John Lee Sanders: Gospel, Blues and Roots Music Artist
"Can't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus". Encore song
John Lee spent his childhood and youth in the Mississippi Delta, Louisiana and Alabama, a region where Gospel is the common DNA of genres as diverse as Soul, Country, Blues and Jazz music. The early encounter with Martin Luther King, the historic leader of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, and Elvis Presley, the R&R star who forever changed American popular music, is part of the American history that influenced John Lee. Sanders, pianist, saxophonist, singer and songwriter. A story in which her maternal grandmother, who lived near CL Franklin, father of Aretha Franklin and in the vicinity of the recording studios of the Memphis scene, plays an important role.
“I have been a member of the United Methodist Church in Alabama and Mississippi, a temple where there was a large choir made up of conservatory singers, a large pipe organ, and a symphony orchestra at Christmas and Easter services, which performed works by Bach, Handel and Mozart. In other churches in the city, passionate voices sang the Black Spirituals, with rhythms that would have been more restrained in mine, voices brought up in rich traditions without being academic, capable of moving you spiritually and physically. That is also part of my earliest memories, ”says John Lee Sanders. “I have dedicated my life to performing music with and for people of all ages, in prisons, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, large theaters and festivals around the world. I have witnessed the power of music to brighten the soul of the forgotten and touch those who have never been touched. Gospel music is the cradle of legendary voices such as Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Mahalia Jackson, and so many pop stars around the world.
In 2001 he was hired by the AME Black Church of Oakland, California, the oldest denomination of Protestant black churches in America, of which the descendants of families that had been part of the great emigration to California from the Deep were part. South in the 40s and 50s of the 20th century. He has recorded and performed with the biggest names on the American scene, including Dorothy Morrison, the lead vocal on “Oh Happy Day,” the first Gospel song to be a national hit in the US Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Bill Withers, Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, Starship, Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Long John Baldry, and Keith Emerson are on that list too. In 2010, he was the guest pianist / singer for the award-winning “Good Noise Gospel Choir” at their Vancouver Cathedral concert. Already in 2011 he participated in the recording of his Christmas album. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2007 and, the following year, for the WC Handy Blues Award.
Grandes del Gospel is pleased to present at Christmas 2020 an American artist with an exceptional band: John Lee Sanders & The Gospel Messengers. With John Lee Sanders (voice, piano), Nick Sullivan (bass), Akin Onasanya (drums), Gecko Turner (guitar, keyboard, percussion), Deborah Ayo & Astrid Jones (backing vocals).
I recently had some health challenges this past year. Here’s a way you can support my music to continue my work in the performing and recording arts
www.paypal.me/johnleesanders?...