En Vogue, Dionne Warwick, Patti LaBelle and Chaka Khan have contributed tracks to Church: Songs of Soul Inspiration, out June 3rd. The album also includes a spoken word piece recited by writer Maya Angelou.
The two-disc compilation features liner notes by author Toni Morrison and a CD-Rom of footage from the making of the album.
En Vogue updated the Bee Gee's "How Deep Is Your Love" for the collection. "We are big Bee Gees fans, and we always loved that song and always wanted to record it," says En Vogue singer Terry Ellis. "It's just so sweet and sultry. I think probably the only difference is the fact that we're women singing it. We tried to make the Bee Gees proud of us."
Like many of the artists on the compilation, Ellis got her start singing in a church choir. "I used to try and hide," she says. "I used to sit in the back all the time because I didn't want them to ask me to sing, but they pulled me out and made me come up front. Then I started going to church choir rehearsals every Friday night and that just became my thing. My roots are definitely from the Baptist church."
In other En Vogue news, Ellis and Cindy Herron are nine tracks deep into an album due later this year.
Church track listing:
"It's Sacred: Church," Dr. Maya Angelou
"The Wonder of You," Jennifer Holliday
"Way Up There," Patti LaBelle
"Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)," Stephanie Mills
"You Gotta Be," Patti Austin
"How Deep Is Your Love," En Vogue
"His Eye Is on the Sparrow," Shirley Caesar
"The Fire Choir," As
"Love Me Still," Chaka Khan
"Ave Maria," Denyce Graves
"Ooh Child," Nnenna Freelon
"What the World Needs Now Is Love," Dionne Warwick
"A Song for You," Ann Nesby
"Way Up There," The Fire Choir
"Reprise," Dr. Maya Angelou
COLIN DEVENISH
(May 7, 2003)