Earnest Pugh is gospel music’s new leading man. His fourth CD “Earnestly Yours” debuts at #1 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart this week. After twenty years in the music business, this is the Washington, D.C. based singer’s first #1 album. “What was once a dream has now become a reality,” Pugh sighs. “Kerry Douglas and the Black Smoke Music Worldwide team made this possible with their incredible marketing and distribution network. I never dreamed of having a #1 single on iTunes nor a #1 CD on Billboard. This moment is so surreal and I am humbled and I feel so unworthy. For anyone who has ever been shut out, put out, overlooked or rejected, I dedicate this CD to you in hopes of encouraging you to hold on to your dreams and turn them into reality.”
It’s definitely time for turning dreams into reality over at Houston’s Black Smoke Music Worldwide where CEO Kerry Douglas’ New Deal University marketing concepts are turning unknowns into today’s biggest gospel stars. The program propelled James Fortune & FIYA to gospel rock star status with the #1 hits “I Trust You” and the current smash “I Believe.” Douglas is now doing the same with Pugh who was named #4 gospel radio airplay artist of 2010 by Billboard magazine. “Earnest is gospel music’s new leading man,” Douglas says. “He will be one of the biggest artists of the next decade.”
Facts are on his side too. Pugh’s radio single “I Need Your Glory” is #10 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart and it’s one of the fastest-selling digital downloads this year.
A Memphis native who got his start singing with O’Landa Draper & the Associates back in the 1990s, Pugh released his first solo CD in 2006 and showed off his five-octave vocals on the radio hit “Wrapped Up, Tied Up, Tangled Up.” After years of making respectable forays into gospel, Pugh finally hit it big in 2009 with his #1 smash “Rain On Us” which led to TV appearances on BET’s “Celebration of Gospel” and TBN’s “Praise The Lord.” Visit www.earnestpugh.com or www.mrkerrydouglas.com for more information on this exciting artist.