Photo and article by Mona Austin
(TSN): Tamela Mann, born Tamela Jean Johnson in Ft. Worth, TX has set a new record in the music industry. The singer, songwriter and actress is the first gospel entertainer to have 10 consecutive Billboard No. 1 singles. Her song "Finished" (co-written with Travis Greene) is currently number one, the fourth chart-topper from the album "Overcomer." It was the song "He Did It for Me" that allowed the vocalist to break the record on gospel radio airplay charts in May of 2022.
Other favorite highest performing track by Mann are the career defining RIAA Gold certified "Take Me to the King" from the album "Best Days" and "Change Me" from "One Way."
Mann, 56, has become a matriarch in gospel music. She is the winner of multiple awards including Grammys, Stellers, a BET Award and American Music Award for Favorite Gospel Artist. Her rise in popularity has taken her from stage to film all the way to the NPR "Tiny Desk" concert. While her career spans 30 years, the latter decade of cranking out meaningful messages in her music has expanded Mann's reach to outside of the religious fold. And she has truly come this far by faith. In a 2020 article with Woman's World magzine she shared that she is fueled by strong daith in God. “. . .That’s what has helped me survive everything in my life," she said. "When I’m weak, the Lord makes me strong. The best advice that anybody has ever given me is my mother when she told me to ‘Love the Lord with my whole heart and the Lord will take me far.’ I live by that, and with Him, there’s nothing I can’t face!”
Before establishing Tillymann Music Group with her husband and Manager fellow actor, David Mann they were both members of Kirk Franklin and the Family and appeared in Tyler Perry stage plays together.
The Ft. Worth, TX is one of few women who are Southern songbirds to b eperched alongside men as gospel great. The same battles "GSWVs" (Gospel sisters with voices) faced in the church trickled over into the gospel industry. While the Mighty Clouds of Joy may have been paid more, The Clarks Sisters had to demand to be paid outright it has been said. In the book, "Isn't Her Grace Amazing?," a tribute to the contribution of women to the genre, author Cheryl Wills wrote: "Many women in the Gospel music industry go unnoticed, unpaid, and under-appreciated for their contributions, yet it is these women who are often the bedrock for songwriting, arranging, directing, and developing singers." In the long-standing tradition of women in the gospel music industry not receiving eqaul recognition, pay or respect, the vocal talent of Tamela Mann has commanded all three. Mrs. Mann has bypassed the discrimination against women that was once intrinsic, paving a smoother path for aspiring female gospel artists." Tamela Mann's appeal would not allow her to be "ghosted."
As a child raised in a COGIC (pentacostal) household, she was only allowed to listen to gpspel music and became a member of the senior choir at chuch at the age of 12, having demonstrated mature singing gift early on. She frequently heard the sounds of the Caravans (a group of women gospel pioneers) in her upbriging. Singers that spoke to Tamela's hearts included The Hawkins, James Moore and The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.
Photo by Mona Austin