Israel & New Breed’s “Your Presence Is Heaven” From Jesus At The Center Receives GRAMMY Award

Feb. 11, 2013 - PRLog -- Released amidst international acclaim in August of last year and launching to the top of multiple retail sales charts, Israel & New Breed’s Jesus At The Center received a GRAMMY Award yesterday from The Recording Academy during the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards®, which were broadcast live from Staples Center in Los Angeles on the CBS Television Network.  Receiving an award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Song for the hit AC radio single from the album, “Your Presence Is Heaven” (a tie with Matt Redman’s “10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord),”), the latter nod marks Israel Houghton’s first award in the category and fifth GRAMMY so far for the celebrated recording artist. Houghton shares the GRAMMY with “Your Presence Is Heaven” co-writer, Micah Massey.

Jesus At The Center, which was also nominated for a Best Gospel Album GRAMMY, marks Houghton’s return with New Breed after two successful solo projects for the first live recording in five years from Israel & New Breed.  The album is a joint venture by Integrity Music and RGM-NEW BREED Music, and was recorded live over four days in front of more than 29,000 worshippers at Houston’s Lakewood Church.  The Jesus At The Center double-CD, 18-song album with three additional studio singles features Israel & New Breed returning to their roots, delivering new anthems for the modern day church. The album further became Israel’s fifth consecutive Billboard Top 200-selling album, gathering praise from fans and critics alike. (A buy link for the album is http://jatc.tv/LP/.)

After hearing the album, USA Today’s Brian Mansfield calls Israel Houghton “an impassioned worship leader with impeccable pacing” who has “a killer band that blends '80s synth-funk, Latin dance, even arena rock.”  Associated Press says the music is “superb praise and worship” as Worship Leader confirms it is “a multicultural, polyrhythmic, choral feast of pop-shaded, rock-informed worship that combines and fuses a universe of musical possibility.” The recording also received multiple major print and broadcast network attention from ABC’s The View, Los Angeles Times, The 700 Club, BET, WGN TV, Jet Magazine, PBS NewsHour (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/12/gospel-singer...), The Tavis Smiley Show, Gospel Music Channel, Ebony, The Washington Post, GospelFlava.com, San Francisco Chronicle, CCM Magazine, Detroit News and more.

Co-writing all the songs, except the Bob Dylan cover, “To Make You Feel My Love,” and “You Have Me,” by Michael and Lisa Gungor, Israel says of Jesus At The Center, “The overarching story of the album is that sometimes we can be so ‘churched’ that we can lose sight of the ‘who, what, why’ of worship. This project simply places Jesus where he is supposed to be. We intentionally removed the metaphors and simply focused on his name.”

In addition to the GRAMMY nominations, Houghton was recently tapped by the 28th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards to perform at their annual awards ceremony. Houghton sang his No. 1 Gospel hit single, “It’s Not Over (When God Is In It)” from Jesus At The Center.  To see his compelling performance that aired live on GMC TV, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoDF1eUSYqs.



Israel & New Breed will also be playing the new music at numerous upcoming events around the world this year, including:

March 2  Bahamas   King’s Men Tour (with Kirk Franklin, Marvin  Sapp, Donnie McClurkin)
March 13 El Paso, TX Abundant Living Faith Center
March 14 Orlando, FL Joyce Meyers Conference
April 6 - 14 Asia tour Seoul, S. Korea; Surabaya, Indonesia;  Malaysia; Hong Kong; Singapore
May 2013 South Africa Tour dates to be announced
May 26-June 2  Europe London’s Big Church Day Out, Poland, Netherlands, Hungary Budapest
June 14 Pasadena, CA Pasadena Convention Center (benefit for the Salvation Army)
June 22 Miami, FL The Vous Conference
* Tour cities with Darlene Zschech to be announced soon

For all the last tour dates and news, go to www.newbreedmusic.com.

In 1995, Israel and Meleasa Houghton founded New Breed Ministries, an organization they continue to run and that is comprised of noted musicians and singers who serve within their respective churches and together serve the Church at large.  Since then, Israel & New Breed has amassed a legion of followers that crosses generational and African American, Latin and Caucasian listener lines. While blasting down barriers, Israel has been fittingly graced with 2 Gold-selling albums, 5 GRAMMY Awards, 12 Dove Awards, 2 Stellar Awards and a Soul Train Award.

Active as worship leader in his local church, Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church (Houston), Israel has served as worship leader at Hillsong conferences and Franklin Graham crusades. He has written or co-written 11 CCLI Top 500 favorites, been featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, accompanied Alicia Keys at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards for a performance of George Michael's “Freedom '90,” and performed at the 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards. He uses his own multi-cultural upbringing as a reference point with a desire to draw people of all races, ages and cultures together. More information on Israel & New Breed is available at www.newbreedmusic.com.

About RGM-NEW BREED Music:

RGM-NEW BREED Music was formed by merging Israel Houghton’s NEW BREED and Galley Molina’s RGM (Reverence Gospel Media) to create this new multimedia and music company.   In addition to Jesus At The Center, RGM-NEW BREED is getting ready to launch “I’m in Love with a Church Girl,” a feature film set to release in 2013. Produced by Houghton, the film marks his first foray in the faith-based feature films genre. See www.rgmusa.com for more information.

About Integrity:

Integrity Music is a division of David C Cook, a nonprofit global resource provider serving the Church with life-transforming materials. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Integrity Music’s resources are distributed in more than 160 countries and sold worldwide. Additional information can be found at www.integritymusic.com.