Martha Becomes a Mary
posted 04/17/06
For someone who never had aspirations to be a celebrity, praise and worship artist Martha Munizzi ain't doing so bad. She's recorded at Joel Osteen's church, is friends with Israel Houghton, had a cameo in the movie The Gospel, sold hundreds of thousands of albums, and won Best New Artist at the Stellar Awards, a first for a non-African American—all as an independent artist. But as an indie, the busy-ness of running the business was overwhelming. She was, like Scripture's Martha, "distracted" by it all, so she signed with a label (Integrity Music) to free up more time to be, as she says, "Spirit-led." Martha became a Mary, listening at Jesus' feet. The first tangible result of that change is No Limits Live, a double CD that she'd intended to be a single album—till God told her otherwise. Here, Munizzi shares about signing with a label, the pressure to deliver another hit, and the tension she feels about being a gospel sensation.
Before your current album, No Limits Live, you were thriving as an independent artist. Why get involved with a record label?
Martha Munizzi: We thought we had gone as far as we could go [independently]. It was becoming more than we could handle, the business and the busyness of it. We got advice from several different people that are very wise and way down the road from us. It probably took us two years to make a decision. We thought, well, if we're going to do this [independently], we're going to have to really set it up like a record company. That means we're going to have to hire people. To go where this was automatically going on its own, you can't do that with a one-person staff. You have to create a whole system.
That's great for some, but for us, I just want to be able to get in the car and go to the beach with the kids, to have that freedom. I didn't want to this to control my life. I wanted to control it. I want to be in charge. And to be able to be Spirit-led. If you're so overrun with the issues of the business, it's a lot more difficult to be Spirit-led sometimes.
Several other labels approached us, and it always was, "No, we're already doing it. We don't need you to do it for us." So we sat with Integrity [Music] and [executive vice president] Don Moen said to me, "You don't really need us, but we would love to be a part of your ministry." And that's what I was waiting for somebody to say. Not for somebody to say, "We want to make you more successful." But for somebody to say, "We want to help you with your ministry. We want to help you expand your ministry as far as it could go." And that captured my heart.
Has the load gotten lighter now that they're handling the business side of things?
Munizzi: In some ways it has. They've done a lot of things for us. Sony [Integrity's mainstream partner] has also been so instrumental about making us more visible in stores. It's like choosing to ride a car or a bullet train to get to where we're heading. And I'm not getting any younger—I'm 38. it would just take us a lot longer to do that on our own.
You said things were getting out of hand as an independent. Did the business side of things affect your ability to minister?
Munizzi: There were moments like that. But I'm not a business person. My husband is that. He is the administrator. That's his gift and anointing; that's where he ministers. For me, I just say, "You've got this. I'm going to go write a song. I'm going to pray a little bit. I'm going to go spend some time with the kids." So it's not hard for me to walk away. But I'm a visionary, too. I think I can see what's coming, and if we don't change it now, it really will be overwhelming.
Given the success of your independent albums, did you feel pressure or expectations of others to deliver another "hit"?
Munizzi: Of course. Who wouldn't feel that? I've probably felt it for the last two years, before I even started to think about the record. I really had to fight that man-pleasing spirit. And there's a balance to that because you want to please everybody, you want them to love what you do. Especially with the success of The Best Is Yet to Come, which was a God thing. It wasn't anybody trying to make a hit record. We didn't have a clue. We didn't have anything to judge it by. We didn't have anything to lose.
For the new album, we went in with every thought of making it a one-CD. And I said, "I'm not going to make two CDs. I hate two CDs. It's too much music." But this one kinda got away from us. The night we recorded it, I said, "I refuse to try to compete with God. He's just going to have to [make it happen]." When you flow with that, when you begin to create in that mentality, you lose something. So I decided to lean on the Lord [for him] to give me the songs.
So you made a double CD.
Munizzi: It ended up being what it is. At the end of the day, it was my decision and my husband's decision. But it came with many people listening to the record—family members, friends, people that were there that night, pastors, producers—everybody found a moment that they love. But more than that, it was very difficult logistically to bring it down. We would've lost so much. It would've been so choppy. For The Best Is Yet to Come, every song we wrote went on that record. No extra songs, not one. With the new one, I had so much in me, so many songs that I'd written. I said, "Let's record them all and then we'll chop them down." But we didn't want to leave anything out.
Some of the stuff you didn't leave out were the moments of preaching and exhortation. Are you afraid those moments may lose their impact after repeated listens?
Munizzi: They probably will, for some people. Other people will go, "That's the moment where I got delivered." Or, "That's the moment where I got a revelation, the moment I got set free." People in the gospel community love strong preaching and exhortation. But in other [traditions], it would get on their nerves, and I understand that.
You're a praise and worship artist, yet the first song on your new album, "No Limits," isn't a song to God. It's a song to the people. How does worship play into that?
Munizzi: That's a great question, and I have the answer. I heard the song from a friend of mine, Derrick Thomas, who wrote it for his church. There was justsomething about it; this is a message that needs to get to the people. Praise and worship has a process to get to the people. It starts from the outer court. We're in the outer court. Many times, people can't even move forward until they feel better. Singing stirs up your spirit.
The song says, "Nothing is impossible with God." You're singing Scripture. You're building yourself up to be able to move into another realm. Songs that are about me aren't my favorite types of songs. But in 20 years of leading praise and worship, I've learned that most people, coming in from the outside, they're dry. They come in after being pushed down. They need to feel like everything they believe in God for is possible. And then we begin to move in; from then on, the whole focus is vertical.
So its placement on the album is purely intentional.
Munizzi: Oh, yeah. And then again, "No Limits" is a song that I feel is going to go into places that [other worship songs] won't go at this point. I think it's a song that God's going to use. That's what the Lord showed me: "Put it on the record and I'm going to use it in ways you can't." We have to see the bigger picture. We're trying to move outside the four walls to seek and save the lost. I'm not trying to be a celebrity—I don't care anything about that. I'm trying to do something that makes Jesus famous.
When you first started, you chose to sing gospel music instead of contemporary Christian music. Why?
Munizzi: In the very beginning, we thought our music fit better in gospel. We didn't do it thinking any of this [success] was going to happen. We just thought our music was going to fit gospel music way better than CCM. It wasn't really anything we discussed or had dreams and visions about. We were music directors for many years and our church was very multicultural. Our choir was almost all black or Latin. Our heart is gospel music—we love R&B, Fred Hammond—that's what we were drawn to.
You've become something of a superstar in gospel music. You won a Stellar award for Best New Artist. How do you assimilate that, not being an African American?
Munizzi: Honestly, I don't go around saying, "I can't believe I won this award!"
People make a big deal out of it.
Munizzi: They do make a big deal out of it. To me, it's a big deal. And the longer I'm in this business, I realize it is a big deal. It's humbling. But when I think about all the people that could've been nominated and won …
I did by no means of my own. The gospel music community not only accepted me—because you can be accepted and then ignored—but they celebrated me. They loved what I do.
As a worship artist, does it feel strange to receive all these praises and accolades?
Munizzi: I think I was prepared for it because I've been in front of people my whole life. People just appreciate the anointing. I know that when I have a bad night and my voice is terrible, people walk up and go, "That was great!" And I know that's not even me. It's him. I'm not caught up in all of this. I feel really uncomfortable with the accolades. It's such a weird thing—talking about yourself and doing interviews like this, when really I'd rather not have to deal with this. I don't want to talk about anything that puffs me up.
© Andree Farias, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity
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