Anita Faye is my guest on the show and she’s an awesome women of God! You don’t want to miss any of this dynamic interview!
“Giving back is a quality that was instilled into my soul while I was still a child,” says singer/songwriter Anita Faye, with a quiet confidence that glows like a single candle against the pitch darkness of midnight. It is a confidence that compels listeners to lean in and nod in agreement.
“My mother was a shining example of giving back," says...
Anita Faye is my guest on the show and she’s an awesome women of God! You don’t want to miss any of this dynamic interview!
“Giving back is a quality that was instilled into my soul while I was still a child,” says singer/songwriter Anita Faye, with a quiet confidence that glows like a single candle against the pitch darkness of midnight. It is a confidence that compels listeners to lean in and nod in agreement.
“My mother was a shining example of giving back," says Faye. "I learned a lot from her, and from the different ways that she used the gifts God gave her to uplift the body of Christ. I was raised in the church, and being active in the church was just a part of my life—everything from singing in the choir to cleaning up after service. I learned to take whatever God gave me and use it for His glory.”
It was that spirit of “Giving Back” that birthed a desire in Anita and her husband to help heal their community in the aftermath of the 2017 mass shooting incident in her hometown of Las Vegas.
Moved by the pain and suffering it caused, “my husband Robby and I sought a way to help bring a sense of healing to victims, their families, and the Las Vegas community,” Anita explains. “This was not our first experience with this kind of tragedy. We were living in Boston during the time of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, so we already had a sense of how life can change in the blink of an eye. We understand how those who are affected by such a senseless act of violence may never be the same. And while no amount of compensation will ever be sufficient for those directly impacted, we felt a deep sense of compassion and wanted to do what we could to honor the victims and encourage our community to persevere in love.”
“Anita had co-workers who were at the concert and whose friends were injured during the shooting,” Robby adds. “As Christians, we knew in our hearts that the aftermath of the Las Vegas tragedy would be horrific. We knew there would be tremendous pain, suffering, and loss. We also felt a sense of compassion and duty to the people of this amazing city and were inspired to use our gift of music to help bring some sense of healing to the victims. We wanted to honor those who lost their lives, and to encourage the survivors while ensuring it was done in love and with a sense of profound respect for those who are still in recovery.”
Turning to their artistry for inspiration, Anita and Robby wrote, produced, and performed the tribute song, "Angels in Heaven (Vegas Strong)" to honor the victims and survivors of that fateful day.
“The song promotes a musical energy of love, compassion, and collective community resolve,” Anita muses. “It was crafted to empathize with our loss, encourage those who survived, and pay tribute to those no longer with us.”
That stirring anthem is just one of the stellar tracks on Anita’s newest album, Kingdom Journey, a 13-song studio project that highlights Anita’s twin giftings as both an accomplished singer and songwriter.
The project’s first single, the smooth, jazz-inflected piano ballad, “Cast My Cares,” is an intensely personal confession of faith in the midst of trials. “Life hasn’t always been easy,” Anita confesses. “We tend to gravitate toward the façade of, ‘everything is okay.’ We quote positive scriptures and, while that’s a good thing, it’s not a substitute for being real. Testimony is not always pretty. Sometime there are tears involved. Sometimes there are crises. I’ve had my share of hard knocks.”
The album’s highly anticipated radio single, “All of the Above,” features Anita’s collaboration with Grammy Award winner Betty Wright, who wrote and produced the track. “What can you say about having the opportunity to work with a legend like Betty Wright?” says Anita. “Her resume speaks for itself, but beyond that, she is such as sweet person. She grew up in the church, she is humble, and she is just so grounded. I was so honored to record her song, 'All of the Above,' for my new CD. It is a cleverly written song that encourages listeners to pass their tests in life by making the right choice. And when it comes to God, the answer to the question is not just A, B, C, or D, but 'all of the above!'”
Anita continues the recurring theme of trusting God in the hard times on “Anchor of my Soul,” a jazz-inflected Gospel number that effectively showcases the singer’s multi-octave soprano, and on the more electrified dance track, “My Destiny,” which insists on giving praise to the Savior despite the storms of life.
“I Gotta Know,” an unapologetic, deeply personal tune, explores those times when nothing goes right and life seems to be nothing but disappointment after disappointment. “I’ve gained and I’ve lost, but my womb is still a grave,” she cries out in the song. “I gotta know—is God there? Does He care?”
“I had a miscarriage when I was in my early 20s,” Anita explains. “I’ve never conceived again. Something dies inside of you when you carry that loss. Sometimes we experience trials and struggles that we don’t have answers for, and sometimes God doesn’t give us the answer we want. But God still loves us. 'I Gotta Know' is a song about questioning God, about almost giving up on my faith. It's about dealing with the aftermath of life’s disappointments, and seeking answers to those disappointments. Ultimately, it is me being transparent and sharing that difficult process, and finally discovering that God still cares—regardless of what I’ve been through or how I feel.”
A singer/songwriter with a wealth of influences, Anita injects a bouncy, hip-hop vibe in “P.U.S.H.,” a clever twist on the saying, “Pray Until Something Happens.” She allows swaying Caribbean reggae rhythms to drive the beat on the joyous praise song, “With Gladness,” and pays homage to the legendary Ella Fitzgerald on “Untraceable,” a sweet tribute to her husband Robby’s grandmother. “With tears running down her face, I can hear Grandma say, ‘you can run this race, sufficient is His grace,” she croons.
The title track, “Kingdom Journey,” gives Anita full rein to explore both her remarkable vocal range and skills as a jazz stylist. “Sugar Rush” encourages listeners to seek spiritual meat rather than settling for a superficial sugar high, and Anita showcases her genre-defying vocal prowess on her fresh interpretation of the beloved hymn, “Take my Hand, Precious Lord.”
Anita Faye burst onto the national consciousness in 2007 with the release of her critically acclaimed, independently released CD, R U Willing, which earned a Gospel Album of the Year nomination from the International Independent Music Awards. Since then, she has continued to hone her considerable skills as a song crafter and vocal stylist by sharing the stage with some of Gospel music’s legends, including Martha Munizzi, Kim Burrell, and the Edwin Hawkins Youth & Young Adult Mass Choir, among others. Along the way, she wrote, produced, and performed the title track to the independent feature film, Mama’s Eyes, made history by becoming the first singer to perform "Lift Every Voice and Sing" (the Negro National Anthem) at a Major League Baseball game, and released her EP, Late Bloomer, which included Anita’s fresh, inspirational take on The Carpenters’ classic, “Close to You.”
A self-professed late-bloomer, Anita says that like many people, she had her whole life planned out. “If you want to make God laugh, just tell him your plans!” she quips. “The years roll by, and you begin to wonder what happened. Now, when I see things coming to pass that I had envisioned happening years before, I just have to laugh. Our society tends to applaud people who achieve remarkable things at a very early age, but we often don’t give as much respect to those who achieve success later in life. Sometimes I think you appreciate things more once you have some life experience under your belt. It makes you more thankful for what you receive, and better prepared to give back to those in need.”
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