Lexi

Lexi Allen, a contemporary gospel performer nominated for a Stellar Award and long tied to the Word Network, entered the world as Alexis Marie Nucklos in Columbus, Ohio. She grew up closer to the state’s northern edge in Toledo, where she first sang as a child inside her grandfather’s church. During her time at Bowling Green State she cut a demo and drove it north along Interstate 75 into Detroit to reach Michael Brooks. Brooks remembered her from an earlier show where she had opened for Commissioned; impressed by the recording, he arranged a contract with Lection, the gospel imprint under Polygram. The resulting album, Call Her Lexi (1990), which Brooks produced, merged polished R&B techniques with spiritual themes and drew on her prior session contributions to Gerald Levert, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, and Fred Hammond. She then stepped away from recording for an extended period to focus on teaching.

Working primarily with her husband Michael Allen, the artist—still performing under the single name Lexi Allen—joined Evander Holyfield’s Real Deal label. That partnership yielded …And That’s the Way It Is (2000), her initial entry on Billboard’s gospel chart, followed by Somewhere Different (2001). The 2005 live set A Praise in the Valley, released on Holyfield’s Holy Music label, marked the final joint project before Michael Allen succumbed to cancer; the album earned a Stellar Award nomination. Once she secured a sustained role at the Word Network as host and presenter, new studio work became less frequent. Her fifth album, What Heaven Hears (2007), appeared on SugarWater, and she later moved to Malaco for Phenomenal (2012). After signing with Motown Gospel she issued the single “In the Room” (2018), by which point her YouTube channel had attracted a sizable audience through the recurring series Holy Ghost Enforcers and Ghetto Bewitched along with assorted comedic sketches.