Biography
Active since the middle of the 1980s, Fred Hammond ranks among contemporary gospel’s most prominent praise-and-worship figures. A Detroit native, he first joined his church choir as a twelve-year-old vocalist, later supplied bass and vocals for the Winans in the early part of that decade, and subsequently became a member of Commissioned, where his gifts for arrangement, production, songwriting, and soaring lead vocals quickly stood out. His parallel solo work commenced in 1991. Under an extended contract with Verity, Hammond steadily incorporated live-performance energy into his studio albums. Numerous projects released under his own name or credited to Radical for Christ earned both Dove and Stellar honors. While on the Verity roster, Pages of Life: Chapters I & II (1998), Free to Worship (2006), and God, Love & Romance (2012), together with several additional releases, reached the top of Billboard’s gospel chart. After RCA Inspiration absorbed the label, Hammond formally shifted to the new imprint yet sustained his momentum via the United Tenors project (2013) and I Will Trust (2014). He has also maintained an active collaborative career, appearing alongside the Williams Brothers, Yolanda Adams, and Israel & New Breed.
Albums
