Collins makes fierce statement about black gospel world

IN AN OUTSPOKEN editorial Billboard magazine's gospel columnist Lisa Collins has made some fierce comments about the state of the black gospel world. Commenting on the presidential decree which had pronounced 1994 "The Year Of Gospel" Collins editorialised in Billboard's special double issue: "Proclaiming 1994 'The Year Of Gospel'...was a bit premature. 1996 is a better bet."
Going on to comment on gospel's successes she wrote about Kirk Franklin, whose sales of his album have topped the 300,000 mark and who is "the personification of gospel's explosive potential at retail"; "the continued success story" of the Mississippi Mass Choir; and the "quantum leaps" of R&B artists who've now returned to their gospel roots, Stephanie Mills and Jennifer Holliday. Phillips had less positive things to say about Andrae Crouch. "It was a year in which Andrae Crouch nearly crashed and burned. His latest album, 'Mercy', earned a favourable response from gospel hard-liners but initial sales indicate that what worked 10 years ago won't necessarily work now."