RCA Inspiration (formerly Verity Gospel Music Group) is a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

music group operating under

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainme ...

History

Inception

In late 2002, BMG completed the purchase of the

Zomba Group Zomba may refer to: Places Hungary * Zomba, Hungary, village Malawi *Zomba, Malawi, city * Zomba District * Zomba Massif, mountain *Roman Catholic Diocese of Zomba * Zomba (meteorite), see Meteorite fall Other * 1468 Zomba, an asteroid *Zomb ...

for US$2.74 billion and as a part of that deal, acquired the gospel label

Verity Records Verity Records is an American gospel music-focused record label, founded in 1994. The Gospel group operated by Provident Label Group, which in turn is owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Artists * 21:03 * Crystal Aikin * Deitrick Haddon * DeW ...

. In 2004, BMG purchased

GospoCentric Records GospoCentric Records was an Inglewood, California based Gospel music record label, started as an independent label by Vicki Mack Lataillade and Claude Lataillade in 1993. The label rose to prominence in the 1990s, largely on the runaway success o ...

and its sublabel B'Rite Music, which already had ties with Zomba since before the purchase. When BMG restructured the Zomba labels into the

Zomba Label Group RCA/Jive Label Group was a short-lived American record label group, owned by Sony Music Entertainment and representing the merger of the RCA Music Group and Jive Label Group. The umbrella group was formed in 2007 under the name BMG Label Group, ...

, those labels were initially moved there, however, in 2005, Zomba amalgamated its gospel interests in the new Zomba Gospel and operated it under the Zomba Label Group. The new group consisted of Verity Records, GospoCentric Records and four artist owned imprints: Quiet Water Entertainment ( Donald Lawrence), Fo Yo Soul Entertainment (

Kirk Franklin Kirk Dewayne Franklin (born January 26, 1970) is an American songwriter, choir director, gospel singer, and rapper. He is best known for leading urban contemporary gospel ensembles such as The Family, God's Property, and One Nation Crew (1NC) ...

), New Life Records (

John P. Kee John P. Kee (born John Prince Kee on June 4, 1962) is an American gospel singer and pastor. Kee has been active for more than 20 years in the music field. He is primarily known for mixing traditional gospel with modern contemporary gospel, an ...

) and F. Hammond Music (

Fred Hammond Frederick William Hammond (born December 27, 1960) is an American gospel singer, bass guitar player, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most popular figures in contemporary gospel music. He is known for using a variety of differe ...

). When BMG and Sony formed Sony BMG, Zomba Gospel (as a part of the Zomba Label Group) was shifted under the BMG Label Group as an amalgamation of BMG's interests in the merger.

Rebranding

In August 2008, Sony purchased Bertelsmann's half of their Sony BMG merger. Since Bertelsmann kept the BMG name, Sony renamed the BMG Label Group to

RCA/Jive Label Group RCA/Jive Label Group was a short-lived American record label group, owned by Sony Music Entertainment and representing the merger of the RCA Music Group and Jive Label Group. The umbrella group was formed in 2007 under the name BMG Label Group, ...

in early 2009 and began the process of rebranding Zomba as the Jive Label Group. In another move to eschew the Zomba name, Zomba Gospel was rebranded as Verity Gospel Music Group, taking its name from their flagship label.

Labels

*Fo Yo Soul *

*B-Rite Music *Quiet Water Entertainment *

Awards

In May 2009, Verity Gospel made gospel music history being the first gospel label to hold the top four song positions on the R&R Gospel charts. The songs were: #"Souled Out" -

Hezekiah Walker & LFC Bishop Hezekiah Walker (born December 24, 1962) is a popular American gospel music singer and artist and pastor of prominent Brooklyn New York Pentecostal megachurch, Love Fellowship Tabernacle. Walker has released several albums on Benson Recor ...

#"Back II Eden" - Donald Lawrence & Co #"Praise Him In Advance" -

Marvin Sapp Bishop Marvin Louis Sapp Sr. (born January 28, 1967) is an American Gospel music singer-songwriter who recorded with the group Commissioned during the 1990s before beginning a record-breaking solo career. Sapp is also the founder and former seni ...

#"Peace & Favor Rest On Us" - Kurt Carr & The Kurt Carr Singers

Artists

Per source * Crystal Aikin *

Tamar Braxton Tamar Estine Braxton (born March 17, 1977) is an American singer and television personality. Braxton began her career in 1990 as a founding member of The Braxtons, an R&B singing group formed with her sisters. The Braxtons released their debut ...

Kurt Carr Kurt Carr (born October 12, 1964) is an American gospel music composer and performer. While living in the city of Hartford, Connecticut, he served as Minister of Music at The First Baptist Church of Hartford located at the time on Greenfield S ...

* Latice Crawford * Darnell Davis * Dee-1 *

Christon Gray Christon Michael Gray (born July 18, 1986), is an American R&B singer and rapper born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He calls his music "about being human". It is this approach that has allowed him a successful transition from Christian music to ...

* The Greater Allen Cathedral * Travis Greene *

Deitrick Haddon Deitrick Vaughn Haddon (born May 17, 1973) is an American gospel singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, record producer, pastor, and actor. He is best known for progressive gospel, and contemporary styles of music. He is also one of the cast memb ...

Israel Houghton Israel Houghton (; born May 19, 1971) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, producer and worship leader. He is usually credited as Israel & New Breed. Musical career Houghton produced an album by Michael Gungor, ''Big ...

* Jahméne * Le'Andria Johnson * She'nice Johnson *

Deon Kipping Deon Earl Maurice Kipping (born April 9, 1979) is an American gospel musician. He started his music career, in 2006, with the release of, ''Real Life. Real Worship.'', by Love & Life Records. His second album, ''I Just Want to Hear You'', was r ...

Donnie McClurkin Donald Andrew "Donnie" McClurkin, Jr. (born November 9, 1959) is an American gospel singer and minister. He has won three Grammy Awards, ten Stellar Awards, two BET Awards, two Soul Train Awards, one Dove Award and one NAACP Image Awards. ...

* William Murphy * Jason Nelson *

Tasha Page-Lockhart Tasha Page House (born March 21, 1983 as Natasha Marie Page) is an American Christian R&B and urban contemporary gospel artist and musician. She won the gospel singing competition, ''Sunday Best'', in season six of BET. She started her music ca ...

* Richard Smallwood *

Hezekiah Walker Bishop Hezekiah Walker (born December 24, 1962) is a popular American gospel music singer and artist and pastor of prominent Brooklyn New York Pentecostal megachurch, Love Fellowship Tabernacle. Walker has released several albums on Benson Recor ...

* The Walls Group

External links

References

{{Authority control Sony Music Zomba Group of Companies subsidiaries