Coming to Washington to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy is important to Murdock who vividly recalls the day he was assassinated. “I was almost 11 yrs old,” she recalls. “I remember all the adults being absolutely grief stricken, as if a family member had died. There was a lot of hurt, disbelief and anger after Dr. King died. My Mother was a praying woman, so as she placed her worries into God’s hands, I drew my peace from her peace. I heard him being referred to, as the `Moses’ of our time. Like Moses, he didn’t make it to the promised land, but he let us know he’d been to the mountaintop and that his eyes had seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” Murdock and her husband, Dale DeGroat, wrote her new radio hit “Dream” with celebrated evangelist, Bishop T.D. Jakes. “My song is a reminder that God is the giver and the fulfiller of all the dreams He places in our hearts,” she says. “The dream is a glimpse of our future selves being more and doing more. It’s us at our BEST…fulfilling our PURPOSE…to loving one another, serving one another…celebrating and embracing our diversity and uniqueness.”
Back in the `80s, Murdock set out to become a gospel singer but her path led to becoming a back-up singer for the funk band, Zapp. Bandleader, Roger Troutman, eventually snagged Murdock a record deal with Elektra Records where she recorded Top 10 R&B hits such as the gold-selling “As We Lay,” “Go On Without You,” “Husband” and “In Your Eyes.” Then, in 2002, renowned evangelist Bishop T.D. Jakes made Murdock’s lifelong dream of recording a gospel CD come true when he released her first gospel album, Home, a Top 10 smash. Her first live concert CD “Live: The Journey” (Tyscot Records) will be released October 18, 2011. Produced by Grammy Award winner Cedric Thompson, the set features collaborations with R&B divas Kelly Price, Regina Belle and gospel belter Beverly Crawford.