Teen Gospel Singer Excels By Living Her Life Outloud!

When I interned at Ebony Magazine this summer I had the opportunity to interview this talented young gospel singer. At 15, she spoke with such poise. She is such a positive young lady. Check out my Q&A below and her video:

Fifteen-year-old gospel singer Spensha Baker has done what most her age, and many much older, only dream about:She sang at the White House and debuted her first album Outloud! Spensha, signed to Geffen Records, got her big break at age 12 as a finalist on Star Search. Since then, she has performed with some of gospel’s biggest talents, such as CeCe Winans, Kirk Franklin, Byron Cage and Yolanda Adams.Her most memorable event thus far has been participating in the “Grammy Jams-Tribute to Stevie Wonder.”In June, she performed at the White House for its Black Music Month “Salute to Gospel.”Spensha chatted with EBONY about the album and how she is living her life Outloud!

How did your Pentecostal upbringing
influence your music?
* I grew up Pente-
costal but I’ve always loved Christian contem-
porary music, more like your Steven Curtis
Chapman, your Natalie Grant.But I’ve grown
up and come to really appreciate traditional
gospel, and so I’ve been getting into TheClark
Sisters and Tramaine Hawkins and all of that.

Does the title of your album Outloud!
have a particular meaning?
*Outloud! is the
message behind the whole thing, to live your
life out loud and not to be afraid of who you are
and whose you are, and just to really be confi-
dent and stand firm in what you believe in.I’m
putting it all out on the table and saying this is
me, this is Spensha.I want listeners, especially
this generation, to put it all on the line and say
this is who I am and who I believe in.That’s
what you’ll get as you hear this album.You’ll
get inspired to live your life out loud.

Did you bring in other genre influences
for this CD?
*Absolutely! Yes, we pulled from
R&B and pop, but we tried to stay true to tra-
ditional [gospel] and praise and worship and
Christian contemporary.So you’ll get every-
thing in one package.

What is your favorite scripture?
*It is I Timothy [4:12], where Paul is talking to young
Timothy [a protégé] and he’s telling him don’t let
the older generation look down on you because
you are young.In turn, live a life of purity and
bring unity and just live your life as an example
so that they can see you are not just preaching
it but you’re living it.I write that scripture on
every autograph that I sign because that’s kinda
what I’m doing with my life.

What kind of image do you want to dis-
play?
*Just very modest and a classy young
lady that wants to sing the gospel.I’m not try-
ing to fit anybody else’s molds.I’m not trying to
be the next this or the next who.I’m just trying
to be me and just sing my music and be happy.
That’s the kind of image I want people to see—
that I’m modest and I’m young, but I’m singing
about the right things.

––Danielle Hester