Gospel Extravaganza 2025 will also mark the third year of the Berklee Gospel Music Hall of Fame, which honors artists, community members, and alumni who have impacted gospel music and culture.
This year’s honorees will be Dr. Lenora Helm Hammonds ’82, dean of the Professional Education Division at Berklee, a founding member of the Reverence Gospel Ensemble, and a two-time Fulbright senior music specialist; voice professor Jerome Kyles, who served two decades as the minister of music at Morning Star Baptist Church in Boston and starred in the TLC docuseries Trial By Choir; and MAJOR., who was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance for his song “HONEST” in 2018.
Produced by Emmett G. Price III, Tracy Gibbs, director of operations and programs for Africana Studies, and Dennis Montgomery III, a professor in the Ensemble Department and a 2023 Berklee Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductee.
His name is MAJOR. and his impact the same. The American Soul singer’s star fiercely struck at the debut of his Platinum hit love song, “Why I Love You“. As Stevie Wonder projected: lovers from all over the world have commissioned the breakout ballad as the perfect soundtrack for their own love stories. MAJOR. as both actor & singer is a powerful storyteller who leans into authenticity as his superpower. Amazingly, he has become a trusted artist for many while inspiring hearts with his relatable message of life laced in that signature falsetto! The joy is infectious and as a “Hope Dealer“, he leads boldly with the very HOPE in LOVE his music professes.
Among this year’s esteemed Gospel Hall of Fame inductees is Soul singer MAJOR., a Berklee alumnus who has built a remarkable career in music and entertainment through perseverance, integrity, and passion. MAJOR. is a platinum-selling artist with GRAMMY®, Dove, and NAACP Image Award nominations for his beloved hits “Why I Love You,” “Honest,” and “I Prayed For You (Said a Prayer).”
Jerome Kyles is multi-talented and multi-faceted. He says “God-given gifts are wonderful, but without the drive to get better, it will just be that—a great talent sitting on the shelf. I see, in every student that I have right now, the ability to achieve. So if I see a student underachieving, then that student is going to get the hammer. But I believe students come to Berklee because they want the hard stuff—they want to be challenged.”
Among the gifts; here are a few of his accomplishments:
Vocalist, pianist, organist
Served as Minister of worship and music at Morning Star Baptist Church, Boston
Performed with Andrae Crouch, Johnathan Butler, the Boston Pops, and Diana Ross
Recordings include The Live Experience
Leader of music ministry workshops nationwide
Berklee College of Music has appointed Dr. Lenora Helm Hammonds as the new dean of the Professional Education Division, effective August 1, 2024. She will succeed Darla Hanley, who served as dean for 16 years, and Marcela Castillo-Rama, who has led the division in an interim role since fall 2023.
Hammonds became the first Black woman to serve as dean of Berklee’s Professional Education Division, after previously making history as the first Black woman to graduate from the college’s film scoring program.
Beyond her academic achievements, Hammonds is also an accomplished recording artist, jazz vocalist, vocal coach, composer, lyricist, and bandleader with four-plus decades of experience. She has released eight commercial recordings, owns Baoule Works Music Publishing, and has an extensive discography with internationally renowned jazz and contemporary music artists. Her indie jazz record label, Zenzalai Music, was a 2021–2022 Black Independent Music Accelerator (BIMA) recipient.
SOURCE: Berklee, MAJOR., Jerome Kyles
