Lisa Knowles-Smith

A gospel singer with a muscular voice and versatile singing style informed by genres such as R&B and rock, Lisa Knowles-Smith got her start as a child in her family's group, the Brown Singers of Memphis, Tennessee. She took over the lead as a preteen and made her first recording as a member in 1996. After releasing Experience the Evolution with the group in 2008, she sang backup for a variety of other gospel acts, including VaShawn Mitchell and James Fortune & FIYA, while continuing to perform with her family. Her solo debut release, "Great Big God," arrived in 2019. Born Alescia Nicole Knowles in Memphis, Knowles joined her grandfather's gospel vocal quartet, the Brown Singers of Memphis, Tennessee, as backing vocalist when she was only nine years old. She was leading the group by the age of 12. The Knowles-led version of the quartet performed with the same flair and soulful sound as the original late-'70s edition but added more of a contemporary flavor to the mix, helped by Knowles' songwriting. Sharing the bill with three other Memphis singing groups, her first recording as lead singer was the concert album Live in Memphis, released by E & J Records in 1996. As a quintet with three generations of the family represented, the Brown Singers issued You Can Make It in 2000. As Knowles' musical tastes expanded into R&B, jazz, rock, and more, her vocal delivery became more versatile and the group's takes on gospel more eclectic. Her first album as Lisa Knowles & the Brown Singers was the self-released Experience the Evolution in 2008. By 2012, Knowles had begun touring as a backing singer for James Fortune & FIYA, and in 2013, she was featured alongside Shawn McLemore on the James Fortune & FIYA single "Go Tell It/Wonderful Child," which hit the Top 30 of Billboard's Hot Gospel Songs chart in 2013. In 2014, One Voice Media issued the Marque Walker-produced follow-up to Experience the Evolution, The Evolution Continues. It debuted at number six on the Billboard gospel albums chart. Following the success of that album, Knowles started her own record label, EvoWorld Music Group, LLC. She married Marcus Smith before issuing the self-produced Evolution: The Legacy as Lisa Knowles-Smith and the Brown Singers on the label in 2016. A variety of outside projects ensued, including writing a book with her husband and opening a recording studio. She returned with her first solo single, the choir-backed "Great Big God," in early 2019.
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