One of America's leading gospel radio and television broadcasters and a leading gospel singer in his own right, San Francisco-based Emmit Powell founded the Gospel Elites in 1977 "to bring this beautifully performed music out from the churches and into the lives of all types of people."

Backed by a rock-solid, four piece band (bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion), and offering a repertoire deeply based in the blues tradition, Emmit, Courtney Newsome, Mary Jackson, Barbara Cain, Barbara Davis, Becky Collins, Freddie Strong, Steven Cooley, and Frieda Mitchel share vocals punctuated by hand-claps, tambourines, and call-and-answer lyrics.

Tonight's show also features singer Dorothy Morrison, who made an indelible mark on gospel music with her powerful lead vocals on the Edwin Hawkins Singers' 1968 hit song Oh Happy Day. Nominated three times for Grammy Awards, the group travels throughout North America and Europe, performing with goosebump-raising intensity in churches, opera houses, theaters, on television and at open air festivals, uplifting, inspiring, and entertaining people wherever they go.

Tonight the Gospel Elites celebrate the release of their eighth CD, a greatest hits album, on Emmit's own Elite Royal label.