Trin-i-tee 5:7
Trin-i-tee 5:7 is a group that has gone where no group has gone before. As gospel music’s first contemporary “girl group” to achieve Gold status, they have not only dispensed with any preconceived notions of what can and can’t be done, but also, along the way, sold nearly 1.5 million combined copies of their first two albums. The release of their eagerly anticipated third album, The Kiss, smolders with the anticipation of even greater things to come.
The threesome—Chanelle Haynes, Angel Taylor and Adrian Anderson—has always been known as a high-energy, no-holding-back act, on record and in concert, but also as women of depth, ready to take on a full range of strong, substantive subjects—joy, sorrow, excitement, pain—proving themselves persons with something to say as well as a singular way to say it.
Behind the boards on The Kiss is a team of hit-making producers, including Fred Jerkins (Michael Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Destiny’s Child, Brandy), Shep Crawford (Boyz II Men, Yolanda Adams) and Travon Potts (BeBe Winans, Christina Aguilera), among others, and for the first time, each of the girls themselves.
“With A Kiss,” from which the album’s title is taken, passionately tells the story of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Christ. “I was immediately drawn to that song because of the lesson it has to impart,” says Adrian. “Jesus knew the character of Judas, but He also knew that Judas had to do what he would do. It’s crucial in our lives to know the real character of the all the people who surround us.”
“On The Kiss we each wrote, did the vocal arrangements, and co-produced one song, and we all did one together,” says Chanelle, “so there’s a personal ingredient this time that allows each of us to step out on our own a bit.”
“Holla!” with guest appearance by J. Moss, is a pumping, irresistible dance track that carries a message of the strength and resilience that only the Holy Spirit can provide. To anyone wondering how slammin’ dance music and a Gospel message can co-exist in the same song, Chanelle has a ready response.
“For me, living for God is a party,” she says. “It’s exciting because God is always surprising me with beautiful people, things…opportunities. It’s a song to be danced to in celebration before Him.” The group’s collaboration, “16 Again,” a smooth, R&B/pop jam, is a romantic love song with its own angle. “There are a lot of young Christians who might feel like romantic love is taboo, or at least something you don’t address in a song,” Chanelle explains. “But we want them to know that that can be a godly kind of love, and a good thing, and something to celebrate.”
Another stand-out of The Kiss is the group’s stirring remake of Curtis Mayfield’s spiritual/soul standard, “People Get Ready.” For most of the number, the girls give the song the reverence one would expect—layering it with lavish harmonies and vocal interplay—before breaking into a hip-hop/rap coda that is totally Trin-i-tee, 2002.
But anyone trying too hard to classify the music of Trin-i-tee 5:7 will encounter immediate and stiff resistance. “We have friends of all colors and ethnic backgrounds,” says Angel, “and nobody makes any separations. The same is true of Trin-i-tee 5:7’s musical tastes. We like any style of music that is excellent—R&B, hip-hop, rock, and pop—and we try to show that diversity on our own albums. But when it all comes together on the record, we make it our own. I think the only categorization we would all be OK with is `heart songs.’”
In addition to giving through their music, the women of Trin-i-tee 5:7 have also put their commitments to the Lord into actions, with Chanelle and Adrian each founding non-profit organizations to help both children and adults in need, and Angel contributing to both groups, as well as supporting a literacy program in her local church.
Chanelle founded and heads the St. Michael Youth Center in her native New Orleans, which provides food, clothing, counseling and academic tutoring, as well as courses in dance and music to develop children’s creativity.
In addition to her work with the youth center, Chanelle, whose father was raised in New Orleans’ notorious Desire Street Projects, has purchased and renovated homes in the area, which she has resold to low-income families at affordable prices so that they could buy their first home. “My father, against all the odds, got out of the projects, got an education and became a pastor. It has always been his desire to help any of his church members who wished to become homeowners. I grew up with that, so it feels great to be helping people realize such a dream,” says Chanelle. “I think that Jesus did things like that. He helped them with things that were dear to their hearts, and then they were more likely to listen to what He had to say about the Kingdom of God.”
One of the most creative, and significant, parts of Adrian’s national organization, “Be An Angel…Wear Your Halo,” is what she dubs “The Perfect Purse.” Every quarter the group puts together care packages for a number of people in need. The packages contain telephone cards, gift cards from major retail food and clothing stores, bath and body products for moms, snack food for kids, and other household items, accompanied by a letter that states only: “You’ve been chosen for a blessing. You never know when you’re entertaining angels unaware.” The group also puts together special knapsacks for college students from low-income families, calling that program “Bag the Knowledge.”
“God has filled us with blessings so greatly that we feel an overwhelming need to pour some of that back,” says Chanelle. “We want to leave a legacy not only for our music and ministry, but for being three Christians who cared about people and their lives.”
Chanelle and Angel, the two original members of Trin-i-tee 5:7, met in high school in New Orleans. Adrian had been a successful Hollywood make-up artist for several years, with the original line-up of Trin-i-tee 5:7 as one of her clients. Eventually, Chanelle and Angel realized that Adrian was also a gifted singer and invited her to be a part of the group when the third original member of the group left in 2000.
Ask Trin-i-tee 5:7 about its purpose, hopes and dreams, and you’re likely to get three answers that are much like the women themselves and their music: distinctive, colorful and perfectly complementary.
“Our videos and our music are really different from most of what’s out in the music industry today,” says Angel. “We want to convey hope and positiveness, and that’s really who we are. The more popular we become, the more attention will be focused on our personal lives. I think that the best thing we can do for God is to show the world what Christianity is all about through the way we live our own lives.”
“We feel like we’re still growing as a group, musically and in our ministry,” says Chanelle, “and we’re excited about where we’re praying the Lord is going to take us. We want Trin-i-tee 5:7 to be an international ministry, speaking to people everywhere.”
“Trin-i-tee 5:7 has a real sense of love, and unity, and purpose,” Adrian concludes. “We’re not just biding our time. We love what we’ve built together. We have to live with what we do and the music we make, and that would be impossible if it wasn’t from our hearts. And we also have to be good stewards of what we’re given. When God blesses you richly, you need to reach out to the world and make somebody else’s life a little better than it was the day before. Everything else aside, I think Trin-i-tee 5:7 would be content to be thought of as three godly women.” |
