Winners in the Gospel/Christian categories of the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards were announced tonight before the live telecast on CBS.
TobyMac added his seventh career GRAMMY to his ever growing award mantle with a win for
Best Contemporary Christian Music Album (for
This Is Not A Test)
over albums from Jason Crabb, Matt Maher, Chris Tomlin and Lauren Daigle.
Francesca Battistelli won
Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for "Holy Spirit" over three other popular worship songs from Crowder, Matt Maher and Third Day and TobyMac's latest hit single, "Feel It." This was Franny's fourth GRAMMY nomination and first win. She was unable to attend the Grammy Awards as she is excitedly anticipating the birth of her third child, but did release this statement: "I am so honored and humbled to have been recognized for 'Holy Spirit,' a song that has meant so much to me," says Battistelli. "Many thanks to Bryan and Katie Torwalt for writing an amazing song and letting me sing it. I pray God continues to use it to change people's lives and draw them closer to Himself!"
Israel Houghton & New Breed, a five-time GRAMMY award winning group, added a sixth win tonight for
Covered: Alive In Asia in the
Best Gospel Album category over fellow nominees Karen Clark Sheard, Dorinda Clark-Cole, Tasha Cobbs and Jonathan McReynolds. Israel took to social media to thank the huge amount of players that brought the album to life. "I'm speechless! No way on earth I could've done it without [these amazing people]! #teamworkmakesthedreamwork"
The winner of
Best Gospel Performance/Song was no suprise as
Kirk Franklin kept his GRAMMY streak alive with a win over songs from Anthony Brown & Group Therapy, Travis Greene, Brian Courtney Wilson and Israel Houghton & New Breed. Kirk has gone eight for eight since 1997.
And finally, the legendary group The Fairfield Four notched a surprising win in the
Best Roots Gospel Album category over much higher profile nominees Karen Peck & New River and Point of Grace. The group previously won Best Traditional Gospel Recording for
I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray back in 1997 and performed on the pre-telecast with Tasha Cobbs.
A full list of winners in the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards can be found
here.
[NOTE: This article was updated on February 16th with corrections to both Francesca and TobyMac's GRAMMY win totals.
