The Affect of Sacred Music on Secular Music

That place just happens to be my home church back in Texas. ” The sixteen time Grammy winner is not such a stand out when it comes to getting her start in the church as many and most secular music stars of today have actually gotten their start in the same place. With such enormous volumes of secular singers receiving their start in sacred music then it should come as no surprise that the church has played an incredible part in secular music world. The “Gospel music is coming to the mainstream,” says gospel diva Yolanda Adams. “Singers are coming out of the church and introducing the gospel style to a mainstream audience. Adams herself expanded gospel’s exposure when she appeared twice on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. ” Meanwhile, television producer Bobby Jones reaches four and a half million viewers each week with his BET program “Gospel Explosion” and believes that while the gospel audience is expanding, “We must honor our pioneers and at the same time greet the best of the new with praise. ” The “our” in this instance translates as black singers. To Jones, “gospel music is black music. ” To others, it is merely a term that encompasses various kinds of religious music–traditional, contemporary Christian, urban contemporary, Southern, hip-hop.

Rev. Jones is correct in the sense that all major secular acts began in the church. Essentially this would be stating that if the church has or had a positive influence on these mega pop stars than it would have indirectly had an influence on the music industry. The singers are simply replicating the style and other things that they have learned and in church and bringing it to the mass public. It is such a secret to many that this ever happens because of the mass public’s lack of familiarity with gospel music not only America, but the whole world. The church also had a profound effect on many soul, funk, and even pop ensations of decades ago. This in turn shaped the music industry even more than the youngsters coming out of the church today and becoming huge stars in the secular world. These legends like Sam Cooke, Patti Labelle, and James Brown forged a whole new genre of music in Soul music. From that stemmed things like neo-soul, hip-hop, and the new R;B movement. Often when new artists come out they often try to get away from the church believing it doesn’t help them sell, is not contemporary enough, or by the direction of some record executive. You then say well who do they in return pattern themselves after and try to be like?

These people like James Brown, Patti Labelle, and Sam Cooke. In this sense the secular artists who often are trying to escape the church are performing and replicating the style of so many who actually bought the sacred music style to the mainstream. The parents of a lot of these contemporary secular stars have grown up on the music of such soul singers. This in return shapes the style and pattern that they are molded into. When most are children they listen to the music their parents listen to and are highly influenced by it until they are old enough to go and find their own kind of favorites.

Taking it further back the blacks have always looked at singing as a cultural past time for decades now and have always had a talent for such a thing. Though the culture bred such talented singers they were usually not allowed to perform for mass public audiences and were limited to the church only. The common question is why would they leave, forget about, and repeatedly disrespect the church? Well that is a question for another paper but there is no question that it happens and that the leaders of it are often people of color who have nothing to thank but the church for their rise to power and fame.

In closing the church is to thank for so many innovations of today and the contemporary music that us youngsters jam to and the soul that everybody mother and father grew up on. So many people other than singer are influenced without ever knowing what took place. Many so called music enthusiasts such as myself would have never known these truths without this current class. Even though many great singers have come through the church and shaped secular music, I will be much prouder of my culture when someone can come through the church and potentially reshape it.