Mountain High... Valley Low is an album by gospel singer Yolanda Adams released by Elektra Records. Several singles were released from Mountain High. The set lead with the Warryn Campbell-produced "Yeah", which was co-written by gospel duo Mary Mary who springboarded from the song to gain their own fame. The most notable single was the second release, "Open My Heart", which became a massive crossover fixture on R&B radio. Both of the singles had accompanying music videos. Remixers like Maurice Joshua, Digital Black-N-Groove, Pound Boys, and Junior Vasquez were brought in to turn both of these songs into dance club-friendly material. "The Things We Do" and "Fragile Heart" were also serviced to radio and fared well on adult contemporary stations. The album stands as Adams' best-selling to date, having sold more than 1,374,000 copies and being certified Platinum by the RIAA.http

Singles

* "Yeah"

* "Open My Heart"

* "Fragile Heart"

* "The Things We Do"

Music videos

* "Yeah"

* "Open My Heart"

Chart positions

References

Category:1999 albums

Category:Yolanda Adams albums

Category:Elektra Records albums

Artist/Band Information

Yolanda Adams (born Yolanda Yvette Adams on ) is an American Grammy- and Dove-award winning Gospel music singer and radio show host. As of September 2009, she had sold 4.5 million albums since 1991, according to SoundScan.

On December 11, 2009 Billboard Magazine named her the 1st Gospel Artist of the last decade. In the same chart, her album "Mountain High...Valley Low" was acknowledged as the best gospel album.

Life

The oldest of six siblings, Adams was raised in Houston, Texas. She graduated from Sterling High School in Houston in 1979. After graduating from Texas Southern University, she began a career as a schoolteacher and part-time model in Houston, Texas. Eventually she gave up teaching to perform full-time as a lead singer.

Musical career

Beginnings

Adams first attracted the attention of Thomas Whitfield and Sound of Gospel Records as a lead singer with Houston's Southeast Inspirational Choir affiliated with the Church of God in Christ, under the direction of Carl Preacher, Brenda Waters, and Shirley Joiner. The choir released the single in 1982 "For My Liberty" with Adams as the featured vocalist. In 1986, Adams was featured on the Edwin Hawkins Music and Arts Seminar Choir release "Give Us Peace", with a performance titled "My Trust Lies In You". Later, she signed a recording contract with Sound of Gospel which yielded her first album Just As I Am in 1987. In 1990, she signed to Ben Tankard's independent label Tribute Records and released Through The Storm.

Two years later, Adams followed with Save the World, which included her first signature song "The Battle Is The Lord's". Her next release was 1995's More Than A Melody, which featured production work from Ben Tankard, O'Landa Draper, and BeBe Winans. The single "Gotta Have Love," from that album featuring Tony Terry on background vocals, gained mainstream notoriety and was her first single and music video. Yolanda... Live In Washington, released the following year, featured versions of material from her first two albums. The footage from this recording was released as a collection of two videos on VHS initially, and later as a single set on DVD.

Songs from the Heart was her final release for Verity Records and included "Only Believe" which was popular songs on contemporary radio. The album also included "Still I Rise," a dedication to Rosa Parks which was inspired by the Maya Angelou poem of the same name.

"Fragile Heart", was dedicated to the memory of Adams' long time road manager who died in 1998.

Adams' first significant attention outside the urban contemporary gospel arena came with the release of Mountain High... Valley Low in 1999 on Elektra Records. Several mainstream artists and producers helped in the production of this album including Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (Janet Jackson, Boyz II Men), James "Big Jim" Wright (Mariah Carey, Nicole C. Mullen), Warryn Campbell (Mary Mary, Brandy), and Keith Thomas (BeBe & CeCe Winans). The album went Platinum in 2000 and won her a Grammy Award. Notable singles from the album include Yeah", "Fragile Heart", and "Open My Heart".

In 2000, Adams released a Christmas album, and in 2001 she released a live album (The Experience). The Experience netted Adams a second Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album. Believe, which included the hit "Never Give Up" was released in 2001. She would later go on to perform this song at "The Salute to Gospel Music" at the White House during President George W. Bush's administration. In 2001, Adams also released a compilation CD entitled The Divas Of Gospel; it included the legendary Grammy Award Winner Albertina Walker, who is considered the "queen of gospel music."

Adams recorded a song for the 2003 film, Honey titled "I Believe" that played during the last scene in the final dance.

Adams was also a judge for the 2nd annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

Back after break

After nearly four years without releasing an album, Adams returned in 2005 with Day By Day. Although charting higher than Mountain High...Valley Low on the Billboard 100 and Billboard R&B Albums chart, it did not receive RIAA certification. The album featured the singles "Be Blessed," "Someone Watching Over You," "This Too Shall Pass", and "Victory" (which was prominently featured in the movie The Gospel).

After ending her long association with Atlantic Records, Atlantic released a greatest hits collection entitled The Best of Me in May 2007.

Adams signed with Columbia Records in 2007. Columbia released What a Wonderful Time, her second holiday collection, in October 2007. "Hold On" was released as the lead single.

2008-present

In 2007, after releasing her holiday album with Columbia, Adams stated in different interviews that she was in the planning stages for a new album. Her official website stated that it would be a duets project, with possible collaborations with Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Natalie Cole, Trin-i-Tee 5:7, and Mary Mary. In an interview with Commercial Appeal , Adams stated that Chaka Khan and Shirley Caesar could possibly be on the new project as well. In March 2009, in an interview on a FOX station in Houston, she stated that her women's clothing line and new album are both still in progress. She stated that the new album will be full of dance tracks.

Adams' song "Hold On," from her 2007 holiday album What a Wonderful Time, is included in a compilation in support of Barack Obama's campaign entitled Yes We Can: Voices of a Grass Roots Movement.

On December 25, 2009, Adams performed on BET's The Mo'Nique Show, where she sang "Already Alright," from her 1999 Mountain High...Valley Low album. Mo'Nique stated that the song is one of her favorites.

As of 2010, the new album, highly anticipated follow-up to What a Wonderful Time, is still in the making.

Yolanda Adams appeared at the 53rd Grammy Awards where she took part in a tribute to Aretha Franklin, along with Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera, Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine, and Martina McBride. Adams performed Spirit in the Dark - Franklin's classic from 1970. On several occasions, Franklin stated that she "especially loved" Yolanda's performance.

Book release

Pointsofpower.jpgleftthumb110pxCover of Points Of Power

Adams released her first book Points of Power in 2010. It is a Christian book in reference to living a pure, spirit-filled Christian life.

The Yolanda Adams Morning Show on radio

Adams is the host of The Yolanda Adams Morning Show, which currently airs on Urban Gospel stations owned by Radio One.

Morning Show cities and affiliates as of 7/21/2009

Personal life

In 1988, Adams married Troy Mason, and was divorced little more than one year later. Her second marriage, in 1997, was to former NFL player Tim Crawford. The couple divorced in August 2004 after seven years. Adams and Crawford had one daughter, Taylor. Adams served as a spokesperson for the FILA Corporation's Operation Rebound, a program that addressed the concern of inner city schoolchildren.

Discography

*1987: Just as I Am

*1991: Through the Storm

*1993: Save the World

*1995: More Than A Melody

*1998: Songs from the Heart

*1999: Mountain High...Valley Low

*2000: Christmas With Yolanda Adams

*2001: Believe

*2005: Day By Day

*2007: What a Wonderful Time

Awards

In total, Adams has won four Grammy Awards, four of the Gospel Music Association's Dove Awards, one American Music Award, seven NAACP Image Awards, one Soul Train Music Award, and three BET Awards.

References