Genre: Blues
Rate: 256 kbps CBR / 44100
Time: 00:45:25
Size: 83,15 MB
Gospel and blues musician Sista Monica is one of those mult-talented performers who has a calling and a message in her music. It is clear from the opening of her song titled "Walk Around Heaven All Day" that this is a deep-rooted gospel and blues song that will touch, and send a bone chilling experience all over your body. Sista Monica is a genuine musician who speaks from her heart and soul. If you love Etta James you are going to love Sista Monica as her essence and presence is strong to compare the two.
Sista Monica has performed across the USA and Europe. She has performed for former President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hilary Clinton. She has also been nominated for a W.C. Handy Award the highest appraise in the blues music industry a musician can receive.
The overall CD by Sista Monica demonstrated her strong sense of culture and respect to the gospel music in which she is grounded.
Sista Monica Parker has finally produced and recorded her first traditional gospel music CD entitled "Gimme That Old Time Religion". This is the one that people have been waiting for years to hear and enjoy. It's now available and can be purchased on-line at Amazon.com and fine retailers as of June 26, 2001. This CD captures the enduring qualities of good old time, hand-clapping gospel music filled with spirit and congregational singing. The musical simplicity allows her voice to deliver the power. This release is reminiscent of songs played on the radio in the mornings while her mother braided her hair and prepared her for Sunday school. Parker grew up inspired by singers such as Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples, Rev. James Cleveland, Lynette Hawkins, Dorothy Love Coates and many other gospel greats.
Monica Parker was born and raised in Gary, Indiana, graduated from West Side High School and used her G.I. benefits she pursued her B.A. at Indiana University in Business Management with emphasis in Marketing. She started singing at age 7 as a member of The Great Band Missionary Baptist Church Choir. In 1972 at age 16 she attended Miracle Temple Church Of God In Christ (C.O.G.I.C) offering a strong alto voice to this spirit-filled choir. After three years in the U. S. Marine Corps with an honorable discharge for being a recruiting sergeant, Parker returned to the Midwest residing in Chicago, Illinois. She was then 25 years of age. She attended Life Center Universal Awareness Church singing harmonies in the choir. In 1987, she relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area and joined Life Center Ministries in Oakland under Pastor Walter Hawkins. She enjoyed singing for a short time in the Edwin Hawkins Music & Arts Seminar Choir until she moved to Santa Cruz, California in 1991.
To offset her musical career she has been an engineering executive recruiter and consultant for high tech corporations in the Silicon Valley for 14 years. As a choir member Monica Parker had never sang solo or led songs in front of a group. At the age of 36, she decided to balance her life from the rigors of corporate America she after seeing M.C. Hammer on the Arsenio Hall show. She bought a microphone and started a band in 1992. Three years later she became a singer/songwriter with her first CD "Get Out My Way" ending with a moving acapella version of "Precious Lord Take My Hand". Sista Monica Parker soon developed a tremendous global following attributed to her dynamic stage presence and charisma when connecting with the audience. Now, almost a decade later, she is considered a show-stopping festival favorite touring the world as an international recording artist with other award winning CDs. The add to her catalog of CDs is the self-titled 1997 release "Sista Monica", the 2000 release "People Love The Blues" and the 2001 release "Sista Monica Live In Europe."
Since 1995 Monica Parker has produced and released 5 CDs on her Mo Muscle Records & Entertainment record label located in Santa Cruz, California. Known for her deep and rich contralto voice, she sings mostly original gospel-influenced Blues and Soul. She has won numerous awards and has traveled around the world entertaining audiences in Turkey, The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Norway, Great Britain, Mexico City and the U. S. She includes a gospel song while in concert and on her each of her CDs - never forgetting her roots. Sista Monica has shared the stage at major festivals with legends such as Al Green, BB King, The Temptations, Mavis Staples & The Staples Singers, Gladys Knight, the late John Lee Hooker, Dr. John, Taj Mahal and many other Grammy Award winning artists.
"Gimme That Old Time Religion" took two years in the studio to complete between tours. "I felt like the Pied Piper gathering voices and musicians to produce this compilation says Sista Monica. In 1999, Ken "Big Papa" Baker her tenor sax player and a dear friend suddenly passed away. Humming and singing the gospel songs of yester-years, plus the support of friends from all parts of the Bay Area helped to heal her sorrowed heart. The CD features Kate Alm-piano player and musical director for the Calvary Episcopal Children's Choir of Santa Cruz. She directed 16 children ages ranging from ages 3 to 11 that sang on "He's Got The Whole In His Hands". Kate also played on "Down By the River Side", "Bye & Bye", "Gimme That Old Time Religion" and other traditional gospel favorites. John Turk - Music Director of the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church Choir located in San Francisco, California plays a heart-felt piano on Rev. James Cleveland's "Walk Around Heaven All Day". Tim Landis also from Glide Memorial played lead guitar on each track. Ron E. Beck, co-producer and drummer sang tenor in the choir. Bill Bosch played upright acoustic bass, a visually impaired Dayan Kai played New Orleans style clarinet on "When The Saints Go Marching In" along with Art Alm-tuba, Noel Catura tenor sax and Eddie Ramirez on trumpet to round out the brass section. Jackie Gainey of Richmond Temple C.O.G.I.C. offered a high-spirited Hammond B3 organ throughout the CD and most remarkably on the title track. The Adult Choir singers included Rebecca Adams, Ann Peden, Shiela Truso, Arron Woods, August O'Connor, Tammy Brown, Ron E. Beck, Donisha Leggett, Scarlett McKinley, Rolesa Smith, Tanya Fitzgerald, Vince Harris, Tony Howard, Leslie Mixon, Shelton Crutch, Janet Crutch and Kate Alm. Sista Monica led and directed the adult choir.
"A feeling of joy comes to my heart when I sings gospel, and while some of the songs speak of the future and the hereafter, they give me happiness and hope for a better day right now. I love all types of music, however with all its truth and humility, there is nothing that goes deeper and does my heart better than singing some traditional gospel songs" says Sista Monica Parker. (http://www.sistamonica.com)
Tracklist:
01 - Bye & Bye 03:16
02 - Walk Around Heaven All Day 04:17
03 - Gimme That Old Time Religion 01:40
04 - Didn't It Rain 03:47
05 - Down By The Riverside 03:55
06 - The Stranger 04:11
07 - Walk All Over God's Heaven 04:27
08 - Amazing Grace - Motherless Child 03:18
09 - When The Saint's Go Marching In 04:33
10 - He's Got The Whole World In His Hands 03:34
11 - Don't Knock 03:10
12 - I Want Jesus To Walk With Me 03:19
13 - Gimme That Old Time Religion 01:58
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