Earnest Pugh is gospel music’s new leading man. His fourth CD “Earnestly Yours” debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart and is currently at the #2 position this week. It’s also the first #1 CD debut in Houston-based Black Smoke Music World Wide’s sixteen-year history. “I am truly humbled by this new milestone in our history,” says CEO Kerry Douglas whose New Deal University marketing concepts have propelled artists such as James Fortune & FIYA to gospel rock star status with #1 radio hits like “I Trust You” and “I Believe.”

Pugh’s latest radio single “I Need Your Glory” is racing up the charts as well. It has moved to #5 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart this week and it’s one of the fastest-selling gospel digital downloads this year. The dramatic praise and worship ballad has also clocked in at #3 on the Media Base gospel radio airplay chart and is strengthening its hold as it heads towards the top spot on the gospel airplay charts.

In 2010, Billboard named Pugh the #4 gospel radio airplay artist of 2010 and Black Smoke was named the #1 independent gospel label of the year. “Earnest is gospel music’s new leading man,” Douglas says. “He will be one of the biggest artists of the next decade.” A Memphis native who was mentored by O’Landa Draper & the Associates back in the 1990s, Pugh released his first solo CD in 2006 and showed off his five-octave vocals on the radio hit “Wrapped Up, Tied Up, Tangled Up.” After years of making respectable forays into gospel, Pugh finally hit it big in 2009 with his #1 smash “Rain On Us.” Visit www.earnestpugh.com or www.mrkerrydouglas.com for more information on this exciting artist.
 

Media Contact: Bill Carpenter at (202) 506-5051 or [email protected]