Blackman is currently promoting the new album on an extensive world tour with Christafari, performing more than 100 shows in 25 countries in 2008 alone, including concerts in the USA, Iceland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Germany, The Netherlands, England, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain, Antigua, Trinidad and Brazil (where they performed to a crowd of 80,000 in February!).

Born in Trinidad, Blackman lived in luxury as a daughter of the famous calypsonian, Lord Shorty, who was the inventor of Soca (the pulse of Carnival) and Jamoo music. As a young dreadlocked child, she was very outgoing and began singing on stage in front of massive crowds at the tender age of four. That year, her life drastically changed when on a spiritual quest, her father transplanted his massive family to the jungle, where she would spend the next twenty years living seven rugged miles from the remote Indian village of Pirapo.

The Blackman home was a log cabin with no doors, windows, plumbing or electricity. Blackman was home-schooled and her large family (that consists of 24 brothers and sisters) lived primarily off the land growing virtually everything that they ate. Their days were filled with Bible study, intense rehearsals, various tour dates and regular performances for curious visitors.

Blackman learned the art of harmony while touring and singing background for her father, who took on the name Ras Shorty I after his conversion to Christianity. At the age of fourteen, she began playing bass for the family band, The Love Circle, and eventually began recording solo material of her own.

In 2003, she moved to Los Angeles and married Christafari founder and lead vocalist Mark Mohr, and subsequently became Christafari's bassist and one of the group's vocalists.

Avion Blackman released her debut album, Onyinye, in 2005, and the following year the project was nominated for 9 Caribbean Gospel Music Marlin Awards. Blackman took the top honor, becoming the first non-Jamaican to win Album of the Year. She also won Marlin Awards for Contemporary Female Vocal Performance of the Year ("Marvelous Beauty") and Packaging of the Year. In addition to her solo work and Christafari, Blackman has lent her voice to an assortment of songs for network television, where she can be heard regularly on popular shows such as General Hospital and One Life to Live.

On her new album, Blackman combines honest worship with island rhythms with authentic production by her husband (and Christafari founder) Mark Mohr. A music video has been shot for the lead single, "Yeshua." In addition to heavy touring worldwide, Blackman has made appearances at Gospel Music Week in Nashville and Expolit in Miami. In addition, aggressive radio, video and publicity promotions are underway, as well as extensive grassroots and online campaigns.

“On Sweet Life, I unapologetically sing about the sweetest life of all," states Blackman. "The abundant and eternal life that is freely given to those who place their faith in Jesus Christ."

For more information, please visit the official website at www.avionblackman.com.

 

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