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Ricky Dillard and fellow Gospel Greats sets Atlanta ablaze!
National Gospel recording artist Ricky Dillard & New G Chorale sets Atlanta ablaze!
hosted by the ‘Prince of Praise’ Byron Cage and soul-stirring performance by Gospels ‘SONGBIRD’ Leandria Johnson
Atlanta was set ablaze this past Saturday as ‘Gospel’s International Choir Master’ Ricky Dillard took stage with the renown and powerful New G Chorale. The energy quickly filled the room as noted gospel recording artist and executives entered The dReam Center.
The evening was started with a forward prayer by Pastor Will Horn who welcomed all in attendance and whom introduced the MC of the night, Byron Cage. Minister Byron Cage, known in the music industry as ‘The Prince of Praise’ brought great energy and life to the platform as he introduced several opening performances and made notable mention of elite attendee’s, some who are national gospel recording artist and industry executives. A crowd stirring Praise and Worship was led by Destiny Jennings followed by a moving performance by gospel recording group ‘Heavenly’.
The dReam Center was ready and set to go as ‘Gospel’s Songbird’ Leandria Johnson took stage and graced the concert with one of her newest songs ‘Gone too long’ and swooned the audience with a line up of medleys and brought First Lady Danielle Murphy (the dReam Center), Bishop O.C. Allen III (Vision Cathedral of Atlanta), and Pastor Anthony Murray (Oasis Church) on-stage during a heart stirring testimony.
Upon taking the stage, Ricky Dillard brought out a crown only befitting for the king of kings and the audience was taken up as NEW G hit them with several of their new songs along with ‘Not to us’ featuring Leandria Johnson. To have witnessed Gospel’s International Choir Director Ricky Dillard at work with the massive NEW G was breath taking; to be able to direct and control 50+ noted members and also move over 600+ audience guest was phenomenal.
The Ricky Dillard and New G: LIVE in Atlanta concert was brought to you by visionary businessman and event promoter Shawn Joyner with production lead by Bo Hannon Entertainment. Special Guest included (not limited to): First Lady Danielle Murphy (The dReam Center), Gina Miller (VP/GM of Urban Inspiration for eOne), Pastor Will Horn, Bishop O.C. Allen III, Rashad Burgess, Pastor Anthony and Christina Murray, BET’s ‘Ink, Paper, Scissors’ Television Personality- Perry Meeks, ; Gospel recording artist Y’anna Crawley, Zebulon Ellis, B Chase Williams, Terence Cotton, Marica Chisholm, and more.
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IRENE MICHAELS JOINS THE RECORDING ACADEMY — AND WHAT THAT VOTE ACTUALLY MEANS
Awards nominations tell an audience an artist’s work has been noticed. Recording Academy Voting Membership tells a different story: that the artist has been recognized as a peer within the industry itself. Irene Michaels was recently named a Voting Member of the Recording Academy — the organization behind the Grammy Awards — and the distinction carries weight well beyond a title on a bio page.
Voting Membership isn’t handed out casually. It’s reserved for performers, songwriters, producers, engineers, and other creators actively working in the recording industry, and it comes with real influence: Voting Members are the people who ultimately determine Grammy nominees and winners each year. For an artist to be recognized at that level is, in effect, the industry saying her work belongs in the same conversation as the artists and professionals shaping the awards themselves.
That’s a meaningful marker for Michaels’ ongoing music career, which has moved from EPs and singles to Josie Music Award recognition and now into this kind of institutional standing. It reframes her not just as an artist building a catalog, but as a working member of the community that evaluates and honors that catalog industry-wide — someone whose judgment on music now carries an official vote.
It also adds context to everything else happening in her 2026: a triple nomination at the 12th Annual Josie Music Awards, an EP in Golden that’s earning recognition on its own merits, and a career that has spent the last several years steadily building credibility as a serious recording artist rather than a novelty comeback story. Recording Academy membership doesn’t arrive for artists still proving themselves — it arrives for artists the industry has already decided are part of it.
For Irene Michaels, whose career has spanned modeling, acting, publishing, and now music across multiple decades, the Recording Academy recognition is less a single headline than another data point in a larger pattern: an artist whose reinvention keeps being met, at every stage, with the industry taking her seriously.
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