Gospel dynamo Deitrick Haddon recently presented his fifth Verity Records offer with “Church on the Moon.”
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“It’s something fresh in gospel music and I was looking to do something innovative and I knew the name would be creative and draw people to it. There’s so much sadness and craziness going on down here on earth. I want to take listeners somewhere else. ‘Church on the Moon’ is gospel music from another perspective–a record that takes you on a journey. When the last song has played, you will feel far above any problems that were weighing you down,” said Haddon. “God gave me the name, the music and the beats on my heart.”
The 19-song CD touches on several musical genres including worship, gospel, rock, pop and go-go.
Haddon, the son of Bishop Clarence Haddon, grew up in Detroit and was touched by ministry and music at an early age. He gave his first sermon at the age of 11 and was directing the choir at age 13.
Haddon believes his early years in the church helped shape his life today.
“Being a preacher’s kid helped me know how to be in front of people. The people wanted me to be perfect, but my parents never did, they let us grow up and make mistakes and I never wanted to leave the church,” Haddon said.
The prolific performer was introduced to audiences in the mid 1990’s as a member of the edgy group, Voices of Unity. The group released several albums including “Live the Life” in 1997; “This is My Story” in 1998; and “Chainbreaker” in 1999.
He branched out on his own as a solo Christian R & B artist in 2002 with the “Lost & Found” album, which peaked at number one on Billboard’s Top Gospel Charts and produced the hit “Sinner’s Prayer” that received heavy spins on Gospel and R& B radio stations alike.
Two years later the ‘70s style “Crossroads” album was released. This album included the single “God Is Good.”
In 2006, Haddon released “7 Days,” which was almost completely produced by R & B producers who are responsible for hits by Sisqo, Chante Moore and Karen Clark Sheard. This album also included the song “Heaven Knows,” which Haddon produced himself.
To market the album, Haddon made an appearance on “Soul Train” and performed the single and the title track from the record.
Also in 2006, Haddon and his wife, gospel singer Damita, premiered the “85 South Gospel Street Show” on The Word Network. The talk-style format featured notable gospel artists like Donnie McClurkin, Kierra Sheard and Natalie Wilson. The show gave up and coming gospel artists the chance to display their spiritual gifts.
Haddon continued to release music throughout the next few years.
“I knew that God was calling me for leadership and as life happens, you yield to his call. God is proving to me that this is what I’m supposed to do,” Haddon said.
In 2010, Haddon moved from music to film and released his first feature picture, “Blessed & Cursed” in which he and his wife made their acting debut.
The movie was the modern retelling of the biblical account of Saul and David. In addition to Haddon and his wife, “Blessed & Cursed” stared Sheryl Lee Ralph and Drew Sidora.
“I’m all into acting and movies. I did a few stage plays before and we love theater and the drama that goes with acting,” Haddon said. “I always wanted to shoot movies and write stories. I never lost that dream of doing films. We used to write films and put them in drawers without any outlet and now we have a lot of things ready to go.”
Haddon is currently shooting two more films. One was written by Damita and the other written by Haddon.
“Our brand is full-out about taking biblical principles and put them in film and making the Word of God more relevant. Someone has to interpret this to this generation. People are interested in the church culture and who better to do that than someone who has been in the church all the days of his life?” Haddon said.
In addition to being a singer, producer and actor, Haddon was appointed pastor of Kingdom Culture Church in Detroit in February of 2009. Haddon took over the post that had previously been held by his father. Since taking over, Kingdom Culture’s membership has grown from 400 to almost 2,000 attendees.
“The church was already established and I just came in and took the role. My dad was everything to the church: the pastor, the carpenter and everything. I always said that was too much. That’s how dedicated he was. I don’t fashion my leadership style after that. My dad had trouble delegating responsibility and I’m the complete opposite. You have to have a good team,” Haddon said.
When Haddon isn’t preaching, performing or producing, he and his wife enjoy watching movies, writing and reading the Bible.
His favorite scripture is Acts chapter 1 verse 8. “I love it because when you serve God, the spirit gives you an edge. People wonder what that is,” Haddon said. “Its given to us to take the lead and come into the kingdom. I believe in taking that power and that edge and turning it into something.”
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