Still groggy from jet lag, Peter Slade, a 1999 graduate of the Southern Studies master’s degree program at the University, had sleep on his mind when he returned home from vacationing in his native England. But one particular message left on his answering machine perked him up for the rest of the day: “The University of Mississippi Gospel Choir has just been nominated for a Grammy Award.” To Slade, a former member of the choir and executive producer on its Grammy-nominated debut CD, Send Up the Praise, the news was spectacular--and incredulous.   “It was never a possibility that we would be nominated for a Grammy,” said Slade, who currently is pursuing a doctorate in religious studies at the University of Virginia. “It’s pretty amazing to be nominated, to be honest. Since I’m not at Ole Miss, it all feels a little unreal.”And it should. Just 14 months after releasing its first album on Malaco Records of Jackson, Mississippi, the choir is poised to win a coveted Grammy Award for Best Gospel Choir or Chorus Album. The choir--which for 25 years has admitted students without auditions, has never awarded class credit, or been a part of the University Music Department--is now respected in the industry as a national gospel recording artist. Those closely associated with the choir credit Slade with its rapid and remarkable rise to national prominence--especially, in a business where it’s highly unusual for a debut album to receive a Grammy nomination, they said.   “It was Peter who insisted that ‘the choir is good enough, we need to record a CD,’” said Lloyd Holmes, a faculty adviser for the choir. “He’s the one who said that and acted on it.” After joining the Gospel Choir in 1997, Slade thought the 60-member ensemble was good enough to record a CD for its own use. Choir members agreed.   So Slade got to work. Before the choir would release its debut album, Slade had talked to dozens of people, including University administrators, attorneys, staff, and students, record producers and engineers, and local community and church leaders. With what he refers to as a series of lucky big breaks, the choir raised enough money through University funding, donations, and advance CD sales, to pay $10,000 for a professional live recording inside University’s Education Auditorium. The choir even managed to solicit first-rate original material for the CD. Jason Clark, one of the songwriters, volunteered to produce the album and to offer the talents of his own group of musicians who had already played on a Grammy-nominated gospel project.   “That was a real big break,” said Slade, whose only experience in music production came from managing a couple of unsigned rock bands back home in England. After all the logistical, legal, and financial matters were final, and the choir’s sound was on tape, it hit gold again: producers from Malaco Records were so impressed by what they heard that they donated studio time to the group. Later, the record company urged the group to let them release the album.   Jerry Masters, the album’s technical director and Malaco Record’s sound engineer, told Slade that the choir’s sound was comparable to what was out at the time. “Being a student and doing what he did, that’s a sacrifice,” said Jerry Mannery, Malaco’s gospel music division director. “It was definitely a big effort and sacrifice on his part.”