Kurt wrote all of the project’s songs except one and co-produced with hot up-and-corner, Jason White. With lead and choral vocals all shared by Kurt and his six associates, Awesome Wonder offers a dazzling mix of gentle ballads of praise, as well as healthy helpings of percolating percussion. punchy horns, and Latin, R&B, pop and urban coloration, all seamlessly woven together.

While few artists are ever completely comfortable with categorizations that are inevitably affixed to their work, Kurt is content with the pocket the p public seems to have put him in. “Each of my songs has its own particular purpose he says, “but they fit together as a complementary and very complete statement and experience. I never think in categories musically, but people seem to hear our music as sort of a convergence between praise & worship songs with a, strong Gospel and contemporary R&B flavor, And I’m very comfortable with that. We believe that praising and worshipping God is what we were created for.

“‘In The Sanctuary’ is a feel-good song,” Kurt elaborates. “It’s Gospel/pop music with words of praise and worship. I want to make people feel good about worshipping God. I pray that it will catch fire, and churches all over the world will be singing ‘Yes!’ to the Lord. I also think it will get the attention of people who aren’t familiar with today’s Gospel music. I want them to be singing with the radio then realizing what they’re saying, and want to know more.
“I asked a Latino brother, Alberto Salas, who’s Andrae Crouch’s band leader and percussionist, to help me on, ‘We Offer You Praise,”’ he continues. “He’s always intrigued me that all the rhythm instruments in Latin music are playing something different, and yet they all, fit together. It’s a praise & worship song, but musically very authentic to that tradition; we went all the way there.”

The album’s funky and irresistibly melodic title song almost didn’t exist in time to be included on the project which now bears its name. “‘Awesome Wonder’ was written and recorded after we initially thought the record was finished,” Kurt explains. “I just realized there was something else I still wanted to say. It’s a little more urban than I’ve ever gone, but I’m comfortable there. The song talks about the majesty, awesomeness and the grandness of God and creation. I like putting a basic, fundamental message like that with a very modem groove.

“‘We Declare War’ is an emphatic statement that even as Gospel music reaches out to the masses, we can’t lose the power of the message in order to get there. Gospel is not limited to any one particular sound musically today. Gospel is all about lyrical content, and what a song has to say. And we have to remain bold in our message. “I want to minister to the needs of people,” he adds, “and not just to their emotions or to their ears. I want the music to sound good and to make them feel good. But to me, all that is pointless if we aren’t also doing something to touch the spirit and go to the very heart of a man or woman.”

Though Kurt says Christian values prevailed in his home throughout his youth, his was not a church-going family. At age 13, Kurt took initiative and started attending services regularly, and soon became active in his church’s music programs. “I had a natural ear for music, and my mother saw my interest in Gospel, so she bought me a Walter Hawkins album around that time,” Kurt remembers. “It literally changed my life, I listened to it every single day for at least a year or two,, and I taught myself how to play piano from those songs.”

The legendary Hawkins was only the first of small but singular group of artists who helped point Kurt down the Gospel pathway. “There has been a myriad of people who have shaped what I believe developed into a style that is uniquely my own,”Kurt says, “James Cleveland, Andrae Crouch. The Hawkins Family; they are the reason I know about Gospel music”

Kurt, a native of Hartford, Connecticut, received classical training at the University of Connecticut Graduating with a degree in fine arts, he was also mentored and strongly influenced by classically trained Gospel great, Richard Smallwood, whom he affectionately refers to today as his “godfather.” “My classical studies broadened my horizons and taught me not to he afraid to experiment with different things,” Kurt explains. “I listened to all kinds of music, which accounts for a lot our musical diversity today. That experience also gave me an edge on what real musicianship is about I’d like to be remembered as one of the true musicians.”

In 1986, Kurt came to the attention of Gospel patriarch, Reverend James Cleveland, who asked the young Kurt to join him a his pianist and musical director—a capacity in which a somewhat amazed Kurt functioned until the reverend’s death in 1991. “Working so closely with Rev. Cleveland imbedded traditional Gospel music in me,” says Kurt ““My style, and the diversity of my songs, no matter how contemporary it is, always brings you back to church a little bit. But more than anything, Rev. Cleveland taught me how to make music minister to people and touch their hearts, and to never to give the Lord anything less than my very best. I will never forget that.”

Kurt’s connection with the ‘“real world” is nurtured on a regular basis in his role as Creative Director of Music at West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles. Pastored by Charles E. Blake, the West Angeles C.O.G.I.C. church is one of the largest and most renowned black churches in America. “When we minister in church, we don’t aim for any one group, he concludes. “‘We minister to everybody God has been more than faithful, and we’re just expecting Him to continue to do great things in our music, our ministry and our lives. And I believe He’s going to use this album to reach a very broad and diverse audience. I want to really go into the world where black folks, white folks, Europeans, Asians, rich folks, poor folks, everyone can sing this music. God willing, I’d like to literally touch the world. “He that has begun the work will complete it. We believe that with all our hearts.”

Since 1992, The Kurt Carr Singers’ record label, Gospo Centric, has taken the music industry by storm with artists who express a traditional spirit of faith and ministry in energetic, gap-bridging, and culture-captivating music. In 1995, Gospo Centric was ranked as the #4 Gospel label by Billboard magazine, with the label soaring to the top of this list just one year later. In 1997, new strategic alliances with Interscope Records, Universal Music & Video Distribution and Word Distribution were announced, resulting in an overall sales increase of over 400%. The first fruits of these partnerships resulted in yet another milestone as the double-platinum-selling God’s Property from Kirk Franklin‘s Nu Nation, became the biggest-selling gospel album of all time.

The success story has only grown as Gospo Centric has solidified its lead in the fastest growing segment of the music industry, as evidenced by Billboard’s 1999 Year-End Chart Among the 23 honors received, including the Top Contemporary Christian and Top Gospel Albums, Gospo Centric and B-Rite Music were also named the #1 and #3 Top Gospel Imprints, respectively.

The year 2000 promises to be the best year yet for Gospo Centric and B-Rite Music, as they continue uniting souls, bridging cultural gaps, and making a profound impact on our culture. As long-standing members of the Gospo Centric family of artists, The Kurt Carr Singers are poised and ready to soar as the latest chapter in this on going, exciting and inspiring move of God through the music continues to unfold.