By Bill Vaughan
Entertainment Writer
Gospel superstar FRED HAMMOND is on the road as part of the Detroit Gospel Legends Tour, a must-see for any true fan of the musical genre. It features an unbelievable roster in support including Marvin Sapp, the Clark Sisters, Deitrick Haddon, Byron Cage, Lisa Page-Brooks and Carvin Winans.
The event honors the city’s unparalleled contribution to gospel, uniting multiple generations of legends on one stage for a powerful night of praise is headed to Riverside’s Fox Performing Arts Center on April 4.
When Hammond last spoke to TASTY CLIPS a decade ago, we found that the former Commissioned bassist was quite eclectic in his musical tastes. He dropped names like Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, Louis Johnson and Jaco Pastorius among his instrumental heroes; and was getting inspiration from old D Train stuff and Sounds of Blackness.
“I’m a musician who spreads the gospel,” Hammond explained. “I’ve worked with a lot of people, but I love working with Stevie [Wonder],” he said of those times he becomes “a fisherman of different ponds.”
His desires to collaborate with Chance the Rapper, who he feels has a refreshingly different edge, came to fruition when Chance’s remake of Hammond’s hit song “Let the Praise Begin” (entitled “Blessing/Are You Ready”) was performed on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”
When asked if the gospel industry has been given a pass that hip hop has not been given regarding activism, Hammond had an interesting response.
“I think that when you’re a mainstream artist and you’re hip hop, you have that mainstream light,” he said. “Stand up, because you have that avenue. Gospel, we have the avenue we have. We get mainstream radio once every three or four years. That’s their platform, so go ahead and speak.”
“Like Colin Kaepernick,” he said then of the former NFL quarterback who started a movement with his anthem protest before games. “He’s using his platform to speak. Now what would it look like if I was in the stands and I kneeled or sat down? It wouldn’t be noticed and a lot of people around would probably be creating havoc.
“Put it like this,” Hammond added. “It’s a particular culture that comes to our shows. You really much ain’t got to tell them nothing. They already know if they’re going to vote and who they’re going to vote for. We just tell them, ‘You want change? Vote or shut-up!’”
For more than 11 years, Bill Vaughan has kept Wave readers up to date with the latest news in entertainment. Now, we are collecting some of those past columns into what we call the Best of Tasty Clips. To contact Vaughan, visit his social media pages on Facebook and Instagram or @tasty_clips, on X @tastyclips, and on LinkedIn to William Vaughan.
