Kelontae Gavin, an energetic contemporary gospel singer and worship leader from Ridgeville, South Carolina, first drew widespread notice while still in high school when a 2014 cafeteria performance of Rev. Paul Jones' "I Won't Complain" surfaced on YouTube. Atlanta-based pastor and music executive Marquis Boone spotted the clip and signed the teenager to Marquis Boone Enterprises in early 2016. Through the imprint's longstanding partnership with Tyscot, Gavin issued his debut single "Higher" that November; his mother Priscilla Smalls wrote the song, Myron Butler produced it, and around the same time he made his first national television appearance on BET's Joyful Noise.
His full-length debut, The Higher Experience, arrived in 2018 and reached number two on Billboard's Top Gospel Albums chart while spawning the Hot Gospel Songs hit "No Ordinary Worship," which peaked at number four and introduced Gavin to a broader audience. The N.O.W. Experience followed in 2021 and delivered the chart-topping single "Hold Me Close" alongside guest contributions from Isaiah Templeton and rapper Aaron Cole. Two years later Testify appeared, a fifteen-song uplifting set that featured Jekalyn Carr, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Marquis Boone, Amber Smith, Pastor Kendall McDowell, and Priscilla Smalls and yielded the gospel-radio successes "Take Rest" and "Live Again."
