Hudson was regularly compared to Houston: both were beautiful black women blessed with multi-octave voices that could seamlessly stretch from honey sweet whispers to Aretha-worthy gospel runs. Among American gospel singers, Hudson bore the closest resemblance to Yolanda Adams. To my ear, her voice was a fusion of Houston’s polished grit and songbird Deniece Williams’s pretty pop.
But unlike Houston, Adams, or Williams, Hudson was also a prodigious songwriter, arranger, producer, and musician. In that regard, the lady could have been a surrogate Clark Sister.
“I was impacted by Lavine before I was even a teenager, hearing her sing in her father’s church with such amazing brilliance,” UK gospel producer Nicky Brown told Great Britain’s Keep The Faith magazine. “She was a super confident, amazingly talented singer and songwriter, and what most people don’t know [is] she was also a musician and was wowing us and all the guests that would come to our church on a regular basis.”
Brown produced several songs on Hudson’s debut album, with other tracks being crafted by gospel greats Twinkie Clark and Marvin Winans. Hudson was that good, straight out of the gate.
Read freelance writer MPC’s full feature.
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