Smokie Norful

Smokie Norful

Smokie Norful (born October 31, 1975 in Muskogee , Oklahoma ; actually William Ray Norful, Jr. ) is an American gospel musician and a two-time Grammy winner.

biography

Smokie Norful grew up in Muskogee as the son of a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church . He came into contact with church gospel and soul music at an early age and was already singing in the parish at the age of four. At the age of ten he made his first recordings for a regionally released album. Instead of music or church, however, he decided to study history at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and then became a history teacher.

After four years in the profession, he moved to Chicago in 1998 and earned a Master of Divinity degree from Garrett Theological Seminary . He stayed in Chicago and became an assistant pastor at the Rock of Ages Baptist Church . He was also active again in various choirs. At the Thompson Community Choir he appeared as a guest singer on an album recording and finally the label Chordant produced his own album with him in 2002. With I Need You Now he made it straight to number 1 on the gospel album charts and also on the official Billboard 200 . The theme song hit the Hot 100 singles charts.

He was then signed by EMI and released a live EP in 2003 , which also reached number 1 on the gospel charts. Only one year later followed the second long player entitled Nothing Without You , which like the debut album reached the top of the gospel charts, stayed in this chart evaluation for two years and was finally awarded gold for half a million copies sold. He also received the award in the Best Pop / Contemporary Gospel Album category at the 2005 Grammy Awards .

With the album Norful also entered the top 60 of the official charts, which he also achieved in 2006 with the third studio album Life Changing and in 2009 with the album Smokie Norful Live . Overall, however, the two albums lagged behind the success of the first two. In 2010 he published three sermon albums under the title Worship & a Word , which in addition to a longer sermon each contained a song and were also quite successful. In the same year an album was released with the Victory Cathedral Choir presented by Smokie Norful, which was recorded live at the Sunday service at the Friendship Baptist Church in Chicago and in which he himself appears twice as the lead singer.

This was followed by How I Got Over… Songs That Carried Us , an album with many guest singers, including his father, and Once in a Lifetime in 2011 and 2012, with which he continued his success. With the album Forever Yours he returned to the top 100 of the official album charts in 2014 and came in at number 2 on the gospel album. The song No Greater Love , which he himself wrote with Aaron W. Lindsey, won him his second Grammy award for best gospel song in 2015 .

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	Gospel
2003	I need you now	US154 gold (9 weeks)US	Gospel1 (104 weeks) Gospel
	Smokie Norful: Limited Edition (EP)	US90 (4 weeks) US	Gospel1 (55 weeks) Gospel	Live album
2004	Nothing Without You	US57 gold (6 weeks)US	Gospel1 (104 weeks) Gospel	Grammy (Contemporary Soul Gospel Album)
2006	Life changing	US56 (5 weeks) US	Gospel2 (68 weeks) Gospel
2009	live	US55 (6 weeks) US	Gospel1 (66 weeks) Gospel	Live album
2010	Worship & a Word: According to Your Faith (EP)	-	Gospel20 (35 weeks) Gospel	Sermon album + a song
	Worship & a Word: Matters of the Heart	-	Gospel27 (11 weeks) Gospel	Sermon album + a song
	Worship & a Word: Myth of Unmet Needs	-	Gospel26 (11 weeks) Gospel	Sermon album + a song
	Smokie Norful Presents: Victory Cathedral Choir	US121 (1 week) US	Gospel4 (9 weeks) Gospel	Live album
2011	How I Got Over… Songs That Carried Us	US131 (1 week) US	Gospel4 (49 weeks) Gospel
2012	Once in a Lifetime	US116 (2 weeks) US	Gospel4 (46 weeks) Gospel
2014	Forever Yours	US67 (3 weeks) US	Gospel1 (38 weeks) Gospel

Singles

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	Gospel
2003	I need you now, i need you now	US96 (3 weeks) US	-
2005	I Understand Nothing Without You	-	Gospel1 (26 weeks) Gospel
	God Is Able Nothing Without You	-	Gospel11 (20 weeks) Gospel
2006	To Good Life Changing	-	Gospel1 (41 weeks) Gospel
2007	Celebrate Life Changing	-	Gospel23 (20 weeks) Gospel
2009	God Is Able Nothing Without You	-	Gospel3 (60 weeks) Gospel
2010	Dear God (Live) Live	-	Gospel28 (5 weeks) Gospel
	The Greatest Name Smokie Norful Presents: Victory Cathedral Choir	-	Gospel25 (14 weeks) Gospel	Smokie Norful Presents: Victory Cathedral Choir
2011	God Is Able How I Got Over… Songs That Carried Us	-	Gospel16 (21 weeks) Gospel	feat. Myron Buttler & the 12th District AME Mass Choir
2012	Once in a Lifetime Once in a Lifetime	-	Gospel19 (21 weeks) Gospel
2014	No Greater Love Forever Yours	-	Gospel7 (46 weeks) Gospel	Grammy (Gospel Performance / Song)

Guest Posts

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	Gospel
2008	Cover Me	-	Gospel3 (47 weeks) Gospel	9:03 pm with Fred Hammond, Smokie Norful & J Moss
	Jesus is love	-	Gospel10 (24 weeks) Gospel	Heather Headley feat. Smokie Norful

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: US (Billboard)
2. ↑ ^{a b} Awards for Music Sales: US

Web links

• Victory Cathedral Worship Center (English)
• Smokie Norful on Allmusic (English)