Black Smoke Music Worldwide is celebrating the birthday of its charismatic founder – Mr. Kerry Douglas – with a virtual Gospel Mix Live Birthday Bash concert this Saturday, January 23 at 6pm ET. The grand bash will feature performances from the likes of Pastor Mike, Jr.; James Fortune; James Grear; newcomer, Lasha’ Knox, and a host of others. There will also be surprise reflections and shoutouts from family, friends, and the gospel music industry’s elite. It will be streamed on Douglas’ Facebook and YouTube pages.
Douglas has been called the Clive Davis or Berry Gordy of gospel music because he launched the careers of some of the genre’s biggest acts of the last two decades. During that time, he promoted megahits such as James Fortune’s Grammy-nominated No. 1 smashes “I Trust You” and “I Believe.” There were other chart-toppers such as Zacardi Cortez’s “Oh, How I Love You,” Greg O’Quin’s “I Told the Storm,” Earnest Pugh’s “Rain on Us” and Evelyn Turrentine-Agee’s “God Did It,” among many others.
Douglas’s journey into music promotion began when he was a car salesman based in Houston. He began hosting parking lot R&B and rap concerts to attract new customers. These events were so successful that his sales doubled. This led Douglas to transition to concert promotion full-time. After facing a difficult near-death experience, Douglas became a born-again Christian and launched Black Smoke Music Worldwide to promote gospel artists.
To help market his business, Douglas created The Gospel Truth magazine to showcase independent gospel artists. At its peak, the magazine had 50,000 readers. He then launched the hit Gospel Mix album line that brought to life the music of independent artists such as Bryan Andrew Wilson, Le’Andria Johnson, Tamela Mann, The Brown Boyz and Ruben Studdard. The latest, Gospel Mix Volume XI, features Billboard No. 1 hits such as Zacardi Cortez’s “You Don’t Know,” Demetrius West’s “I’m Next,” and Pastor Mike’s “Big.” Douglas lives in two cities – Houston, TX and Birmingham, AL.
Author: [email protected] (Jessie Clarks)
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