D-N-A

Local gospel duo D-N-A , set to perform at the free community event. "Christian Nite Out", is a husband and wife duo that started five years ago. Darrick and Angel Gaye met at the Cultural Arts Center when they both performed as solo artists. According to Darrick, he had seen her a couple times and admired her, but never had a chance to meet her until that night. He called Angel on the stage and serenaded her, and they have been together since. The two wed a year later which gave birth not only to the merger of the individuals, but also the joining of their voices in praise. Angel, who hails from Hialeah Heights and Darrick, a North Miami native and cousin of the late Marvin Gaye, have been married for "four wonderful years." After an accident in February 2003 that nearly took Angel's life, the couple recorded a 13 track CD The World and one of the tracks "I Found You" was written as a result of the accident. Darrick was already involved in R & B locally but stopped and went to school. Angel, however did not have an opportunity to record so they decided to do the album together. While Darrick had some success locally with his R & B he had an album in 1994 and a video with the then Playboy model of the year - he says he knew it was time to change to something more uplifting. "From a maturity standpoint, I have kids and you don't want your kids seeing you doing anything that might alter their mindset in any way." The one thing that really pushed him to change is that he realized that "when you want to succeed and you want your life to be better, the one way to do it is to learn more about God." He realized that he needed to be a better person. "Its been really good, " says Angel. "Ive been singing all my life." Her father was a minister so she sang in the choir from the time she was a small child. He died when she was nine years old, but the singing didn't stop. She later sang R & B with some girls group until she met Darrick and started singing gospel. She says he has been a strength to her and has helped her a lot in her Christian life.
Please turn to D-N-A 8B - Sonia Morgan Galiana Miami Times Writer

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Darrick says that many people have a way of putting God in a box and he refuses to do that. "Gods love for us is limitless and when we stop putting God in a box, then the blessings will start to flow. (We need to) take God out of the mental box that we use to limit (Him)."
"We are like best friends." she says of herself and Darrick, "I can talk to him about anything and things get solved. When we are together I think people can actually see the love and understanding. When we're performing I can see the sincerity in them and they can see the love is in us."
According to Darrick, the CD has "a bit of jazz, there's a bit of gospel, there's hardcore soul and hip-hop ----something for everybody. You want to have a kind of smooth, hip, jazzy feel that people would want to listen to." Darrick is aware that there is a risk when the beat is what appeals to listeners rather than the lyrics. He says, "whether it's direct or subliminal you are feeding your mind something good. Anywhere (that) God is. there is an impact. It's impossible to be in the presence of God and not have some life-altering experience."
He says the only true R & B right now is gospel because it's coming from the heart and people don't have to try to sing like Usher or try to sound like they look. He said the older singers didn't care how they looked because they were singing from the soul and passing on their experience to people.
Angel says while there is sometimes a struggle with the music, the two have leaned on God and he has helped them a lot and has opened doors for them. The duo just returned from performing in Chicago and is set to perform in South Carolina to an audience of 1500 people. Angel sees a bright future for them and says she aims very high so she is expecting the best. The community event, "Christian Nite Out" on October 8, is an event put on by the Leagueofentertainment Inc. specifically for Christians over 18 Darrick says they are "trying to create a venue and an opportunity for Christian folks and (to) let their hair down and socialize giving an alternative to what the secular people are doing." - Sonia Morgan Galiana Miami Times Writer