Author: William Carter, Jr.
Published: November 16, 2005
Tool: [ email ]
WILLIAM: Good morning Joann! How are you?
JOANN: Hi William! How are you?
WILLIAM: I’m doing very well, thank you. Well, I’m very excited about an opportunity to speak with you and I thank you for taking the time to speak with us here at joe538.com.
When I look at the cover of your current project, “Now More Than Ever… Worship,” and I look at the cover of your first project, “More More More,” I can see even just in the cover photos that you’ve matured – you’ve been somewhere with the Lord. It just appears that there’s something different there. So, I want you to tell us how you’ve grown or changed spiritually or maybe experienced some things that have caused you to go even deeper in the Lord with this project.
JOANN: I think that you have really, really summed it up well. Even myself looking at those two pictures, I can see that; and I think that was one of the reasons why I wanted all white (attire for the photo of the current project) because in the process of making the current project, I went through a period in my life that it was almost like I was stripped away of everything.
WILLIAM: Wow!
JOANN: My voice which has always been like a safe haven for me – that was stripped away. Everything! I mean my ability to pay my own bills…Everything…Everything! So, literally God proved himself to me during this time in my life to be my one and only source in everything – career, finances, everything. And He was very clear with me that no one would be able to take the glory for what He wanted to do in my life. He removed relationships and friends – ya know? All kinds of people disappeared during the time I couldn’t work and I couldn’t sing. (giggling as she reflects). Now, this is not to say anything negative about them, but it was something personal between me and God.
WILLIAM: Amazing…and I’m glad you talked about that because I definitely wanted to share that with our readers. I know that when we ask God to take us to another level, sometimes we don’t know what we’re asking for because we have to go through things to get there.
JOANN: Oh yes! That’s right!
WILLIAM: I think it’s just awesome how you came through that. But, I want to know what that feels like. I know we have a lot of singers who will be reading this. I sing and write music myself and sometimes I don’t know what I would do or where I would be without those gifts. So, where did you get the faith? What was your anchor? - because I’m sure you were praying and it looked like maybe the healing wasn’t coming; you continued to deteriorate. What got you through that?
JOANN: Well, first of all…I didn’t have any faith – in the beginning. Literally it was a combination of desperation, devastation, anger, not understanding and just questioning God. Basically, I was like ‘Why me? Why? It’s not fair!’ When I went to the doctors and I had to go home and all of that, Fred (Hammond) and all of us were getting ready to go on tour and I couldn’t go and it literally just broke my heart because I love being on the road with Fred. I love it – you know what I’m saying? I mean, when we would hit the stage and start singing ‘No Weapon’ or whatever - just being out with him, it’s what I had lived for. Literally, it was devastating to talk to people… It was just horrible. It was horrible! So, literally it felt like it took forever because I had to get through all of those negative feelings and get to the point where I could say, ‘Okay, God. I understand that if you don’t heal me and if you don’t do something, then nothing can be done.’ I was not going to have surgery because they could mess it up permanently! I really had to get over those frustrations.
There were certain key friendships that God did not remove that continued to speak life and encouragement to me. And then on top of that, my home family and my pastor, who is my dad, were constantly telling me that they were believing God for me and standing in the gap for me. When I got to the point where I stopped feeling sorry for myself and I started working for God again, I mean anything I could do besides singing… I started to get better!
WILLIAM: Hmm… That is so awesome!
JOANN: I had to take my eyes off of myself LITERALLY and God had to grow me up. He had to grow me up! And these are lessons that I thought I knew. I had learned them, on a certain level but, like you said, when it’s time to go to that next you’ve got to learn lessons for THAT level. And it may be the same subject matter but just a different intensity.
WILLIAM: Joann, I want you to say something encouraging to people out there who may have what you have. When we look at you, we see someone who has it all. We know what the record labels are looking for: you have a dynamic and outgoing personality. You have a beautiful look and a wonderful voice. But if someone feels like they’re what the industry is looking for, what’s going to keep them anchored when they get out there and find that it’s not what it’s all cracked up to be? When they go through something like what you went through and all of their friends fall off – what should be their motivational factor for going into this as a career?
JOANN: Well, first of all it is NOT what it’s all cracked up to be.
(mutual laughter)
It’s a lot of hard work. It’s a lot of disappointment and a lot of exciting things as well but the good is mixed in with the bad and it’s important to know that before going into it. I think sometimes people have this fantasy idea in their mind – like I did – and that’s just not what it’s about, ya know?
WILLIAM: That’s just not it.
JOANN: I have to deal with people coming on to me because of my looks, ya know?
WILLIAM: Right.
JOANN: I have to deal with people maybe only giving me an opportunity because they know I’m Hispanic and they want the ‘multi-cultural’ singer. People come with a lot of different motivations and thoughts and things in their heart when they approach you. But overall, live literally for real. Live a life of prayer - if you are a man or woman of the Word of God - and I don’t mean just like, ‘Oh, hallelujah! Praise God!’ I mean FOR REAL!
WILLIAM: FOR REAL!
JOANN: Like…you are really submitted to a home church and you have a good pastor and you let your pastor be in your business and tell you what’s right and what’s wrong and when you can and cannot go and you submit to that. You know what I’m saying?
WILLIAM: Yes, yes!
JOANN: Where when you get up in the morning, you don’t walk out of the house without hittin’ your knees and AT LEAST for a good thirty minutes pray and acknowledge God and dedicate your life to God and ask God for help!
WILLIAM: Woooooooooo!
JOANN: Those are the things that keep you when you don’t know what people’s motivation is and you don’t know why they’re approaching you or you don’t know why they’re saying, ‘Oh, ya know I’d like for you to come and do an interview – meet me in my hotel room!’ (laughing)
WILLIAM: (laughing) Right! Right!
JOANN: You know what I’m saying? You don’t know what people’s motivation is… but God knows. And if you live a life of prayer and you really, really live before God, God will keep you. He’ll keep your reputation. I can’t tell you how many times people have tried to run my reputation into the ground.
WILLIAM: Mmmmm.
JOANN: But, the truth of God always comes out and I don’t have to worry about it.
WILLIAM: So, when you’re honest and you live the way you should live, it’s all going to come out.
JOANN: And you don’t have to be afraid.
WILLIAM: That’s beautiful.
WILLIAM: Joann – just a little bit of history for those who may not know – how did you meet Fred Hammond? We notice that he presented your first project. So, how did all of that come into play for you?
JOANN: Funny… I am 31 years old now and I say it proudly.
WILLIAM: Great!
JOANN: Most people don’t guess my age but I met Fred when I was about 20.
WILLIAM: Okay.
JOANN: And I started singing with RFC (Radical For Christ – A.K.A. Fred Hammond’s background singers) when I was about 23 or 24…(thinking hard) but it was after college and I met Fred when I was in college… and then my album did not come out until I was maybe 25 or 26. I’m sure I’m not doing the math right but somewhere in there.
WILLIAM: Ahhhh….So, no overnight success or anything.
JOANN: No overnight success whatsoever! (laughing) He saw me singing on television doing background for somebody else and I had a little step out part or whatever and he was like, ‘Man! I’d like the opportunity to work with that girl!’ The next thing you know, he met somebody that knew me and that person connected us and the rest is history. But it was totally God.
WILLIAM: So, if it’s meant to be, it will happen, if you’re patient.
JOANN: Oh, totally!
WILLIAM: First of all I love the way you talked about the history behind each song because you had a hand in the writing and song selection for the project. You gave some information about how each song came into play and I thought that was beautiful. But, I see that you worked with Alexander Asaph Ward.
JOANN: Yeah!
WILLIAM: He is doing quite a bit with production right now so I’m seeing his name a lot more and more. What was it like working with him and bringing him into the project?
JOANN: Ummm… He is… a genius!
WILLIAM: (laughing)
JOANN: Absolute – I mean literally – he’s an absolute genius but at the same time he is a very spiritual man and he’s a very grounded man. He has a good family that supports what he does. He works out of his home and it was just a really, really good surrounding for me. Fred was on the road so I wasn’t able to work with him at that time and the record company wanted me to get back in the studio because it had already been two years. He was the first producer that I worked with. So, when I recorded stuff like ‘I Hear You Say’ and ‘My Desire’, I was still having trouble with my voice and he was working with me though my voice acting up. Literally, he pulled things out of me that I didn’t even believe were still there!
WILLIAM: Wow! That’s great. That is great! Is there a favorite song of yours on the “Now More Than Ever Worship” project?
JOANN: (with a smile) That’s such a hard question!
WILLIAM: (laughing) I know people probably ask you that quite a bit.
JOANN: They do, and all of them are my favorites for different reasons.
WILLIAM: Okay… That’s acceptable…
JOANN: But one of them that is a very, very strong favorite of mine is the song that was produced by Donald Lawrence –
WILLIAM: Yes!
JOANN: which is one of the few songs that I did not write but it is a song by the title of ‘God.’ I was done with the record and my A&R person told me, ‘Joann, I know that you’re done and you’re desperate to be done with this project but I’m telling you right now, if Donald comes back and he says that he has a song, you need to at least listen to it because when he says that he has a song, he as a SONG! (laughing)
WILLIAM: (laughing) Okay!
JOANN: And when he sent the lyrics he called her and he said, ‘Monica, I have a SONG!’ And I was just like, ‘No! I’m done! I don’t wanna record any more songs!’ blah-blah-blah. But…when I read the words…(pause)
WILLIAM: Mmmm….
JOANN: I just… I –I was just dumbfounded. So, we went into the studio just to kind of see if I would be able to sing the song, if it was in the right key – it was just piano, there was no background, there was no guitar, there was nothing. It was just piano. And I did a ‘rough’ that night and the rough of what I did was so powerful and so anointed and it connected with me so strongly that that is literally what’s on the record right now. I think I have to go back and maybe fix one line that the microphone had distorted a little bit but besides that, the entire song is what I did that night.
WILLIAM: Fantastic! Okay, just a few more questions. I know that family is very important to you and I’d like for you to tell us why that is and how your family supports you in your career.
JOANN: Well, I’m a ‘PK’ (Pastor’s Kid/Preacher’s Kid). My Dad is a pastor and contrary to other people’s stories about being a pastor’s kid – yeah I hated it like everybody else – but I have the support of my parents in a way that I cannot describe. They were always the first ones pushing me to sing and pushing me to do things in ministry even when I didn’t want to. They wouldn’t let us eat dinner in front of the TV. They would force us to sit at the table and eat together. It’s amazing! There are four of us: me, my sister and my brothers – both of my brothers are married. Sunday after church we still all eat together and we talk about our lives as a family. Nothing is a secret in our family. If I’m liking somebody or if I’m dating somebody the family knows!
WILLIAM: Beautiful!
JOANN: You know what I mean? And if you don’t get in good with the family – you know? It’s like ‘Coming To America’ - get in good with the daddy….! (laughing)
WILLIAM: (laughing) I know that’s right!
JOANN: And we’re like that with everything and it literally has saved my life on more than one occasion. That’s one of the reasons that I think that God needs to raise up men to be men of God because that is the cornerstone of the family.
WILLIAM: Do you have others who sing or are in the music industry at all in your family?
JOANN: Funny enough, my dad sings.
WILLIAM: Okay.
JOANN: My mom, she can’t sing... bless her heart… but she can do everything else like decorate and dance and preach and all that kinda stuff. But my dad is musical and he also writes songs. The song that I sang on the Donnie McClurkin album?
WILLIAM: Yes! Your father wrote that?
JOANN: My father wrote that song. So, he’s an amazing songwriter. My brother is a drummer and he also is a studio engineer and my other brother plays the trumpet and my sister has an amazing voice. So yeah, it’s definitely in the family.
WILLIAM: Musical inclination is there.
JOANN: Mmm-hmm.
WILLIAM: And I wanted to talk about your home church. You’ve already mentioned that quite a bit but obviously you’re anchored there and I know that is of great importance in the industry as well, because it keeps you grounded.
JOANN: Oh, I would love for you to post the website for my church -
WILLIAM: Okay!
JOANN: - which is www.maranathausa.com. People are always saying, ‘Oh my God! You’re so anointed!’ blah blah blah ‘I’m so blessed by your ministry.’ Man, if you’re blessed by me, I’m like a drop in the hat –
WILLIAM: (laughing) – next to what’s going on at Maranatha, right?
JOANN: Truly – in comparison to what goes on at my home church. Everything I get – even songs that I write – they usually come out of messages that I hear my dad preaching. You know, the emphasis on different things, on prayer, on holiness and on integrity, it all comes from home. So, every time somebody looks at me, I just point them back to where I come from.
WILLIAM: Are you intricately involved in the church? I know you’re busy on the road or what not when you’re working, but are you able to hold an office there?
JOANN: Yeah, I’m still kind of over the music department. I have people that work with me. I have someone over the choir now that takes care of rehearsals but I still do the schedules as to who’s leading worship and I lead worship as well when I’m home and my voice is not absolutely exhausted.
WILLIAM: Okay.
JOANN: What I do at home fuels what I do when I go do concerts or speak in various places or make appearances. I literally see it as my gas station; I come here and I get fueled up and I’m able to go out and do the other things that I do. So, it’s really important to me.
WILLIAM: Here’s an age old question: Where do you see yourself five years from now? What’s down the road for Joann Rosario?
JOANN: Five years from now, I see myself being a millionaire, first of all -
WILLIAM: Praise God!
JOANN: - because I want to be able to take that money and put it into the vision and the different projects that we’re working on in our ministry in our church. Many times we’re building churches in Africa – literally church buildings. We have a prayer mountain that’s two hours away from Chicago. We need to build the dorms and build things so that the people of God can come and pray. So, we need money to do that.
WILLIAM: Okay.
JOANN: Second of all, I see myself preaching more and maybe even being seen more as an evangelist and as a preacher than even as a, quote – unquote, ‘artist.’ You know, the artist thing, it’s cool and it’s fun but I want to use it all as a platform basically to spread the Gospel.
WILLIAM: I feel you there because they really are separate ministries. They reach people in different ways and sometimes God is leading you to ‘drive’ in a particular area. So, you would accept invitations to speak or preach at an engagement?
JOANN: Oh, I do both because I kind of don’t see them as being actually that separate, being an artist and being a minister – for me
WILLIAM: Okay.
JOANN: - because the artist thing will get you through some doors that a minister won’t get you through
WILLIAM: True. True.
JOANN: and the minister thing will get you through other doors that the artist thing won’t get you through
WILLIAM: Absolutely!
JOANN: and the bottom line is that whatever door you walk through, be the same.
WILLIAM: It’s all effective.
JOANN: You know what I’m saying? So, when people ask me to come and do a concert, I’ll preach between the songs.
WILLIAM: That’s awesome.
JOANN: I’ll speak the Word of the Lord between the songs. I don’t care, and if you never ask me back, that’s fine. But, that may be the only moment that I have to share the gospel with someone in the music and in the preaching. To me it’s all the same.
WILLIAM: That’s great! I want to say that it’s been an honor to speak with you. I really do respect you and the work that you do because there’s something genuine that comes from you and sometimes it’s rare to find that in the gospel music industry, especially when someone has what it takes to make it. Sometimes they lean on their voice or lean on their looks but you’re leaning on the Lord and we appreciate what you’re giving to Gospel music.
JOANN: Thank you! Now, I have a question for you.
WILLIAM: Thank YOU!
JOANN: Where does the name ‘Manhunt’ come from?
WILLIAM: joe538.com? Joann, if there is a means by which I can contact you back and let you know, I will - and I’ll tell you why: I’m new to joe538.com and I have the same question! (laughing)
JOANN: (laughing) You can e-mail it to me on my website: www.joannrosario.com
WILLIAM: I will certainly let you know because I want to know. This is actually my first interview with Manhunt and that’s another reason I’m so excited, but I want to know as well. Thank you so much, I appreciate your time. Take care!
JOANN: Alright. Bye! Bye!
WILLIAM: Bye!
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