Earnest Pugh Jr. (born November 23, 1966)[1] is an American gospel musician with a five-octave vocal range.[2] Public recognition for the artist commenced with the success of Rain on Us (2009) and I Need Your Glory (2011),[3] and he subsequently attained the title of "Gospel Music's Leading Man". Pugh is also the founder of the record label, EPM Music.
Earnest Pugh | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Earnest Pugh |
| Born | November 23, 1966 Memphis, Tennessee |
| Genres | Gospel |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, record producer, actor |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | EPM Music Group |
| Website | earnestpugh |
Early life
editPugh was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the seventh of nine children. His father, Earnest Pugh Sr., worked at a Firestone plant in Flint, Michigan and commuted to see his family on weekends. His mother, Lillie Pearl Pugh, worked for the government and held a number of part-time jobs. She was the first to notice Pugh's singing ability and encouraged him to sing. "My mother believed in me and what I could accomplish" he once told the Miami Times. "Her death a few years ago hit me hard but I used that pain to inspire my writing on my last two CDs" January 2013
During his late teens, Pugh briefly sang with the Grammy Award-winning gospel choir, O'Landa Draper & The Associates. However, Pugh's tenure with the ensemble was short. He enlisted in the Army and remained there for fifteen years. He told The Washington Post that he "frequently was called on to sing at funerals."[4]
After retiring from the military, Pugh held a number of positions with churches as a worship leader in Texas and Georgia. In 2001, he became a worship leader at Ebenezer AME Church in the Washington, D.C. area.
Music career
editAfter seeking recording contracts from major gospel record labels and being rejected, Pugh decided to launch his own label in 2006. His first album, Earnest Pugh Live: A Worshipper's Perspective, was released via a distribution agreement with Detroit's Crystal Rose Records label. The radio single Wrapped Up, Tied Up, Tangled Up rose to the Top 40 on the now defunct Radio & Records gospel radio chart and lay the foundation for his career. He followed up the next year with a CD entitled, Seasons Change, that failed to chart.
In 2007, his album, A Worshiper's Perspective, won Best Gospel Album at the 6th Annual Independent Music Awards.
A chance meeting with Blacksmoke Worldwide Gospel Records founder Kerry Douglas, who had taken James Fortune & FIYA and Keith Wonder Boy Johnson to the top of the gospel charts, would be pivotal to Pugh's evolution as a national artist. "He [Douglas] told me back in 2008 that he could take my single Rain on Us to number one and he did just that in less than eight weeks," Pugh told the Miami Times.[5]
The dramatic ballad spent two weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Gospel Songs chart in 2009. The CD, Live: Rain on Us, also featured the Top-40 gospel radio hits Perfect Peace and The Great I Am.
In the early summer of 2011, Pugh delivered another CD titled Earnestly Yours.[6] Douglas had Pugh re-record James Fortune's track, I Need Your Glory. The song shot to the Top Ten in a few weeks and stayed on the Billboard Hot Gospel Songs chart for ten weeks.[7] The song and the CD earned Pugh extensive media coverage. "Pugh is a pointed and slick singer (and dresser), and for most of this strong album he provides a solid center while his backup choir sings in hushed and reverent tones", Jon Carmanica wrote in The New York Times.[8]
In January 2012, Pugh announced that his EPM Music label had formed a distribution agreement with Entertainment One Distribution and would soon be signing a variety of high-profile gospel artists to record under his label banner.[9]
Discography
editAlbums
edit| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Gospel |
US Christian |
Independent | ||||||||||||||
| Earnest Pugh Live: A Worshipper’s Perspective |
|
— | 35 | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Live: Rain On Us |
|
110 | 2 | 5 | 12 | ||||||||||||
| Earnestly Yours |
|
51 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||||||||||||
| Christmas With Earnest Pugh |
|
||||||||||||||||
| Best Of – The E Factor |
|
||||||||||||||||
| The W.I.N. (Worship in Nassau) Experience |
|
46 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Just Worship |
|
||||||||||||||||
| Hidden Treasures and Collaborations |
|
||||||||||||||||
| Survive |
|
||||||||||||||||
| "—" denotes items which failed to chart. | |||||||||||||||||
Singles
edit| Title | Peak chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot Gospel | Gospel Digital | Hot R&B | Adult R&B Airplay | ||
| "Rain On Us" | 1 | 9 | —[A] | — | Live: Rain On Us |
| "The Great I Am" | 15 | — | — | — | |
| "Perfect Peace" | 22 | — | — | — | Earnestly Yours |
| "I Need Your Glory" | 1 | 7 | 98 | 33 | |
| "I Believe You Most" | — | — | — | — | |
| "Thank Ya" | — | — | — | — | |
| "I Need You to Breathe" | — | — | — | — | Survive |
Awards
edit| Project | Award |
|---|---|
| 2012 Stellar Award Nominations | Artist of the Year: Earnest Pugh[10] |
| 2012 Stellar Award Nominations | Male Vocalist of the Year: Earnest Pugh[11][12] |
| 2012 Stellar Award Nominations | Contemporary Male Vocalist of the Year: Earnest Pugh |
| 2012 Stellar Award Nominations | Praise & Worship CD of the Year: Earnestly Yours[13] |
References
edit- ^ Earnest Pugh To Launch Non-Profit Organization for Women Veterans
- ^ Mike Jones (August 9, 2011). "Gospel Music's New Leading Man Earnest Pugh Hits #2 On Billboard Hot Gospel Songs Chart". uGospel.com. Urban Roundup Group, LLC. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
- ^ Staff Report (February 6, 2012). "ERNEST PUGH HIT CROSSES TO URBAN CONTEMPORARY". South Florida Times. Beatty Media LLC. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
- ^ Harris, Hamill. "His Call of Duty: Gospel Music". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 5, 2016. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
- ^ McNeir, D. Kevin. "Earnest Pugh Takes Gospel Music World By Storm". The Miami Times.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Bradley, DeAnne. "Earnestly Yours". The Virginian-Pilot. p. 4.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "Earnest Pugh Logs a 10th week at No. 1". Billboard. December 3, 2011. p. 56.
- ^ Caramanica, Jon. "Pristine Coos, Raspy Oohs And A rising Star's Mixtape". The New York Times. p. 21.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Hearn, Sarah. "Earnest Pugh announces distribution agreement with Entertainment One". DC Gospel Music Exxaminer.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "The 27th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards Coming Soon". eurweb. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ Hearn, Sarah. "Stellar Awards: Gospel's biggest night features performances by top artists". DC Gospel Music Examiner.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Tinsley, Larry (January 29, 2012). "The Top 5 Gospel Singles". atlanta.cbslocal.com/. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
- ^ Gorman, Bill. "GMC TV Honors Black History Month with the GMC World Premiere Movie A Cross To Bear, "The 27th Annual Stellar Awards Show," World Premiere Movies, Specials and Black History Moments". tvbythenumbers.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2012. Retrieved February 1, 2012.