VaShawn Mitchell shares his influences this Black Music Month, and celebrates the rise in popularity of gospel, R&B and more over the years.

Black Music Month is an important facet for our legacy to live on from generation to generation.

It’s in this month that we celebrate Gospel, Blues, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Rap, R&B, and so many other genres because they were birthed out of and continue to flourish in our culture. Our culture is what we’ve been through, how we made it through, and passing those stories and traditions on. I believe these conversations and times of remembrance will only help these works of art last for generations to come as we continue to celebrate our culture and keep it at the forefront.

Black Music has always influenced music as a whole and of course it’s seen in my own work. Some of my favorite black artists who have influenced my music include The Winans, Bebe & Cece, Kirk Franklin, Hezekiah Walker, Donnie McClurkin, Donald Lawrence, and some that are no longer with us including Thomas Whitfield and Andre Crouch (some of the greatest songwriters of their generation).

Before I was an artist, I was a songwriter. I would study how these legends wrote songs and became a fan of their writing before discovering their powerful vocals and dynamic stage presence.

Outside of Gospel, I am a huge James Brown fan! I especially loved his stage presence and how he can command an audience! I used to watch his videos all of the time. As I started in Gospel music, he was one of the people I would watch and learn how to grab a microphone and do certain things. Since then, there have been many others that I’ve enjoyed from old favorites like the smooth-singing Marvin Gaye to the new generation of Usher & Chris Brown.

Since I am a music lover, I embrace all kinds of music in my own writing & recordings.

Comparing the world we are living in now to when I was growing up, we used to copy “Black Music” — it was a sub-genre. Now Black Music is not only standing on its own two feet, but from concerts, to TV, to streams, and more, Black Music has earned its right to be many of the top genres of music worldwide.

If we’re talking Black Music and all the genres that it represents, together it’s probably one of the top streamed, top viewed, top consumed music genres in the US.

Multiple Grammy, Dove, and Stellar award nominee and winner VaShawn Mitchell has established himself as a staple in Gospel Music. A self-described ‘connector’ Mitchell has spent many years bringing artist together through collaborations and mentorship to grow the Gospel community in both size and strength. While he got start writing and producing for some of the biggest names in Gospel, Mitchell quickly became known for his hit single, ‘Nobody Greater’, which topped the Gospel Billboard charts for nine weeks consecutively and received 6 stellar awards.

Mitchell’s career has established him as a writer and producer of inspiring power-filled songs that are a fusion of pop, rock, and Gospel with that distinctive Chicago Gospel sound, all while pointing listeners to the Lord. His most recent single, “See The Goodness,” is out now ahead of his 10th album, titled “Chapter X: See The Goodness.”

Black Music Month