NC Museum Of Art Presents Juneteenth Joy: A Celebration of Freedom and Gospel Music

RALEIGH – Kick off the Juneteenth weekend with the live, in-person concert Juneteenth Joy: A Celebration of Freedom and Gospel Music at the North Carolina Museum of Art. This special event on Friday, June 17, features GRAMMY®- and Dove-nominated artist Kelontae Gavin, GRAMMY® and Stellar Award-winning vocalists Kierra Sheard-Kelly and Le’Andria Johnson, and GRAMMY®, Stellar, and Dove Award-winning gospel music legends Bishop Hezekiah Walker & LFC and Fred Hammond. Member tickets go on sale Friday, April 15 with nonmember tickets on sale Saturday, April 16.

Kelontae Gavin

Whether you know the 21-year-old gospel music sensation Kelontae Gavin as the viral “Cafeteria Singer,” a Billboard-charting artist, or a Stellar and Dove Award nominee, chances are you don’t know his full story. Gavin’s first album, The Higher Experience, was released in April 2018. It debuted at number two on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart. “No Ordinary Worship” spent nearly a year on the Gospel Airplay chart. In 2019 Gavin was nominated for four Stellar Awards and nominated for a Dove Award (for New Artist of the Year). “Hold Me Close” is the first single from his forthcoming second live album, The N.O.W. Experience (RCA Inspiration) was released on March 5, 2021.

Kierra Sheard-Kelly

Kierra Sheard-Kelly is no stranger to breaking new ground. After all, the young dynamo grew up with two gospel barrier-breakers as role models: mother Karen Clark Sheard, a member of the legendary group the Clark Sisters, and grandmother/Clark matriarch Dr. Mattie Moss Clark. Now the Grammy and Stellar Award-winning artist is back with her first project in five years. Released on her family’s Karew Entertainment label and dropping on April 17, the highly anticipated album has already produced the genre-blurring hits “Don’t Judge Me,” featuring Missy Elliott, and “It Keeps Happening.”

Le’Andria Johnson

Grammy Award-winning recording artist Le’Andria Johnson has taken the gospel music scene by storm since being crowned the season three winner of BET’s Sunday Best in 2010. In 2011 Johnson received her first Grammy Award for Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance for her debut single, “Jesus.” In 2019 she released the prolific song “Deliver Me” with Grammy and Stellar Award-winning producer and recording artist Donald Lawrence. They earned a Billboard No. 1 hit with “This Is My Exodus (Deliver Me).” The song spent four weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart in 2019 and remained on Billboard’s Gospel Streaming Songs chart for 115 weeks. It was recently certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Hezekiah Walker

Hezekiah Walker’s signature sound has set an international standard in gospel music. Walker, the multiple Grammy Award-winning, newly inducted Gospel Music Hall of Famer, continues to uplift the masses with inspirational songs that focus on maintaining faith and overcoming life’s daunting moments. The year 2022 marks 36 years in the music industry for Walker. He has earned multiple music awards and two Grammys for Best Gospel Album for Live in Atlanta at Morehouse College in 1994 and Love Is Live! in 2001.

Fred Hammond

For more than 40 years, music lovers around the world have known Grammy Award-winning artist Fred Hammond as a gifted vocalist, songwriter, musician, producer, and arranger. But as his peers and supporters alike have so reverently declared, he is without debate the architect behind the creation of a genre of gospel music called Urban Praise and Worship. As a result, Hammond has become one of the most respected names in the music industry. Essence magazine (2017 Collector’s Edition) named him one of the 50 greatest male singers of all time. Hammond has been hailed as an inspirational music icon whose music reaches people from all walks of life.

Juneteenth Joy: The Sound, Fashion, and Cinema of Freedom

Saturday, June 18

Join the NCMA to celebrate Black culture, wear iconic 1960s fashions, and remember the music as people fought for civil rights in the United States. This event features a dance party with grooves from all soul genres followed by a screening of the Oscar-nominated documentary Summer of Soul, directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson.

• MUSIC: DJ Set and Dance Party 6–8 pm
• FILM SCREENING: Summer of Soul 8:30 pm