Minister Blessed releases new EP

Although he presently resides in Manchester, England, gospel recording artiste Minister Blessed decided to return to the land of his birth to launch his newest EP, titled I Did it Anyway.

The launch, which took place recently at the Swallowfield Chapel in St Andrew, saw several members of the gospel music fraternity in attendance, including Sean Lypher, Jodiann Pantry, Ryan Mark, Prince Saj and Johnmark Wiggan. Minister Blessed explained the decision to launch the EP in Jamaica.

"My previous EP, which was released two years ago, was done online, and while thinking about releasing new music for 2024, the Lord impressed upon my heart to make it a physical release. On one hand, I haven't had an event in Jamaica since my fourth album was launched in 2019. So it was long overdue for fans to experience my music live," he said.

"On the other hand, I also noted that there were several artistes who hadn't graced the stage in a while, as well as there were some new faces who have emerged in the last few years. So I wanted to stage an event that could bring both sets of artistes and their supporters together for one special occasion," said Minister Blessed.

He noted that the EP was launched in "a bit of old-school style, with physical CDs on sale", while there were also free downloads. I Did it Anyway has six songs, including Unstoppable, I Worship You, and Again and Again, featuring Ryan Mark.

Minister Blessed is originally from the community of Garveymeade in Portmore, St Catherine. He attended Wolmer's Boys' High school. In 2001, he won the Jamaica Youth for Christ Deejay Talent Competition. He moved on to the St Catherine regional level and then the all-island competitions, winning both.

"Winning the competition opened a few doors for me to appear on Genesis and Gospel N Motion, which were the two major Jamaica Youth for Christ events back then," he recalled.