ATLANTA – Kelly Price endured immense heartache in 2020 but also a creative spurt that helped her maintain her faith and sanity.
“Last year was a doozy,” she said. “It was the longest, blurriest year ever. I can tell you how I made it through, but I can’t at the same time. I happily told 2020 to kick rocks.”
The COVID-19 crisis entered her personal life when her grandfather, Jerome Norman Jr., former pastor at the Full Gospel Mission, Church of God in Christ in Queens, N.Y., was lost to the virus in April. Six months later, her beloved mother, Claudia Price-North, the former musical director at the church that primed Price’s singing career, died unexpectedly.
“(I’m) ready to usher in some music that will make people feel something different than what we’ve been feeling. It’s been overwhelming for everybody, whether or not they lost someone to the disease. But I really believe a big part of my life’s purpose is trying to make people happy,” Price said.
She was calling on this day from her home in Cobb County, noticeably full of vigor and enthusiasm.
“I’m chatty, as you can tell,” she said with a laugh.
Price, 48, has always exuded relatable warmth. As a staple of R&B, soul and gospel since the late-’90s, first as a backup and guest singer for such formidable artists as Mariah Carey (“Fantasy”), Notorious B.I. G. (“Mo Money Mo Problems”) and Whitney Houston (“Heartbreak Hotel),” and then when her “Friend of Mine” debut single topped Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop chart, she continued to endear herself to a worldwide fan base with more than 15 other hits.
She’s a Queens native, and while the accent and innate toughness are inbred forever, Price is also an honorary Atlantan. After living in the city for many years, she relocated to Los Angeles in the late-2000s, but returned in 2015, following the death of her sister, Grace. That year she also divorced her husband of 23 years, Jeffery Rolle, with whom she has two now-adult children.
Price’s upcoming EP – due April 2 both for Good Friday and in homage to the one-year anniversary of her grandfather’s death on Easter Sunday – is also a tribute to her late sister with its title of “Grace.”
Nominated for nine career Grammy Awards in rap and R&B categories, Price hasn’t released a gospel-centric collection since 2006’s “This Is Who I Am.” The creation of these six songs – including the title track first single, the upbeat “Dance Party” and a cover of Vanessa Bell Armstrong’s “Faith That Conquers,” which Price sang at her mother’s funeral – and her signing to Motown Gospel indicates another bit of divine intervention.
As a judge on BET’s “Sunday Best” gospel singing competition, Price recorded a new song, “What I Need (Give Me What I Need),” to perform on the finale of the 2020 season. To tease its release, she posted something on Facebook about possibly returning to gospel music along with a #ThrowbackThursday photo of her recording her 2006 album.
EJ Gaines, Price’s former attorney who is now the co-executive director of Motown Gospel and vice president of marketing for Capitol CMG, saw her post and immediately commented to Price: “Call me.”
Within days in January 2020, Price met with Gaines in Nashville. Plans to quickly release a project last summer were thwarted by the pandemic, so they waited; the unintentional delay aided Price emotionally as her year slammed into heartbreak.
“I felt this was a good way to release something positive into the atmosphere, not just for me, personally, but for the world,” Price said. “Motown is historic for making the world dance, and I get a chance to do that while keeping the spirit at the same time. You’re going to get R&B Kelly in my inspirational mode.”
A deal to bring Price onto the label was finalized in the fall.
Gaines is attracted to Price’s “nuance” as a singer and believes that the six tracks on “Grace” attain an artful balance between faith and fun.
