Commissioned

Commissioned was an American, Urban Contemporary Gospel group founded in 1982. The six original members were Fred Hammond,, Keith Staten,, Michael A. Brooks, and. Their music was very R&B with an occasional rock edge, because of this a lot of churches were hesitant to book them. However, Mattie Moss Clark was not afraid. She booked the group to perform at a COGIC annual convention and it gave them a needed boost. They all held day jobs while working on their debut album I'm Going On. Within a matter of months they were all able to quit their day jobs due to their popularity. Aside from the edge in their musical style, they mixed their vocals high instead of burying them below the music as most groups did at the time. This was revolutionary and gave a fuller sound to their music. In 1991 Staten and Brooks left the group and were replaced by Marvin Sapp,, and. In 1994, Fred Hammond and Michael Williams made their final contributions to the group on the Top Ten album Matters Of The Heart. Montrell Darrett joined the group in 1996. Around 1999-2000 Marvin Sapp left the group and two new members Chris Poole and Marcus Cole joined on their last studio release Time & Seasons. In 2002 all of the original members came together for a sold-out national concert tour and released The Commissioned Reunion Live a 2 disc set and a DVD which sold more than 100,000 copies. They have now retired the name but the sound lives on.