The Nevels Sisters

The Gospel music group is planning a Youngstown show early next year.

Some members of the Nevels Sisters were a little leery about entering a talent competition back in 2006. The fee was $300 — a little steep for the struggling gospel music act from Youngstown.
Turns out, it was the best $300 they ever spent.

The Nevels Sisters — Veniece Andrews, Debra Jordan, Gail Nevels and April Wade — won The Word Network’s FOCUS (Find Out: Can U Sing?) contest, beating out thousands of other entries. As a result, they have become players on the national Gospel music scene.
The Nevels released their first nationally distributed album, “Beautiful,” on the MOLife label last month. It has received glowing reviews.

April, the youngest of the four biological sisters, was the one who entered that fateful contest.
“We had independently released our album ‘It’s About Time’ in 2005 and there was a lot of support for it,” she told The Vindicator. “But when I entered us in the contest, [my sisters] didn’t want to do it. It was a lot of money for us and they didn’t want to have to go all over to compete. But I told them ‘I already paid the $300. We’re going.’”
The Nevels cruised through the first two rounds, which were in Philadelphia and Cleveland, respectively, before the finals, which were in Detroit in 2007. Their prize included $5,000, a write-up in Gospel magazine and, most importantly, a two-record contract with MOLife Records, of Detroit.

“Winning that contest catapulted the group, made us a national name,” said April. “People everywhere have now heard about the Nevels Sisters. They want us to come and sing at their church.” The Nevels have recently returned from London, where they were invited to perform at Bishop John Francis’ Ruach Ministries Women’s Conference.

The girls now find themselves in a bit of a whirlwind, touring the country to promote “Beautiful.” Their songs are getting played constantly on The Word Network, which has a global reach. They also just recorded a segment on the “Bobby Jones Gospel” show, which will air on BET in January.

A Youngstown show is also in the works. The date and venue haven’t been nailed down yet, but April said it will probably be in January.

“Things blow up when you go national,” said April, who pointed out that everything changed after the FOCUS contest.

“Winning that competition was the best day of our lives,” she said. “It wasn’t easy going through it, and my sisters were pointing the finger at me, saying, ‘You got us into this,’ but now it looks like it was a pretty good idea!” she teasingly said.

Ironically, the sudden success was preceded by some hard times. The sisters’ mother was diagnosed with level 2 diabetes in 2007, a serious condition that affected the whole family. Their struggle became a source of inspiration for the album.
“These songs were birthed out of tears, trials and tribulations,” said April. “People will be able to relate to them.”

Most of the songs were written by Emmitt Nevels, their brother, including “Touched,” which is about their mother’s illness.

“She had to start taking insulin, and she couldn’t sleep at night, couldn’t eat, just couldn’t adjust. She said, ‘I need God to help me.’
The beginning of the song is an actual conversation between my mother and one of my sisters that was recorded when she was first diagnosed. She didn’t know she was being recorded at the time, but we left it on. She’s happy it’s on there now.”

The 17 songs on “Beautiful” are all designed to encourage and uplift. “It’s not real hard church songs,” said April. “Any listener can enjoy it, and get a positive message.”
Other songs include the title track, which was contributed by noted Gospel songwriter Pam English. “Beautiful” is about a woman who is living a street life. “But she was fearfully and wonderfully made by God, and he sees her as beautiful,” said April. “It’s a message to any human being. Poor decisions, bad choices ... Our struggles don’t define who we are. God sees as his creation.”

- Guy D’Astolfo

So, I have to admit that I hadn’t heard much about the Nevels Sisters until I read a press release yesterday, announcing the release of their new album, Beautiful. I thought it was a debut, but their bio indicates otherwise– they’ve been recording since 1984. Turns out, they were the first winners of Gospel F.O.C.U.S., a nationwide gospel talent competition airing on The Word Network. I didn’t have cable back then, so…
Anyway, a line in their bio caught my attention: “The four biological sisters are one of the hottest groups to hit Gospel in a long time. Easily drawing strong comparisons to The Clark Sisters…”

I could see that.

But after listening to the album, produced by Tommie Walker (Fred Hammond, CeCe Winans), I believe the similarities are much more subtle than one might assume. Sure, they’re four ladies who sing a lot in unison before breaking into unique harmonies. But, the style of music is not Clark-esque. They’re not really doing traditional gospel, or even modernized traditional gospel. They’re more like an urban praise & worship– some of the songs have a sound that could easily translate to a Men of Standard, Virtue or Trinitee 5:7 album, in terms of style.
- EJ