Michele Mundy

A Mississippi State University graduate and Starkville resident will perform at a debut concert today at a local church.
Michele Mundy, a New Albany native, has released the CD "Divine Favor." She will perform today at 5 p.m. at Peter's Rock Temple Church of God in Christ, located on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Starkville.
Last week, Mundy - who holds a degree from MSU in foreign languages - talked about her singing.
"It started when I was 12. I wrote my first song when I was 15 over the summer in Delaware. It's always been a part of my ministry," she said. She says at age 15, she joined a professional community choir in Pontotoc called the Voices from the Land of Hanging Grapes under the direction of minister Walter Zinn.
She says she has been a member of different choirs and over the years, she has shared the stage with recording artists such as Dr. Bobby Jones, the late Rev. James Moore and Vickie Winans.
She has also written a song for the Mass Choir at Peter's Rock. Supt. Joseph L. Hawkins is the church's pastor. The song is "Peace" and was performed at their live recording in 2002.
Mundy also talked about her debut solo CD, "Divine Favor", which was released about two months ago.
There are four songs on it, one of which - "You Are Appreciated" is being aired on gospel radio stations.
Mundy wrote, produced and per-formed on the songs. Producer,songwriter and record- ing artist, Cassie Bonner, known for his work with Michael Jackson, Beyonce and Babyface, among others, engineered the recording. The CD was co-produced by Mundy's cousin, musician, Raynon Finley.
"Divine Favor" was recorded in fall 2008 at Da League Studios in Oxford. Chris Rogers, who is also a member of the Peter's Rock Choir and a recording artist,sang background on two songs and performed a duet with Mundy.
The album was dedicated in memory of her father, Roger Mundy,Jr. She recalled a time when he was taken to an emergency room in New Albany.
"I wet outside the hopital to pray because his blood pressure was increasing. I heard a voice...telling me to go sing to him," she said. She says she started what became the song "Alright" to her father.
"He lived another five weeks after that," she said, noting that he died Oct. 1,2004 in Memphis, Tenn.
Favor Records came to her in a dream, Mundy said. The title is based on both Favor Records and the current theme at eter's Rock, which is "Divine Favor".
"Since the release of the album, so many doors have opened," she said.
The words for "You Are Appreciated" came to Mundy in a separate dream from the one including Favor Records. "In this same dream, God told me to minister to the nations, and I've been getting international response since the CD's release," Mundy said.
She's also been a guest on the Bobby Hurd television showin Atlanta and has been approved for national airplay for the CD.
"The purpose of the album is to encourage hurting people and introduce Christ to the world," she said.
She says she credits Jesus Christ and her parents. Her mother remarried four years after her father's death. Belva and William Simmons, her stepfather, helped to promote the album to radio stations in the beginning stages.
Admission to today's concert is free.
The album is available online at iTunes, DigStation and via Mundy's MySpace page, which is http://www.myspace.com/michelemundy.

- Paul Sims