KENT, Conn.—Music in the Nave will present “Wanda Houston & Friends: An Afternoon of Gospel,” set for Saturday, March 7, at 3 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Parish.
Performing with Houston will be vocalists Janice Dempsey and Angela Clemmons with accompaniment by pianist Michael Brown.
With this concert, the three distinguished singers celebrate their gospel roots.
From age three, Wanda Houston sang gospel as part of her family’s Houston Singers and later joined Broadway Inspirational Voices, which was nominated for a Grammy in 2005. A vocalist of wide-ranging talents, she has shared the stage with Barbara Streisand, Patti Austin and Céline Dion, and toured with Mary Wells, Martha and the Vandellas, and The Platters.
Janice Dempsey, who began her career as “Little Janice, the Gospel Singing Baby,” released three R&B albums on Epic and Geffen Records, recorded with George Shearing and Edgar Winter, toured as a backup singer to Melba Moore, and worked in various capacities with Tom Jones, Roberta Flack, Mick Jagger, and Smokey Robinson.
Angela Clemmons grew up singing for and directing the choirs in her father’s church and currently directs two community gospel choirs which she founded. As a pop artist, her 1982 single, “Give Me Just a Little More Time,” rose to Number 5 on the dance charts and, as a backup singer, she worked with Céline Dion, Cyndi Lauper, Vanessa Williams and George Benson.
Pianist Michael Brown is the Gospel Choir Director of Sacred Heart University and Director of Music at the Litchfield Congregational Church.
St. Andrew’s is located at 1 North Main Street. Tickets are $20 and available on Eventbrite. For more information, call 860-927-3486, email office.sa.kent@gmail.com, or visit www.standrewskentct.org/mitn.html.