NEW YORK, NY - April 2, 2008 - KOCH Records announced today the signing of two major talents, this year's Grammy Winner for the Best Rock Gospel Album of the Year--Ashley Cleveland and one of American Idol's favorites from season three, George Huff. Each artist is working on a new album for KOCH Records to be released later this year and Cleveland will have her recent award-winning album available to retailers via KOCH on May 13th. "These artists are the kind of great talents we love to be involved with at our company," said KOCH Records President Bob Frank from New York. "We are thrilled to be adding award-winning artists to our expanding Christian roster."
Ashley Cleveland
Ashley Cleveland is a three-time Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee. As the Grammy Award's first female nominee in the Best Rock Gospel category, Ashley Cleveland won this award in 1996 for her album Lesson of Love, in 1999 for You Are There, and most recently, 2008 for Before the Daylight's Shot. She is the only artist to be nominated three times and to win three times in this category. As one of Nashville's most in-demand session singers, Ashley has performed on more than three hundred albums. The combination of her natural wonder of a voice and fierce songwriting talent has been thrilling listeners since her debut in 1991. Blending rock, blues, gospel, and folk with her distinct open-tuned guitar playing, she has forged an unmistakable sound that has won her 3 Grammy Awards, 3 Dove Awards, a place on countless year-end Top Ten lists, and a legion of devoted fans. Commenting on the new deal, Ashley said, "I have long admired KOCH as an-no, THE---independent label with integrity and muscle. This partnership bodes well for me and for my present and future recordings; I am absolutely thrilled!"
George Huff
The rich, powerful voice of George Huff carried him to first place among male contestants and an overall fifth-place finalist on the third season of the reality/talent search television series, American Idol. Originally from New Orleans, Huff currently resides in Dallas, Texas after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. His first album, Miracles, was released on Word Records. Through April 2008, Dreyer's/Edy's Slow Churned Light Ice Cream is giving away with the purchase of any two products one million CDs of previously unreleased tracks by American Idol finalists. George's "Here With Me" is track 3 on the new CD and is every bit as soulful as George himself. Currently in the studio working on his new album coming this fall, Huff said, "I'm excited to be a part of what KOCH Records is doing and am so happy to be working with Barry again!"
Release Schedule
Running the Christian division for KOCH in Nashville is Christian music veteran Barry Landis. "I've been a fan of Ashley's for
many years and feel just elated that I'm able to work with an artist of her stature," he said. "And I signed George Huff
several years ago when he was first on American Idol, so it's nice to be reunited with him!" With today's announcements, as
well as past announcements, the KOCH Christian release schedule is strong: May 13th, Ashley Cleveland's Before The Daylight's
Shot, this year's Grammy Winner for Rock Gospel Album of the Year, is available; also on May 13th, The Myriad releases
their critically acclaimed project, With Arrows, With Poise after winning the MTV2/Dew Circuit Breakout; in August,
George Huff's new album just in time for the Gospel Music Workshop of America and in September, vocal stylist Melissa Greene of
Avalon launches her solo career. In addition to these solo projects, KOCH is releasing several records from Martingale Music
(Carmen D'Arcy, LuLu Roman and Ric Blair), Above Entertainment (Danny Liston and Justin Unger) and will continue supporting the
newly released Ronnie Freeman album on White Apron Entertainment. "We are beginning to build a nice family of labels which is developing into a solid roster of artists," said KOCH's Greg Adams, Director of CBA & Special Market Sales. "We have a long-term view of the Christian marketplace and are excited about the future." For more information on KOCH products, call 516-484-1000 or write to: CustomerService@kochent.com.
About KOCH Entertainment
KOCH Entertainment, founded in 1987 and now in its twentieth year, is the leading and fastest-growing independent music company in the U.S. KOCH's operations encompass record and video labels as well as distribution companies in the U.S. and Canada. KOCH Entertainment is the market leader among independent labels and distributors in both the U.S. and Canada and its record label KOCH Records had the largest number of Billboard charting albums among independents for six years in a row (2001 - 2007). KOCH Entertainment is owned by Entertainment One Ltd. which has been recently listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market (ticker symbol "ETO").
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