Latice Crawford (born July 22, 1982 as Latice Tenae Crawford) is an American

urban contemporary gospel Urban/contemporary gospel is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genre was well established by the end of the 1980s. The radio format is pitched prima ...

singer, composer, and actress. She is best known for using her three-octave,

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...

vocal range of to finish third on the second season of the competitive gospel singing television show ''Sunday Best'' on

Black Entertainment Television Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

. Her self-titled debut album reached two ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' charts, the

Top Gospel Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

and the

Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...

. Her second album, ''Diary of a Church Girl'', also appeared on the Top Gospel Albums chart.

Early life

Crawford was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York,. Growing up as the middle sister of three, Crawford sang in children's choirs and eventually rose to become a soloist and worship leader. This led to her serving in recording sessions, doing vocal references and singing background for established artists.

Music career

Crawford first gained fame during her performances on ''Sunday Best'', where she finished in third place. Over the course of the series, Crawford gave well-received renditions of "Reach Out And Touch Somebody's Hand" and "Peace Be Still." Since the show, Crawford has starred in a reality series and released two studio albums. Her first studio album, ''Latice Crawford'', was released by

RCA Inspiration RCA Inspiration (formerly Verity Gospel Music Group) is a gospel music group operating under Sony Music. History Inception In late 2002, BMG completed the purchase of the Zomba Group for US$2.74 billion and as a part of that deal, acquired the g ...

in 2014,. Her sophomore release, Diary of a Church Girl, is a five-song EP. It features the songs "Author" and "Choose Me", which both made it to ''Billboard's'' Top Gospel Airplay and Hot Gospel Songs Charts. The EP also garnered Crawford her first Stellar Award Nomination for Contemporary Female Vocalist of the Year.

Discography

Studio albums

Personal life

Latice resides in

East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania East Stroudsburg is a borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Poconos region of the state. Originally known as "Dansbury", East Stroudsburg was renamed for geographic reasons when the Delaware, Lackawanna, and ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Latice 1982 births Living people African-American songwriters African-American Christians Musicians from New York City Songwriters from New York (state) Songwriters from Pennsylvania RCA Records artists Urban contemporary gospel musicians 21st-century African-American women singers