Martha Munizzi Interview (2004) - Articles

Interview with Martha Munizzi

Great things are happening for Martha Munizzi. She's just released a Christmas album and her The Best Is Yet To Come project is doing very well, way up in the top 10 on Billboard week after week after week. She has been nominated for two Stellar Awards (2005), her songs are being recorded by many artists, and she has a loving family to share it with.

Martha talked to Gospelflava.com about collaborating with Israel Houghton and Aaron Lindsey, about her musical influences and more.

Gospelflava.com: You have songs that you've written that are being recorded by such artists as Vickie Yohe, Alvin Slaughter, Beverly Crawford, Karen Clark Sheard and the list goes on. How do feel about that?

Martha Munizzi: It's really amazing. I get asked that question a lot because I think that it's every writer's dream to have not only have people sing their songs but to have other artists record them. It still blows my mind that all of this is happening and God is using my songs like that.

The truth is that I have to separate myself in some ways. The longer the song is on the planet, and the more people sing it, it becomes less my song. It just seems to become the song of the person or church who is singing it. I don't feel that much of a connection to them as much. I enjoy them too and sometimes I have to pinch myself. God gets so much of the credit. He just used me as a vehicle. I'm just honored; especially when I go overseas.

Gospelflava.com: The collaboration of you, Israel Houghton and Aaron Lindsey has been a smashing success. How did you hook up with them?

Martha Munizzi: Well, I had known Israel back when Music Director was his main goal. He was traveling some and he came to the church (Faithworld where Clint Brown is the pastor.) where I was at in Orlando. We met and hit it off. We had the same heart and the same goals. Then our paths didn't cross for years. I had always kept in touch with him through his music.

So when we decided to step away from the music department of our church, I had New Season because I was going through. It was time to leave a place where I had built up to a certain level and it was time to step away and step into a place of the unknown. We stepped out into total abandon and complete faith. Israel's CD, New Season, totally ministered to us through that time. So I had to call him and say "You don't even know from one period to another what that CD has done for me and how much it's blessed me. The songs, "New Season" and "Your Latter Will Be Greater" touched my heart." So I had to tell him and the whole thing of "What are ya'll doing?" and "What are your plans?" We just started to vision cast and dream

Listening to Martha Munizzi

It's hard to listen to a track and without getting the impression that this is a conversation (as opposed to a pre-recorded song). This may be a result of Gardner's inclination to freestyle at least one verse in each and every one of his recordings... Full Review

build and here we are. Sometimes I think; what if I had never made that phone call? I'm scared to think. God wouldn't have let me rest until I did because he knew that there was so much that was going to happen. I'm glad I called.

Gospelflava.com: You are often mistaken as a black woman because of your soulful singing. Who are your musical influences?

Martha Munizzi: The funny thing is that I grew up singing Southern Gospel. So I sang a lot of country-gospel-quartet sounding music with my family. I didn't really have a lot of influences other than that. So then when I met my boyfriend Dan,(who is now my husband), he had a whole lot more different and various musical styles that he listened to. One was Andre Crouch. After we got married, we begin to travel in a band and put a little local band together. We did a lot of CCM-styled music, but that never really did anything for us. Well we said that we gotta find another style. Then we really started to tap into Gospel music and we have loved it ever since. Then as a music director at a church in Orlando, it was a very Pentecostal-styled church. Most of my choir was African American, and they taught me how to sing the right way, I have to say. They just pulled it out of me. Then our music just begin to go more R&B.

I have to say that Fred Hammond has been a huge influence on my life, musically and in songwriting. I remember laying in my bed needing a song and saying, "How would Fred write it?" He's that kind of influence in my life. I just appreciate his ministry so much and his anointing. There's also Kirk Franklin and Yolanda Adams. CeCe Winans has been a huge influence vocally on me. You just listen to them and say, "Can I do that?" You just try it and see if you can.

Gospelflava.com: You and Israel wrote the powerful worship song, "God is Here" that is on your album, The Best Is Yet To Come and on Karen Clark Sheard's The Heavens Are Telling. How did that song come about?

Martha Munizzi: I don't have a lot of great stories around most of the songs, but that one was very unique. I had that of the idea of a song about God's presence and how His presence is here and declaring that. So I brought that idea to Israel, and it was like he just went into this zone.

He didn't come out until he had written the whole first part of the song. We were throwing a couple of words out and he was just in this thing. I don't know what you would call it, but this idea was birthed so fast. Then we didn't have the bridge. We didn't know what to do. So we put it in the backburner and we just figured that maybe that was something that God was going to do live and we would just flow prophetically. We tried again and still nothing. At the last rehearsal, and I said "I got it!" We put the second part of the song and it came alive. We really didn't know what we had because we had just learned it. So the night of the recording would be just our second time of singing it. So we had no idea of how big it was going to be.

I was with Israel and Aaron Lindsey at a church and we were rehearsing the song. When I went back to resing it from the beginning, I said, "You have to excuse me." , and the presence of God just came so strong with just the three of us. I just fell to my knees weeping. I said "I'm sorry. I have to go with this. " It was just an incredible moment. It wasn't hype. It wasn't a church service. It was just God and He came down. So I knew then that that would be an experience that others would have when they heard that song.

Gospelflava.com: What are Martha Munizzi's plans for the coming while?

Martha Munizzi: Well, we are trying to keep our heads above water. We have so many concerts coming up along with tour dates and things we are planning. We are just trying to leave some vacation time. We don't have much and we also have three kids. We are doing some pre-planning for the next record that will probably be recorded in January, 2005. It will probably come out next spring. That's what we are believing and hoping for. Right now, all of our efforts are going into prayer, consideration, thinking, and planning for that. That's in our downtime which we don't have that much of. It's been awesome and we don't have any reason to complain.

Martha's itinerary is getting bigger and she is getting busier. We are so glad that she answered the call to go full time in the ministry. We know that "The Best is Yet to Come".

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— interview by Dwayne Lacy —