V2

Volume 2: The Preview Edition

The Edition?We at Gospel

Unplugged closed out our volume one series with our last issue and are currently working

hard to deliver you a jam-packed 1st

issue for Volume 2. However, we are still covering stories and

still wanted to give you a simplifed taste of of the new look to

come. So please enjoy, the preview.

CONTENTS

Melissa McHugh Demo Release

Drew and God’s Elite Album Release

Drew and God’s Elite Interview

Ijeal Joseph Concert and CD Launch

Melissa McHugh

T H E D E M O R E L E A S E

On September 4th, Gospel Unplugged was invited to a beautiful, intimate, Demo Release, in the “LightLounge”. In the very dimly lit quaint room, that quickly filled up with people in an-ticipation to hearwhat the artist of the night was going to deliver. When the time was right, the main artist calmly yet

confidently walked down the aisle, ready to present the talents that God has graced her with.

Melissa McHugh, the one everyone was waiting for, stood boldly in a polka-dot black n white dress,black blazer, black and white converses as the soothing red light shun on her and

her backgroundsingers. She then proceeded to introduce herself and her personality immediately influenced theatmosphere which created a perfect setting for her to sing!

Song after song, Melissa’s smooth and sultry voice filled the Lounge, and left

people in awe. Each songhad a story behind it and Melissa told each one with ease. As she sang, her heart poured into each note,each lyric, and it was evident that God gave her a spectac-ular gift, not only in singing, but in songwriting.All the while, her background vocals, who were thoroughly and equally talented, were

terrifically in syncwith each song.

During the course of the night, right before a brief intermission, Melissa shared a very touchingtestimony of a dark time in her life when she suffered from depression and fear. She expressed that shechanged completely, and

it was noticeable to all those who loved and surrounded her. She didn’t wantto sing anymore, she didn’t want to write anymore, she was trapped. However, thank-fully, one day Godspoke to her, telling her of His love for her; His everlasting and intimate love for her, and it was then thatshe realized that ““God’s love surrounds us and his grace is available”. It was then that her life changed,and depression was over.

After intermission, which began with a beautiful original acoustic song by Crystal For-rest, Melissa cameback to the stage, ready to give her fans more! She sang an original entitled “Love Song” which spokeabout God being built to love us and she flowed into a song caused everyone to break out into a itime of

worship, softly telling the Lord “I will trust you and obey, I believe what you say!”. It was an amazingworship song!

Next, Melissa entertained us with a song that she had written which was completely inspired by

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Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” entitled, “Disney Lied to Me”. While everyone giggled at the title, Melissaexplained that after watching this film, she felt as though the fairy tale love found in most Disneyfilms are not real and they give little girls, and often times

older women, the impression that there isa fairytale love that they can achieve. Immediately after writing this song, which con-sisted only of afew lines, God dropped the song “He Loves Us”, into her heart. She began to sing this song of God’samazing love for us and an-other wave of worship filled the atmosphere and the pres-ence of God wasfelt throughout the Light Lounge.

The night ended with Melissa thanking everyone who con-tributed to her growth thus far. Following thisshe personally signed copies of her demo, SHINE, as people flocked to get a copy! If you would like tosupport Melissa, feel free to add her on facebook to re-quest your copy of SHINE!

With Caribbean feels, West Indian art-ists and many other cultural aspects, on September 4th, 2010 Ijeal Joseph launched his second album. This release was held at his home church His Majesty Inter-national. The artists involved included Donald Romain, The Tappin Sisters, Ed-die Neblett, Janice Charles and many more. Each with their own West Indian-

American derived styles, all ministries brought the house down with praise and celebrated the birth-ing that God granted Ijeal. Ijeal Joseph also did many songs off of his album and gave us a taste of what we were in for. The album was a suc-cess and has blessed many generations and cultures. Look out for what God is doing in his life in the future!

Drew&

Gospel Unplugged was blessed to be invited to the album release of Drew and God's Elite. Normally, when people hear of an album release, the first venue that comes to mind is a church. How-ever, this group took things to an entire new level, and this we realized as soon as we stepped foot unto a huge yacht at Pier 81 in New York City.

On the first level of the yacht was a dance floor that was turned into a stage. There was a drum set set up in the back center, keyboard on

one side, and amps for the bass and guitar on the other side. In front were a few mics. The stage was set for the amaz-ing talent that was going to be gracing the audience. On the second level were dining tables and a rim around that cir-cled the dance floor and allowed for direct access to a front row seat of the concert!

After eating a deli-cious meal provided by the crew, it was time to get the party started! Starting off with prayer, the first group to hit the stage was Cheraky Tousaint

and Voices of Inspi-ration. This group literally had everyone on the yacht dancing and praising God! The beat of the drum resounded through-out the boat and was carried out into the waves by the soft night wind. They sang original songs about surrendering unto God, asking Him to renew us and tell-ing Him that we are His! A wave of wor-ship broke through in abundance. They concluded their set with a song in Creole that ended with the well-known song, "Our God is An Awe-some God".

Next to the stage was the group of the night: Drew and God's Elite! They all came to the stage with a unique con-fidence and definitely flowed with the spirit allowing God to move mightily. One of the first songs for the night, left the audience echoing "if it had not been for his goodness, for his mercy and grace and kindess, where would we be without Him". For a while, this is all that was repeated over and over again. The holy spirit was definitely speaking to His peo-ple through this simple words. As the night progressed Drew and God's Elite sang many of their original songs and people were incredible blessed!

Last to the stage was the ministry of JudaCamp who were action-packed and full of energy and praise! This

group of young people hit the stage with their leader, Jules Bartholomew, and ended the night with a BANG! They sang a few of their original songs including "Living God", "It's Alright" and their latest hit "Dance". This group of danc-ing and praising God like their was no tomorrow; giving Him their all which prompted the audience to do the same. Before you knew it, the dance floor was filled with people giving God their best praise through dance!

The entire experience was truly amazing! Thankfully, we were able to meet with the lead singer, Drew, from the featured group of the night, Drew and God's Elite and get to know more about the vision behind this group of young people!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Thanks to JMP Productions for allowing Gospel Unplugged to cover this event!

GU: Who are you?Drew: Andrew Millwood, Gospel producer, singer songwriter, musician.

GU: How old were you when you started singing? What was/is your source of inspiration?Drew: I started singing @ 20, but I've always playing music in church.

GU: What is your favorite music, and favorite singer(s)?Drew: Marvin Sapp, Winans, Donnie McClurkin, the Hawkins, Chico DeBarge, Stevie Wonder, Kool and Gang, Earth, Wind, and Fire, and the list could go on. I can listen to them all day!

GU: Who are influential people in your life?

Drew: My dad and my mother.

GU: Tell us briefly, the history of your ministry and how you came up with the name?Drew: Well, Spirit of David, was our former name, and then some singers left to pursue other things, but Elite represents something unique of God, sent and chosen by God.

GU: When and how did you realize that you were called to be a gospel artist?Drew: A full dedication and commitment to God 6-7 years ago, everything of God is for God.

GU: Do you write your own songs?Drew: Yes!

GU: What is your favorite song? Why?Drew: Goodness of Jesus, God has been good to me, I wouldn't be where I am and who I am if it wasn't for his goodness.

GU: Do your songs reflect significant life experiences?Drew: Yes, everything, is written from experience, all that I have gone through is reflected in my music.

GU: What are some hardships you have faced throughout your journey in the gospel music industry thus far?Drew: Other gospel artist are the toughest critics. We are our own enemies at times.

GU: How would you defIne your sound? How do you describe your music to people?Drew: Unique but yet familiar sound, the sound we produce is for the people. The sound comes from God and then is made for the people.

GU: What can people expect to receive when they hear your ministry?Drew: They receive encouragement, our music is written from standpoint of turmoil, its purpose is to have people reflect on their life as I tell where I came from.

GU: What do you think about

the state of Gospel Music or music in general?Drew: Gospel music is currently stagnant and clogged up, I feel like there is no objective and its just a ton recycling taking place. A new sound is needed, and I believe that its starting to manifest.

GU: What venues and places have you toured, traveled or had the opportunity to minister?Drew: I have traveled to Korea, is the US to about 10 to 15 states. I was given the opportunity to minister at different conferences.

GU: What advice do you have for your fans and/or aspiring gospel artists?Drew: You have to be connected to God first and foremost, you need that connection to hear from him. He's the source that we need to tap into. In all you do it's a matter of putting God first.

GU: How can your fans stay connected with you?Drew: You can check us out on the web at http://www.Drewandgodselite.com, and if you have any questions or inquiries about the ministry feel free to email us at, Drew@

Drew&THE INTERVIEW

On Saturday, Octo-ber 25th, we hosted our FINAL open mic concert and it was indeed a blessing to all who were able to attend. As usual, it was lowly lit, with candles down the aisle. Our hostess for the night was one of our own team members, Bianca Cain, lead singer of B. Cain and Rock, and she was indeed a blessing!

The night began with a time of praise and worship. With

hands lifted all over, one could feel the holy spirit dwelling among us and it was great! Follow-ing this multiple people came up to share the talents God gave them. Amongst those min-istering was Miguel Santiago, also known as E-A-Migs, who was no strang-er to our open mics. He flowed with a beautiful poem which displayed the God-given talent of writing that he had. Matthew Thomas

OPEN MIC RECAP

also hit the stage singing a love song to Christ, “You Are Holy”, along with various other peo-ple. We were happy to see God move through His people with songs, poetry, rap, spoken word, excellent musican-ship via the house band, and even in the sound ministry, which was headed by Kerel Charles of KCSounds.

The night was concluded with the powerful ministry of

Dave TV in HD. This young, anointed, man of God shared several orginal songs that ushered the holy spirit in such a powerful way. Hands were raised, tears were flowing, and people were on their knees worshipping God and surrendering themselves unto Him. We were blessed to have such a dynamic artist grace our stage!

We would like to extend a warm

thank you to ALL of you who were able to support us at any of our open mics! Your support was and is very appreci-ated! Also, we’d like to thank Andre Byrd, Melissa McHugh, AND Dave TV for sharing their talents with us!

Continue to be on the lookout for great events we have coming up!

CHECKOUTTHE

PERFORMANCESON

YOUTUBE

CLICK http://www.youtube.com/user/gospelunpluggedtv

Email: unplugged.gospel@gmail.com or Call: 347-387-1194 / 347-685-2099

to get your tickets today!!