by PETER LIGHTBURN

As the songsmith and performer behind uplifting kickers such as Underground Ministries’ “I Shall Not Be Moved” and “Father,” Kenny Bobien’s mark on soulful dance music is unquestionable. This New Jersey native, a gospel-honed tenor, did backup work for pop titans such as Lauryn Hill and Celine Dion. In house music circles, Bobien is a legend in his own right. When he’s not causing roof damage at a performance or sculpting another anthem with a club-music heavyweight, he pastors a church as an ordained minister and raises his family as a doting father.

Mirror: Gospel house has emerged as a genre in itself—are you concerned that it will become too ghettoized, musically?

Kenny Bobien: I’m not really concerned that it will. I just believe that everybody’s finally getting it and I’m happy about that.

M: Have you been accused of straddling the fence between your faith and the secular world?

KB: I am a saved, sanctified, born-again Christian who has a ministry to fulfill and sometimes that ministry may involve me going into clubs to sing the gospel—but wherever I must go, I will. Jesus’s ministry rarely ever called for him to go inside the temple. Most of it was out in the streets and places where Christians wouldn’t normally go. I’ve been ostracized for what I do but it’s all for the glory of God.

M: You are renowned for dynamic performances. What is the strangest thing that has occurred on stage?

KB: I was in Tokyo, Japan, and everyone in the audience was really loving the performance. People were crying and everything, and this girl came up on stage and palmed me on my butt. I couldn’t believe it. I almost had to take a break, it was so funny.

M: You got so much stuff out—what should people look out for?

KB: Look out for the Best of Kenny Bobien to be released on King Street Sound, with three never-before-released Kenny Bobien songs. Also I have a new gospel album coming out this month on Urb N’ Flo Records entitled Wonderful—no house, no club, just straight-up gospel. I did half in the studio and half live. :

At Jello Bar as part of Jojo Flores’s birthday
celebrations, with DJ Smash, Lady Alma,
Brass Knuckles and art installations by
Heavyweight, tonight, Thursday, Nov. 7, 10pm, $10

>> Music Listings