Janelle Lake always remembers having music in her home.  As a young girl in Wisconsin, her parents gave her a Fischer Price record player, her own tape player, and later her own CD player allowing her autonomy over her music.  Janelle’s father made Saturday chores enjoyable by cranking up rock music on his state-of-the-art sound system.  Her parents drove her to children’s choir rehearsals and took her to concerts of all types.  At one concert, her mother asked her to pick an instrument on the stage.  At age eight, Janelle picked the harp.  Her parents (an engineer and a nurse) found a harp teacher only 45 minutes away who started her on a twelve-stringed Celtic harp.  Janelle remembers the joy of going to Milwaukee’s Irish Fest and hearing such a wide spectrum of emotion on one instrument.  After ten years of study with Geraldine Elliott, Janelle studied under Liz Cifani at Northwestern University for both her undergraduate and Master’s degrees.  As the only harp major of her class, Janelle’s exposure to opera, orchestral, chamber, new music, jazz, and global music expanded exponentially.

Mike Abdul

Many describe him as creative, even he has this to say of himself, “I am made in Heaven, formed in the image of THE ORACLE that created the earth and organized its complexities.”

Mike Abdul has made his mark as a songwriter, singer and music producer. He has either written, contributed to or sang in the following hits: Igwe, Kene Jesu, Morire, Atobiju, So Good, So Worthy, Yin Baba, Kabio-o-si, This Fuji Thing, Next Fuji Thing, Surulere, Your Majesty, Durotimi, Jenifa, E Gimme Money, No Evil and eighty other songs.

Mike has worked with several Nigerian based gospel and secular artists and producers including FLO, Wole Oni, Mr Daz, BOUQUI, SheyMan, Rotimi Akinfenwa, Helen Paul, K-solo, Obiwon, Blaque Jersey, Tim Godfrey, Nomoreloss, Dekunle Fuji, SammY-Young, 1stBon, MoniQue, Rooftop MCs, Midnight Crew, Rasqie and several fantastic others, making him the most featured Nigerian based gospel artist ever.
His work with Midnight Crew and other gospel music greats has taken him to many nations, enjoying several enviable platforms, media presence, awards and recognition across borders.

Seye Akinmboni, commonly known as Bantey, is a Nigerian artist, record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in Ibadan, Oyo State. He started playing the piano at the age of 4 and professionally started producing music at 16 yrs. old. He has produced, written for/shared stages with acts such as Gregory Jones, Yolanda Brown (UK), Teemac Iseli, Don Moen, Detrick Haddon, Lagbaja, Adlan Cruz, Lynxxx, Yinka Davies, Robin Hughe Williams. Bantey is also a prestigious member of the American Society of Authors and Publishers(ASCAP). He released his first EP “Redefinition”, in 2014 and followed up with a Christmas single “It’s Christmas”, in 2016.

Avantii Uzor is an award-winning gospel recording and performing artist. She is also a music director and praise, worship leader. 

Avantii Uzor has been privileged to work and share the same stage with various leading gospel artists and producers all over the world such as Jonathan Nelson, JJ Harrison, Juanita Bynum, Frank Edwards, Sammie Okposo, Joe Praise, just to mention a few.

Her vision is to be a blessing to her generation through her music.

The Potts & Pans Community Steelband operates through Culture, Arts & Music in Woodstock, IL. PPCS welcomes students of all ages and musical backgrounds and brings aspects of Trinidadian Culture to the northwest suburbs of Chicago. PPCS performs the popular music of Trinidad & Tobago, birthplace of the steelpan, called “Soca” in addition to other world styles. PPCS performs regularly at the Great Lakes Steelpan Festival plus various community festivals and parades. The band is directed by members of Chicago Music Award winner for Best Calypso & Soca Artist, Potts & Pans Steelband.

Denzel Prempeh is a Pastor, Christian Artiste, a Husband to a beautiful wife & Father of 2 wonderful girls and team lead of Heartbeat Ministries Worldwide