Yolanda Yvette Adams (born August 27, 1961) is an American gospel singer, record producer, actress, and radio host. As of September 2009, she had sold 4.5 million albums since 1991 in the United States, and nearly 8 million albums worldwide according to SoundScan. On December 11, 2009, Billboard Magazine named her the #1 Gospel Artist of the last decade. In the same chart, her album Mountain High...Valley Low was acknowledged as the best gospel album. The oldest of six siblings, Adams was raised in Houston, Texas. She graduated from Sterling High School in Houston in 1979. After graduating from Texas Southern University, she began a career as a schoolteacher and part-time model in Houston, Texas.Eventually she gave up teaching to perform full-time as a lead singer.

Adams first attracted the attention of Thomas Whitfield and Sound of Gospel Records as a lead singer with Houston's Southeast Inspirational Choir affiliated with the Church of God in Christ, under the direction of Carl Preacher, Brenda Waters, and Shirley Joiner. The choir released the single in 1982 "For My Liberty" with Adams as the featured vocalist. In 1986, Adams was featured on the Edwin Hawkins Music and Arts Seminar Choir release Give Us Peace, with a performance entitled "My Trust Lies In You". Later, she signed a recording contract with Sound of Gospel which yielded her first album Just As I Am in 1987.[7] In 1990, she was discovered by producer/keyboardist Ben Tankard, and signed to his independent label Tribute Records and released Through The Storm. Tankard's goal with Tribute Records during this time was to develop an audience for a smoother gospel/jazz sound. He featured Yolanda's jazzy vocals on his album and concept video single "You Bring Out The Best In Me" on his 1994 release Play Me In Your Key. The collaboration received positive response from gospel,jazz and "quiet storm" formats.
One year later, Adams followed with Save the World, which included her first signature song "The Battle Is The Lord's". Her next release was 1995's More Than A Melody, which featured more production work from Tankard with contributions from O'Landa Draper, and BeBe Winans. The single "Gotta Have Love," from that album featuring Tony Terry on background vocals, gained mainstream notoriety and was her first single and music video. Yolanda... Live In Washington, released the following year, featured versions of material from her first three albums. The footage from this recording was released as a collection of two videos on VHS initially, and later as a single set on DVD and CD. During this time Tribute Records' parent company Diadem Music Group merged with Benson Music Group, which was eventually bought by New York-based Zomba/Verity Records.

"How Great Thou Art"
File:20100209 Yolanda Adams - How Great Thou Art at the White House.ogv
Yolanda Adams performs "How Great Thou Art" at the White House Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement in 2010.
"How Great Thou Art"
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Songs from the Heart was her final release for Verity Records, including "Only Believe", which was popular songs on contemporary radio. The album also included "Still I Rise," a dedication to Rosa Parks, which was inspired by the

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