Love Forever Shines (CD - 2008)

Personnel: Regina Belle (vocals, background vocals); Liz Vaughn (vocals, background vocals); Rick Marcel, Scott Dente, Jonathan DuBose, Jr., Randy Bowland, Darrell Crooks (guitar); Phillip Lassiter (trumpet); Mark Taylor (organ, keyboards, background vocals); Glenn Piper (keyboards); Ernest Walker (drums); Chris Walker (programming, background vocals); Bernard Belle, Gary Mayes (programming); Bridgjette Taylor, Victoria Purcell, Alvin Darling, Rhonda McLemore, Shirley Murdock (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Chris Walker .

Recording information: Canvas Studios, Houston, TX; Dark Hourse, TN; Jr's Studio, Bridgeport, CT.

Arrangers: Chris Walker ; James Brooks; Mark Taylor ; Regina Belle; Shawn McLemore; Bernard Belle; Gary Mayes; Glenn Piper.

After stardom on the R&B and pop charts with hits like "Baby Come To Me" and "A Whole New World" (a duet with Peabo Bryson from the ALLADIN soundtrack), Regina Belle makes her gospel singing debut with 2008's LOVE FOREVER SHINES. A soulful and pop-oriented collection of original contemporary gospel tunes, LOVE FOREVER SHINES showcases Belle's warm vocal grace in a new and exciting musical context. Guests include Shirley Murdock and Melvin Williams.

Like a lot of R&B luminaries, Regina Belle cut her teeth on gospel. And like dozens of her contemporaries who set it aside when Grammys and gold records started trickling in, she rediscovered it at a point in her career when the pop charts seemed less scalable. But Love Forever Shines, the throaty singer's debut gospel album, proves it's never too late to return to the sound that gave you liftoff. "God Is Good," the first single from this hefty batch, will have doubters swaying in their seats, arms up-stretched, and believers belting in the aisles. Like Melvin Williams of The Williams Brothers, who guests here throughout, Belle busts out a spiritual certainty that benefits from maturity. She's an artist who's been there, seen that, and she's saved some of her boldest, most bewitching moments -- see "Almost Slipped," "Can't Nobody" and "Who Touched Me" -- for this record. Jazz, hip-hop, R&B and soul make appearances, but at the end of a long set of praising, cherishing and reaching for the vocal rafters this is a pure contemporary gospel project. Fans of the genre will wish she had abandoned her days of Peabo Bryson and Johnny Mathis duets for a walk down this path decades ago. ~ Tammy La Gorce minimize