DONALD LAWRENCE & THE TRI-CITY SINGERS - Gospel Music Artists - Corporate Entertainment Booking

Donald Lawrence
and the
Tri-City Singers

Donald Lawrence and the Tri-City Singers Donald Lawrence is a man with destiny on his mind. In a world already reeling from the mayhem of everyday life, Donald Lawrence & the Tri-City Singers, was first conceived as a "spiritual vitamin" to reenergize a church teetering on the precipice of spiritual despair and desolation. As the catastrophes of September 11, 2001 unfolded, that need was heightened immeasurably.

"I've always done my best work when I follow what my heart is saying to me, and write and record what I'm feeling," Donald comments.

  The pulsating, rock-steady, dance-floor-ready sound is classic Donald Lawrence & Tri-City Singers, with Donald in his signature, fluid modern gospel/R&B voice, atop Tri-City's smooth-as-silk, contemporary-but-timeless take on vintage choral gospel.

  "I want everybody to know that even when things are looking up, and starting to change for the better, it's not all that God has in store for you. In fact, compared to the wondrous things He still has to lay on the table before us, we haven't seen anything yet."

  Donald Lawrence – songwriter, producer, singer and director-extraordinaire – whom Billboard magazine has hailed as a "timeless…tunesmith, lyricist and master of the mix," was a child born with a love for music, who grew up to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the prestigious Cincinnati Conservatory. Anticipating a career in musical theater, his plans were abruptly changed a year after his graduation when pop/R&B superstar Stephanie Mills – the friend of a friend of Donald's – met the rising young prodigy and quickly hired him to be her musical director.

By the mid-'90s Donald Lawrence had spent almost 10 years working and touring with the multi-platinum-seller Mills, and had produced two of her albums, in 1992 and 1994. Along the way he had also established himself as one of gospel music's most esteemed producers, with a sterling resume comprising work with gospel/R&B/pop superstar Kirk Franklin, hit-maker Peabo Bryson, and gospel giants Daryl Coley, and the late Thomas Whitfield. Other entries on Donald's dazzlingly diverse list of credits include writing and directing several highly successful gospel musicals and plays, and serving as vocal coach for '90s chart royalty, En Vogue.

In the early-90s, Donald Lawrence began his association with the Tri-City Singers, who had first come together in 1981 as a community choir performing in local and regional churches throughout the North and South Carolina, where they and Donald all still reside. A close friend of Donald's, who had served as the group's musical director, resigned his position, suggesting to Donald that the choir – already a tight, ready-for-primetime unit – would be a willing and able outlet for the burgeoning catalog of original choral music Donald had compiled on the side during his tenure with Mills. Donald accepted and the choir's reputation and nationwide recognition soon began to soar, with awards and nominations – Grammys, Stellars, and Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA) among others – amassing with each of the group's four previous releases

With hopes for a future that includes not only his irreplaceable work with Tri-City Singers, but movies, musical theater and TV as well, Donald speaks like a man still moving into his own ever-evolving destiny.

"Life is a gift, and God didn't bless us with this gift to live our entire lives in sadness," he concludes. "Sadness will pass, and then it's time to get up, dry your eyes, re-boot and grab back your life. And when you do, by all means, live it…to the fullest."

Notable songs include --