Israel & New Breed's "Your Presence is Heaven" From Jesus At The Center Receives Grammy Award

Released amidst international acclaim in August of last year and launching to the top of multiple retail sales charts,Israel & New Breed’s Jesus At The Center received a GRAMMY Award yesterday from The Recording Academy during the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards®, which were broadcast live from Staples Center in Los Angeles on the CBS Television Network. Receiving an award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Song for the hit AC radio single from the album, “Your Presence Is Heaven” (a tie with Matt Redman’s “10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord),”), the latter nod marks Israel Houghton’s first award in the category and fifth GRAMMY so far for the celebrated recording artist. Houghton shares the GRAMMY with “Your Presence Is Heaven” co-writer, Micah Massey.

Jesus At The Center, which was also nominated for a Best Gospel Album GRAMMY, marks Houghton’s returnwith New Breed after two successful solo projects for the first live recording in five years from Israel & New Breed. The album is a joint venture by Integrity Music and RGM-NEW BREED Music, and was recorded live over four days in front of more than 29,000 worshippers at Houston’s Lakewood Church. The Jesus At The Center double-CD, 18-song album with three additional studio singles features Israel & New Breed returning to their roots, delivering new anthems for the modern day church. The album further became Israel’s fifth consecutive BillboardTop 200-selling album, gathering praise from fans and critics alike.

After hearing the album, USA Today’s Brian Mansfield calls Israel Houghton “an impassioned worship leader with impeccable pacing” who has “a killer band that blends '80s synth-funk, Latin dance, even arena rock.” Associated Press says the music is “superb praise and worship” as Worship Leader confirms it is “a multicultural, polyrhythmic, choral feast of pop-shaded, rock-informed worship that combines and fuses a universe of musical possibility.” The recording also received multiple major print and broadcast network attention from ABC’s The View, Los Angeles Times, The 700 Club, BET, WGN TV, Jet Magazine, PBS NewsHour, The Tavis Smiley Show, Gospel Music Channel, Ebony, The Washington Post, GospelFlava.com, San Francisco Chronicle, CCM Magazine, Detroit Newsand more.

Co-writing all the songs, except the Bob Dylan cover, “To Make You Feel My Love,” and “You Have Me,” byMichael and Lisa Gungor, Israel says of Jesus At The Center, “The overarching story of the album is that sometimes we can be so ‘churched’ that we can lose sight of the ‘who, what, why’ of worship. This project simply places Jesus where he is supposed to be. We intentionally removed the metaphors and simply focused on his name.”

In addition to the GRAMMY nominations, Houghton was recently tapped by the 28th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards to perform at their annual awards ceremony. Houghton sang his No. 1 Gospel hit single, “It’s Not Over (When God Is In It)” from Jesus At The Center.