Minneapolis gospel singer Jovonta Patton is officially stellar.
Minneapolis singer Jovonta Patton named ‘new artist of the year’ at Stellar Gospel Music Awards
It was an uncommon win for an independent artist at Saturday’s ceremonies.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
July 22, 2024 at 5:08PM
On Saturday night at the 39th Stellar Gospel Music Awards in Las Vegas, Patton was named “new artist of the year” for his album “Established.”
“To win the first time I’ve ever been nominated made my reaction [on Saturday] have disbelief and relief,” he said Monday. “I’ve worked so hard on my career to finally be recognized feels so good after years of going unnoticed.”
By Monday afternoon, it began to sink in.
“I feel like a basketball player having an NBA championship ring. I finally got my championship ring in gospel. I’m basically LeBron James now. LOL,” he joked. “It feels so good and it’s settling in that I have a Stellar, this is the highest honor you can receive in gospel, and I have one is just mind blowing.”
Patton won for an independently released album, a feat that’s uncommon at these awards.
Released last year, “Established” featured the single “Always,” which went to No. 1 on Billboard’s gospel charts. It was his sixth chart-topper — either song or album — since 2016. Patton performed “Always” during the Stellar ceremonies.
Even though he’s been active in gospel circles for several years and attended the Stellars seven or eight times, Patton, 34, understands why he is considered a new artist nationally.
“I do feel like a new artist to the Stellar Awards space and Central City Productions,” he said, “because they work with Kirk Franklin, Shirley Caesar and so many other gospel giants, it’s easy for them at their level of expertise to not always know who’s new, especially with me being independent and no label has ever advocated for them to know me.”
An ordained minister, Patton leads a pop-up church known as The Wave. As a teenager, he founded Deliverance for Youth, a youth choir. A graduate of Edison High School, the North Minneapolis fixture first landed at No. 1 on Billboard’s gospel album chart in 2016, with the self-released album, “Finally Living.”
Patton plans to put his Stellar prize on his piano “until I buy another house with an awards case like the greats. It’s really heavy so it has to be somewhere nice.”
The taped two-hour Stellar Awards will be broadcast at 7 p.m. Aug. 3 on the Stellar Network and at 7 p.m. Aug. 4 on BET.
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