Trin-i-tee 5:7 - Spiritual Love In Three Parts

Editor's note: {{Trin-i-tee 5:7}} burst onto the gospel music scene with their mid-1998 self-titled debut filling the radio and video airwaves with their funky tunes and bold style. This project has since gone on to sell over 500,000 copies, achieving GOLD record status. Their newest project, ==Spiritual Love==, released at the end of December to great reviews from fans and critics alike, landing the project firmly at the number one spot on the gospel sales charts. Here's more on each of the girls in this crosswalk.com exclusive!

Click here to listen to clips from each of Trin-i-tee 5:7's projects!

Check out the first music video for "Put Your Hands" from SPIRITUAL LOVE here on crosswalk.com!

by Mike Nappa for the Music Channel at crosswalk.com

Act 1: Angel
Angel Taylor was trying her best, but try as she might the fourth-grade girl always seemed to get the same results out of that clarinet: "Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!" After playing for several months, about all she'd mastered on this woodwind instrument was the beginning of "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

The band teacher tried to be nice about it. Contacting Angel's mother she said, "Thank you for enrolling Angel in the band. However, her services won't be needed anymore." Angel Taylor had officially been kicked out of fourth-grade band.

Aaah, how life might have been different if this little Angel had been a clarinet virtuoso. If she had, the world would've missed out in one-third of the award-winning, R&B/gospel trio Trin-i-tee 5:7. You see, after the fourth-grade band fiasco, Angel Taylor concentrated on her vocal abilities, singing her first solo as a nine-year-old at her aunt's wedding. By the time she was a teenager, she was already an accomplished vocalist -- and when the invitation came to join Trin-i-tee 5:7, she was ready.

There's at least one other individual who's glad Angel dropped the clarinet. A nameless fan who stopped Angel and her bandmates late one night after a concert in Tennessee.

"He caught us going back to the hotel," she remembers. The young man said he never listened to gospel music, but he'd heard their song, "God's Grace" (from their debut project) on an urban radio station. Says Angel, "He actually listened to the words and they ministered to him." Touched in his spirit by the song, the man showed up in church the next Sunday, gave his life to Christ and was baptized. Now he wanted to say thanks."

Afterward, Angel reports "We were just really, really grateful that we had been given the opportunity to minister to people that we had no idea we were even ministering toIt means a lot, things like that."

Act 2: Chanelle
Chanelle Haynes had a lot on her mind. A student at Dillard University, she was also working to put together what she calls "a girl group." Chanelle would be one member of the group, and she and her manager were now on the lookout for two additional women for the ensemble.

Still, even in busyness, the stomach makes demands. So the college student/vocalist pulled into a fast-food restaurant to grab a bite. Upon leaving she glanced at the Burger King next door and was surprised to see an old friend going in.

"Angel?" she said. "Angel Taylor?"

The other woman paused and looked back. "Chanelle?"

The ladies had attended the same high school and had become friends-and competitors-during that time. Chanelle laughs at the memory, saying "We would actually compete against each other in high school in the talent shows. It was always a close call-first place, second place. We never dreamed that we would actually be singing for the Lord together."

After that providential meeting, Chanelle quickly recommended Angel to her manager as a second voice in this new "girl group." Soon after, they added Terri Brown-Britton and Trin-i-tee 5:7 was born.

A half-million album sales later, Chanelle remains focused on the reason she recruited Angel and Terri in the first place. "Trin-i-tee 5:7 is all about creating a positive image of Christian young women to this world," she says. "We want so much for our audience and our fans - friends too - to know that we are what we sing aboutChristian women."

Act 3: Adrian
For two years Adrian Anderson had served as the makeup artist for the women in Trin-i-tee 5:7. And in that time they'd become friends. "I always cared about my artists," Adrian says, "and was thankful that God allowed me to touch them last and pray for them before they went out."

Outside the arena the ladies grew even closer. "We just really got along very well," Adrian continues. "They wanted to know more about makeup. I would make lipstick at home in my kitchen and they would put it on!" Add the tradition of sneaking out to the grocery store for ice cream and apple pie on visits to Adrian's home in Los Angeles, as well as many late-night talks about God and life and more, and the budding friendship reached full-bloom.

Then came the day that Terri Brown-Britton announced she was leaving the group to devote more time to her family. The women were sorry to see Terri go, but they were happy for her to make family a priority and wished her well as they parted friends.

Now Angel and Chanelle needed to fill out their trio once more. During an ice cream and apple pie run Adrian tried to encourage them.

"God is going to bless you girls," Adrian said. "You have a heart after God and He's going to bless. He's going to make a way."

The conversation continued as a dawning realization started to come over the other two ladies. At the store, Adrian separated to get the apple pie. When she met Angel and Chanelle at the ice cream aisle, they were smiling. They'd chosen their new member, and it was their (now-former) makeup artist, Adrian Anderson.

"I thought they were kidding," recalls Adrian. "I didn't really understand what they were saying." After a time of prayer and seeking God's will, Adrian accepted the invitation and joined her friends in Trin-i-tee 5:7.

Encore: Spiritual Love and More!
With all three members of the group in place in by mid-1999, Angel, Chanelle, and Adrian went to work on Trin-i-tee 5:7's sophomore album, ==Spiritual Love== (B-Rite Music). The first song they wrote together was "We Know." After listening to the music tracks for the song, Angel says "We all went back [to the hotel] and collaborated and wrote the song." They recorded it the next day!

The rest of the time in the studio followed that same formula: Listen to tracks, write lyrics, add the Trin-i-tee touch, and record it the next day. By the time they were done, they'd put together 60 minutes worth of hot R&B sounds - including new lyrics to the funky hit from yesteryear, "Back in Love Again." Although Angel and Adrian were well versed in the original tune, Chanelle had never heard it! That's because, as the daughter of an apostolic pastor, she'd abstained from listening to mainstream music during her growing up years. Now she's reclaiming that music and using it for God's purposes.

The ladies in Trin-i-tee 5:7 are also spokesmodels for the Revlon Gospel Diva Search contest. In addition to appearing in Revlon advertisements for the hair care product, "Cream of Nature," the musicians-turned-models will act as judges to choose five finalists to appear in their next music video, make television appearances and more.

Chanelle laughs as she reports that-thanks to the Revlon and {{Trin-i-tee 5:7}} gigs - she's getting phone calls from guys who once wouldn't give her the time of day. "I was nice," she says "but it's really weird how the tables turn. I had to laugh."

But in the end, only one thing matters. "We just really hope that our fans are pleased, and most of all, that God is pleased," says Chanelle. "We really want people's lives to be changed If one person would embrace our music and understand and develop a relationship with God, it'll be worth it all."