Music

NEW YORK – Marvin Sapp's single "Never Would Have Made It" is a record-breaking phenomenon far beyond the world of gospel.

The track from his seventh album, Thirsty, is in its 42nd week at No. 1 on Billboard's gospel radio charts. It is a crossover success with its perch at No. 1 on the urban adult contemporary chart and has become the longest-running No. 1 single across all radio genres in the history of Billboard analysis.

Mr. Sapp, founder and senior pastor of Lighthouse Full Life Center Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., wrote the song on the Sunday after he eulogized his father. It's built upon a simple refrain: "Never would have made it, never could have made it, without you."

But Mr. Sapp, 41, said the single never would have made it onto the album had it not been for the encouragement of his wife and a staffer.

"It was a song that was really therapeutic for me, to get me through probably one of the most traumatic and traumatizing experiences in my life, and I said, 'I'm not putting it on the album because it's for me,' " he said in a recent interview.

But he did. And since then, Mr. Sapp, who considers himself a "double-barrel shotgun" because he has both a strong music and preaching ministry, says his engagement requests have "shot through the roof," going from a monthly average of about 50 requests per month to about 150 per month.

Thirsty, released last July, is certified gold and has been No. 1 on gospel album sales charts for 27 weeks.

Mr. Sapp has won Stellar Awards and has been nominated for multiple Grammys. In the 1990s, he was recruited to sing with one of gospel's seminal contemporary vocal groups, Commissioned, by fellow gospel chart topper Fred Hammond. He released his first solo album in 1996. Thirsty has been his most successful album to date.

The Associated Press

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