!HERO Rocks the House at GMA and Leaves with 2 Dove Awards
!HERO – The Rock Opera was the buzz at Gospel Music Week, kicking off Tuesday night with a sold out performance at the historic Ryman Auditorium. The event was attended by promoters, radio and media, and industry associates who were in town for Gospel Music Week, as well as hundreds of local fans wanting to see the show. Nominated for three Dove Awards©, !HERO creators went home with two Special Event Album of the Year and Packaging (Bethany Newman). The GMA Music Awards show opened with !HERO’s “Raised In Harlem,” featuring Michael Tait, T-Bone, Mark Stuart, and Donnie as well as the full dance troupe and band from the tour.
Created by Eddie DeGarmo and co-written by Bob Farrell, the hybrid rock concert/Broadway-esque play/multi-media extravaganza features Michael Tait, Rebecca St. James, Mark Stuart, and T-Bone in the lead roles supported by a stellar cast of dancers and musicians. The ensemble cast toured in the fall of 2003 selling out 80% of the shows. The spring tour was rescheduled to allow time to better develop visibility in the west coast markets.
“All these people have talked about being nominated before and finally winning one.,” commented DeGarmo. “It feels good to win one after many, many years of nominations. This was a labor of love that would not have finished without the insistence of my wife to follow my dream, and was achieved through the collaboration of talented artists and my marketing team for Meaux Records. We did get people talking about the Gospel, which was our goal.”