Yolanda Adams

Yolanda Yvette Adams, born August 27, 1961, in Houston, Texas, is a gospel singer, actress, and radio host who has become one of the most decorated artists in the history of gospel music. The eldest of six siblings, she graduated from Sterling High School in Houston in 1979 and later from Texas Southern University, after which she worked as a schoolteacher and part-time model before committing fully to a performance career.

Adams first came to the attention of Thomas Whitfield and Sound of Gospel Records as a lead vocalist with Houston's Southeast Inspirational Choir, affiliated with the Church of God in Christ and directed by Carl Preacher, Brenda Waters, and Shirley Joiner. The choir released the single "For My Liberty" in 1982 with Adams as the featured vocalist. In 1986, she appeared on the Edwin Hawkins Music and Arts Seminar Choir release Give Us Peace, performing "My Trust Lies in You." She subsequently signed with Sound of Gospel, releasing her debut album Just As I Am in 1987. In 1990, producer and keyboardist Ben Tankard signed her to his independent label Tribute Records, where she released Through the Storm. Her album Save the World introduced what would become one of her signature songs, "The Battle Is the Lord's," and her 1995 release More Than a Melody featured production contributions from Tankard, O'Landa Draper, and BeBe Winans. The single "Gotta Have Love," featuring Tony Terry, marked her first music video release.

Her mainstream breakthrough came with the 1999 Elektra Records release Mountain High...Valley Low, which achieved double-platinum certification and earned her a Grammy Award. The album featured production from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Warryn Campbell, and Keith Thomas, among others, and included the singles "Yeah," "Fragile Heart," and "Open My Heart." Billboard named Adams the number one gospel artist of the decade in 2009, citing the album's sales performance. She followed with a Christmas album in 2000 and the live album The Experience in 2001, the latter earning her a second Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album. That same year she released Believe, which reached gold status according to the RIAA and included the hit "Never Give Up." In 2005 she returned with Day By Day, which charted higher than Mountain High...Valley Low on both the Billboard 100 and the Billboard R&B Albums chart.

Over the course of her career, Adams has accumulated four Grammy Awards, four Dove Awards, five BET Awards, six NAACP Image Awards, six Soul Train Music Awards, two BMI Awards, and sixteen Stellar Awards. She holds the distinction of being the first gospel artist to win the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Song and the first gospel artist to receive an American Music Award. In 2017, the Gospel Music Association inducted her into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and in 2022 she was inducted into the Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame. President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for volunteer service in 2016.

Beyond recording, Adams has maintained a prominent public presence through The Yolanda Adams Morning Show, a nationally syndicated morning gospel radio program. In 2010 she published the book Points of Power, drawn from a segment of that show. She performed at the 53rd Grammy Awards as part of a tribute to Aretha Franklin alongside Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera, Florence Welch, and Martina McBride, singing Franklin's 1970 recording "Spirit in the Dark." In 2019 she received the Soul Train Music Awards Lady of Soul Award and performed "America the Beautiful" at the official opening of Super Bowl LIV.

In 2018, Adams became the first gospel artist to receive a Tony Award nomination, earning a Best Original Score Written for the Theatre nomination for her work on SpongeBob SquarePants. She extended her Broadway presence in 2024 with an appearance in Hell's Kitchen.