02/08/2001

UNIVERSITY, Miss. -- Still groggy from jet lag, Peter Slade, a 1999 graduate of the Southern Studies master's degree program at The University of Mississippi, 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's pretty amazing to be nominated, to be honest," said Slade, who is pursuing a doctorate in religious studies at the University of Virginia. "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, Miss., the UM Gospel Choir is poised to win a coveted Grammy Award for Best Gospel Choir or Chorus Album. The 60-member choir -- which for 25 years has admitted students without auditions, has never awarded class credit or been a part of the university's music department -- now is 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 said, the choir is good enough, we need to record a CD,'" said Lloyd Holmes, the choir's faculty co-adviser. "He's the one who said that and acted on it."

After joining the Gospel Choir in 1997, Slade got to work. Before the choir would release its debut album, he had talked to dozens of people, including university administrators, attorneys, staff,
students, record producers and engineers, and community and church leaders. Through what he refers to as a series of "lucky big breaks," the choir raised enough money through university sources, donations, and advance CD sales, to pay $10,000 for a professional live recording inside a campus auditorium.

The choir even managed to land first-rate original material for the CD. Jason Clark, one of the songwriters, volunteered to produce the album and offered the talents of his own group of musicians who had already provided accompaniment for 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 finalized and the UM Gospel Choir had its sound on tape, gold was hit 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 it release the album.

Jerry Masters, the album's technical director and Malaco Records' sound engineer, told Slade the choir's sound was comparable to other groups performing and recording 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 ... on his part."

Holmes, who also serves as assistant dean of students for judicial and multicultural student activities, said Slade did much more than was expected as a choir member.

"One of the things I truly admire about Pete are the things that he did for the Gospel Choir that did not have to be done. He went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure the choir received the reception it did," Holmes said. "He's a go-getter once he's set his mind to getting things accomplished."

During his travails to get the UM Gospel Choir recorded, Slade found time to profile the group as the subject of his 164-page master's thesis. His "Singing a New Song: The Gospel Choir at The University of Mississippi, A Prophetic Paradigm of Integration," chronicles the history of the choir from its 1974 formation to its 1998 CD recording, and its significance as one of the most important African-American organizations at a historically white university. He discusses the choir's artistic expression and how it was received by the university community.

Slade's choice to feature the choir in his thesis was deliberate, he said.

"The UM Gospel Choir makes a uniquely
African-American contribution to the University, so I could explore what integration meant in a more sophisticated way than just looking at minority recruitment statistics or the number of black players on the football team," Slade said.

While Slade is genuinely jolted by the choir's good fortune at being nominated for a Grammy, he said he was similarly impressed last June when the choir marked it national cable TV debut by performing on Black Entertainment Television's Bobby Jones Gospel Hour.

"The biggest shock was when we were backstage with all these stars, and we were on the same bill as Kirk Franklin," said Slade, who also produced the African-American Shape Note Project of the UM Center for the Study of Southern Culture and Mississippi Arts Commission. The successful Franklin, a 33-year-old minister and gospel songwriter and arranger, is largely credited with creating a new musical genre which combines contemporary hip-hop music with traditional gospel choir arrangements.

Slade said he is looking forward to the Feb. 21 Grammy Awards show in Los Angeles and will be just as pleased if the choir's nomination brings it increased national recognition as he will if the group actually wins.

"I don't think of the choir's success as the work that I did," said Slade. "The UM Gospel Choir is a very talented and dedicated group. That is not anything new; it's just that now it is receiving some attention."

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