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Yolanda Adams music biography continued...

1961 in Houston, Texas and grew up in a family that valued music, but after graduating Texas Southern University she became a school teacher. Adams still sang in a church choir, however and was discovered while performing there and signed to an independent gospel label, which in turn led to releases on Tribute Records, a larger recording company. A little over ten years, several Stellar Awards and Grammy nominations and many powerful concerts later, Yolanda signed with Elektra Records, a mainstream label. Her first release with Elektra , Mountain High...Valley Low went multi-platinum, won several awards and successfully made the cross over to the secular market without watering down or compromising her message at all. The album included such hit Yolanda Adams songs as "Time to Change,"" Yeah," and "Fragile Heart". "Open My Heart," the biggest single from the album, received heavy airplay on Urban Adult Contemporary radio stations and was Adams' first top 5 R&B and top 40 Pop hit. It remained on the Billboard magazine music charts for over a year and was instrumental in Adams first major award win (1999 Grammy award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album).
Adams soon left a troubled Elektra , but not the stage—while she was on hiatus from the studio, she kept touring and started laying the groundwork for her Voice of an Angel Foundation, which focuses on mentoring high school students to help them find a career in education. Yolanda also started working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources to ensure that kids in low-income areas receive immunizations. In 2005, she resurfaced on Atlantic Records and came out with a Greatest Hits collection. Adams signed with Columbia Records in 2007. Columbia released What a Wonderful Time, a holiday collection produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and James "Big Jim" Wright, in October 2007. Adams also continues her own morning radio show that airs on urban gospel stations throughout the country and continues to engage in philanthropy, giving back to the fans who gave her so much.