually go to musicals that were presented by John P. Kee and LaJeune so she really started with John Kee. Her history is linked to Tri-City but it’s really linked to John Kee as well. She definitely worked with him a lot when she was a kid. Rev. Kee was probably her first professional opportunity. Cedric also played for John Kee. About the time Kevin Bond was getting ready to transition into some other things, we talked about Cedric coming on and playing for Tri-City. We started him before Kevin made his transition so he would learn the music, and then Cedric came on as MD (music director).

CH: And finally, your former music minister, Kevin Bond.

DL: I met Kevin Bond at a Christopher L. Gray recording. Christopher L. Gray was recording one of my songs. I came up to teach the song to him and it was the song “I Walk With the King”. I was totally blown away with his piano skills. I told him that I was Stephanie Mills music director and that we were looking for another keyboard player and that I wanted to hire him to play for Stephanie Mills. I called him and hired him to come on as a third keyboard player for Stephanie Mills and that’s where our relationship began. We were out on the road together and we got to know each other and when I was finally ready for Tri-City, I said, “Kevin, I’m getting ready to do this choir album. It’s with this choir in Carolina and I want you to play and be the musical director for me because I want to write and direct the choir. Help me co-produce this record.” So I rehearsed the choir, prepared the songs, put them all on tapes, mailed them to him and brought him down to Carolina probably about a month before we recorded A Songwriter’s Point Of View. He heard the music and was like “Donald this music is like unbelievable”. So what we ended up having was a fusion of what we did out on the road with Stephanie Mills. I said “I want to do this album the same way we do Stephanie’s shows. I want a beat machine. I want some the songs really breathy, the same way I would approach a Luther cut…” Some of the songs, I wanted to do really Whitfield-ish. So you have a fusion of what I did on the road with Stephanie Mills and what I enjoyed as gospel music. You just really got a fusion between the two of us. I wrote all of the music but for the whole feel of the album, Kevin Bond was a big part of us creating that formula.

CH: In conclusion, there are some folks who are praying for several reunion albums that will follow and that’s understandable. But can you give us a sense of what lies in the future for Donald Lawrence? What projects you’re brewing over and what is your next undertaking?

DL: I want to get back into theatre. I definitely want to deal with my imprint which is called Quietwater Entertainment. I have two acts that are coming out of the choir that are doing albums this year, The Murrills and DeWayne Woods. I also teach here in Chicago. I teach a class called Urban Inspirational Music. I want to build that into a degree program for students, so I can train up-and-coming industry professionals. Everybody keeps asking “are you guys going to do an encore?” I really doubt it. There’s one thing you have to realize. I believe that to extend anything you want to keep alive you’ve got to do it with younger people. The same people can’t keep doing something over and over again. We have to graduate and turn into the overseers of a thing. And I just know when it’s time to transition.

We’re also in discussion about doing a Clark Sister Reunion Album. Anybody who knows me knows I’m a big, big, big, big, big Clark Sisters fan. So to do that would be an epiphany for me. There’s so much going on and I really don’t even have the time to really oversee a choir because there’s just so much going on. I really just want to spread my wings a little bit, get back into the theatre, maybe some acting again. I really want to build those chops back up and I know that’s gonna take a minute. I want to continue to develop as an executive and really develop new talent and continue polishing this whole gospel and inspirational music thing.

For more information on the Tri-City Singers, visit the official website at www.tricitysingers.com or www.emigospel.com.