Byron Cage

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Award-winning artist Byron Cage, known as the “Prince of Praise,” has  made his mark on gospel music as a respected minster of music and  through a series of chart-topping live albums and radio singles. His  now-classic recording of The Presence of the Lord Is Here introduced the  world to the contemporary worship song. Cage is credited as one of the  artists who helped introduce and popularize Praise and Worship music in  the African American church.

As a teenager, Cage—born December 15, 1962, in Grand Rapids,  Michigan—was entranced by the musical innovation of fellow Michigander  Thomas Whitfield. In his short but productive life, Whitfield broadened  the contemporary foundation established by Andrae’ Crouch and the  Hawkins Family by incorporating complex jazz and classical music  elements into gospel.

When Cage was choir director at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, the  church’s bass player, Fred Hammond, invited him to join his new gospel  group, Disciples for Christ (later renamed Commissioned). Cage’s mother,  however, preferred her son focus on his studies at Oakland University.  The studies won out, and Cage earned a scholarship to Morehouse College  in Atlanta. He moved to Atlanta, joined the Morehouse College Glee Club  and discovered Bishop Eddie Long’s New Birth Cathedral. He would become  the church’s minister of music and help Long expand the flock from a few  dedicated adherents to more than 17,000 members.

In 1995, Cage launched his professional recording career by signing  with Atlanta International Records. That year, Cage and his vocal group  Purpose released their debut album, a live recording titled Dwell Among  Us. Besides the title track, the album featured contemporary worship  favorites The Blood and The Glory Song. Byron Cage and Purpose released a  second live offering for AIR, Transparent in Your Presence, the  following year. The album rose to No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums  chart.

GospoCentric Records, the label that launched Kirk Franklin’s career,  signed Cage as a solo artist in 2003. The first fruits of this  partnership, Byron Cage: Live at New Birth Cathedral, appeared the same  year. Produced by Kurt Carr, an architect of the Praise and Worship  format, the album maintained Cage’s presence on the Billboard Top Gospel  Albums chart. It earned five Stellar Awards in 2004, including CD of  the Year, Song of the Year (for the Carr-penned The Presence of the Lord  Is Here) and Male Vocalist of the Year for Cage.

The much-anticipated follow-up album, 2005’s An Invitation to  Worship, was recorded live at New Birth Cathedral. Detroit’s PAJAM  songwriting and production team (Paul Allen, J Moss and Walter Kearney)  produced the CD. Like its predecessors, An Invitation to Worship entered  the Billboard Top Gospel

Albums chart, rising as high as No. 2. It was nominated for Stellar,  Grammy and NAACP Image Awards. A single, I Will Bless the Lord, was  named Song of the Year at the 2007 Stellar Award ceremony.

Cage brought PAJAM back to produce 2007’s Live at the Apollo: The  Proclamation, which featured guest appearances by Dave Hollister, J  Moss, Kim Burrell and Kelly Price. Two years later, Cage returned to  Michigan for Faithful to Believe. Recorded live at Detroit’s Second  Ebenezer Church, the album featured guest vocals by Tye Tribbett, Karen  Clark Sheard and Marvin Winans. Memoirs of a Worshipper (2012), with a  special appearance by Fred Hammond, was recorded live at Christ  Universal Temple in Chicago.

In 2014, Cage signed with Pastor Charles Jenkins’ Inspired People  imprint. The following year, he was featured on Jenkins and Fellowship  Chicago’s Any Given Sunday, joining Jonathan McReynolds on Just to Know  Him.

Byron Cage serves as minister of music at Ebenezer AME Church in Fort  Washington, Maryland, and at The Saint Paul’s Baptist Church in  Richmond, Virginia.

biography courtesy of Malaco Records.