Le'Andria Johnson

Le'Andria Johnson reached a recording career through a path marked by repeated setbacks and personal reversals that resembled a scripted television drama. The gospel and praise & worship performer entered the world on January 23, 1983, as the daughter of a preacher. She performed regularly before her father's congregations from the age of two, yet gave little thought to pursuing gospel music professionally. By the time she faced foreclosure on her home, Johnson was twice divorced and raising three children alone. The day prior to that loss, a friend persuaded her to travel to New Orleans in a borrowed vehicle for an audition on the cable series Sunday Best. She reached the tryout with almost no margin and appeared wearing the flip flops and garments from the drive, yet was still chosen as a contestant. At the close of the program's third season in 2010, Johnson was named the winner, an outcome that delivered a new car, a cash award, and eventually a contract on the newly established Sunday Best imprint distributed through Music World Gospel. Her first release, the seven-track EP The Awakening of Le'Andria Johnson, arrived in 2011. The following year brought another seven-track EP, The Evolution of Le'Andria Johnson, which was merged with the debut to form the expanded album The Awakening of Le'Andria Johnson Deluxe. Also in 2012 came the live album The Experience. In 2015 Johnson joined the cast of the Oxygen reality series Preachers of Atlanta, a continuation of the earlier Preachers of L.A. format. Two years afterward she issued her next studio album, Bigger Than Me.