BV Scene: Beyonce, Tamia, Gordon Chambers, Sheryl Underwood, GMWA & more

By Jawn Murray, BlackVoices.com

Scene: Beyonce stopped into the Solstice Sunglass Boutique in John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. The singer, who had her bodyguard and an assistant in tow, spent about 45 minutes trying on frames and ultimately purchased five pairs by Marc Jacobs and Balenciaga. She used her black American Express card to pay her $2,000 tab.

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R&B darling Tamia recorded her first live album at the Lincoln Theater in Washington, DC recently.

The Canadian-bred singer, one of the only R&B singers having success as an independent artist, told me before the recording: "I was like, 'I haven't done a live album. Let's do a live album!'"

And so she did!

She sang all of her biggest hits, songs like 'You Put A Move On My Heart,' 'Stranger In My House,' 'Officially Missing You,' 'Can't Get Enough' and 'I'm So Into You.'

The 33-year-old biracial beauty also added some covers of songs like Sheila E's 'The Glamorous Life,' Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown's 'No Air' and Musiq Soulchild's 'Love' in the mix as well.

Tamia's husband, NBA star Grant Hill was also there to support his wife and surprised the crowd by getting on the keyboards and playing Force M.D.'s 'Tender Love.'

During the concert's encore, Hill also brought up his friend from the Washington, DC go-go band Junkyard and entertained the crowd with an energetic performance of 'Sardines and Pork N Beans.'

No word on when Tamia's live album, which was produced by one of my favorite producers Shep Crawford, will hit stores.

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Singer/songwriter Gordon Chambers served as both host and opening act for Tamia's live recording.

Chambers, who is like the black David Foster, has written some of the biggest R&B songs of our time. Songs like Anita Baker's 'I Apologize,' Brownstone's 'If You Love Me,' Angie Stone's 'No More Rain,' Stephanie Mills' 'Never Knew Love,' and Glady Knight, Tamia, Chaka Khan and Brandy's 'Missing You' were all created by his pen.

A former editor at 'Essence' magazine, Chambers has since released two independent albums of his very own.

My favorite, 'Introducing Gordon Chambers,' features a wonderful song called 'I Miss You Most,' in addition to guest appearances by Glenn Lewis, Carl Thomas and Roy Hargrove on other tracks.

His most recent offering, 'Love Stories,' includes the popular duet 'To Love Again' with Ledisi.

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Spotted: Comedienne Sheryl Underwood chatting it up with SWV lead singer Coko at the Nashville International Airport . The women even stopped to take photos with some admiring fans who wanted photos.

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Attended: It was a who's who gathering of gospel's finest who attended the 41^st Annual Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA) conference in Nashville, Tenn. last week.

Held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, the late James Cleveland-founded organization is the largest gospel conference in the world and is the place where gospel enthusiasts come for a variety of events, services and activities.

While there were are far too many gospel artists and industry types to name, I will say that the best Gospel Announcers Guild showcase performance was delivered by Kurt Carr & The Kurt Carr Singers during the Zomba showing. They ripped the room apart.

Also Heather Headley was incredibly impressive during her showcase at the EMI Gospel upfronts. She made the often-jaded GAG contingency get their praise on.

I was also impressed by showings throughout the week by Damita Haddon, Maurette Brown-Clark, Pastor Gregg Patrick & The Bridge Project featuring Rhonda McLemore, 21:03, Dave Hollister and a Kentucky-based choir called Nu Tradition.

Next year the conference will take place in Cincinnati and though traditionally held the second week in August, GMWA will move its conference to the last week of July (July 25 – July 31).

The change is an effort to accommodate their large delegation of school teachers who haven't been able to participate since many school systems start back in August now.