DESCRIPTION:
This is track 10 from the 2001 album "Soul Inspiration".
Written by Cedric Thompson and Myron Butler
LeJuene Thompson is an award-winning, contemporary gospel singer, with a voice so
compelling and a singing style so captivating that she has been dubbed "The Diva in
Waiting" by Billboard magazine. But this diva has not waited for much. She has been a
featured artist with top gospel groups, recorded two CDs, and partnered with her
husband, Cedric Thompson, a GRAMMY® and multiple Stellar award-winning musician
and producer, to start an independent label—all while finishing school, getting married,
and raising three sons.

She currently is completing her new album, The Evolution of Me. The Evolution of Me, is very special and very personal to LeJuene. She says it represents a journey of faith and understanding that she believes others can relate to—and that the sometimes-difficult process of putting this CD project together helped her learn the power of "no." She notes, "I used to be afraid of hearing 'no,' but now when I hear it, I just keep pushing until I get that 'yes.' I've learned to be comfortable with knowing what
I want and asking for it. I think for me and other women in my shoes, there is a lesson to
be learned about letting go of fear and being happy with who you are. This was part of
my evolution on this project."

LeJuene was born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. She is part of a close-knit
family with ten children—she is number nine. She says that her family always
understood that she was going to sing. She traces her soulful, contemporary gospel style
to the varied musical influences she had growing up. Her parents were divorced, so she would listen to Christian musicians, such as the Walter Hawkins Singers and the Clark Sisters, while at home with her mother, who was an evangelical minister, and listen to secular music when she was with her father. It was at her father's house, she says, where she fell in love with Al Green's voice and music when she was five years old.

As a young girl, she met and was mentored by singer and worship leader Nancy Carree
Wilson (mother of gospel artist Isaac Carree). Carree hosted a local television program,
Gospel Expo, and LeJuene performed on that program several times. In the mid-1980s,
she was introduced to the world-renowned pastor and gospel musician John P. Kee.
Pastor Kee took LeJuene under his wing, and she began her professional recording
career. It was while she was singing with him that she met and married Cedric
Thompson. She has continued to sing with Pastor Kee over the years, even after
launching her solo career. In the early 1990s, she put together a gospel group, The
Promise, which released an album on the national Christian music label, Word Records.

LeJuene later became a featured singer with the award-winning, gospel chart-topping
group, Donald Lawrence and The Tri-City singers. Along the way, she has also worked
with some of the nation's premier artists, such as Twinkie Clark, Dorinda Clark Cole,
Karen Clark Sheard, Shirley Caesar, Bishop T. D. Jakes, Micah Stampley, Anthony
Hamilton, Oleta Adams, Queen Latifah, Aaron Neville, Tyler Perry, and many others.

LeJuene recorded her first solo project in 2001 with EMI Gospel. The album, Soul
Inspiration, was nominated for Stellar, GMA Dove and Gospel Excellence awards. Her
long-awaited sophomore CD project, Metamorphosis, was released in July 2008 to rave
reviews. For this project, she teamed up with her husband, Cedric. Metamorphosis was
released on their independent label, Le Ce Entertainment.

The Thompsons wrote several songs on the forthcoming CD, and while Cedric is a
veteran songwriter, this is a relatively new venture for LeJuene. But she says that
writing about her experiences is a blessing for her, and she hopes it will bless others.

"I hope that the songs on this CD will give people hope and strength," she said. "In these
difficult times, people need to hear that there is hope. They just need to know that they
don't have to be afraid, because there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that, no
matter what happens, they can pick up the pieces and build upon whatever they have
left and make it into whatever they want it to be."