Jovonta Patton

Jovonta Patton is a six-time #1 chart-topping Billboard recording artist, composer, producer, and entrepreneur. Thom Jurek of AllMusic.com stated that “A reedy baritone, Jovonta’s singing voice, while firmly rooted in the modern gospel tradition, is readily accessible, offering an edifying approach he calls ‘pop-gospel,’ which proved successful on his self-released album Finally Living, making him the first independent gospel artist to have a #1 album on the Billboard gospel charts.” Born and raised in Minneapolis, Patton thrived while regularly attending church with his mother, where he developed a love for God, a passion for worship and a strong interest in gospel music.

Patton started singing at age 4 at Berean M.B. Church and began writing songs at age 6. By the time he was in middle school he was directing the church choir. He displayed a gift of leadership, and as a teen was asked to revive a choir for a local high school. The momentum led him to found Deliverance For Youth, a youth choir impacting the Midwest region. His influence with youth brought about another calling as a gang and gun violence prevention activist as well as being instrumental in getting millennials to the polls to vote.

He established a reputation of community service and garnered attention from then Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, who declared July 31, 2016, Jovonta Patton Day, an honor previously granted to artists such as Prince and Adele. A savvy marketer, in 2018 Patton issued the independent single Way Maker to the internet during Super Bowl week.

Promoting it exclusively through social media, it became the #1 digital gospel song and was included on the album The Best Me, a project with guest appearances by Grammy Award-winning icon Kirk Franklin and Hollywood film producer Devon Franklin. Patton also has millions of plays on YouTube for his viral version of My Hands Are Lifted Up. His streams and digital sales are unmatched on Spotify and Apple Music, and he is one of CD Baby’s highest paid artists across all genres.

He has sung with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé and Erica Campbell, to name a few, and hosted the KMOJ gospel radio show Praise With Jovonta for several years. With more recognition in the music industry, Patton has been invited by the NFL and NBA to sing the national anthem at televised playoff games and has led private worship sessions before games for the Golden State Warriors, gaining the support of NBA star Kevin Durant.

Patton is an ordained minister and started the pop-up church trend called “The Wave,” a non-traditional church service that “pops up” around the country in colleges and vacant spaces as the Lord leads, to edify millennials and to offer salvation. A husband and a father of three small daughters, he also worked in Atlanta, Georgia, and served as a worship leader at one of the largest Black mega churches in the nation, The House of Hope Atlanta, the well-known setting of “Calvary Fellowship” from the Oprah Winfrey-produced hit show Greenleaf.

Patton has redefined what it means to “create your own lane” as an indie artist and is venturing into the lane of author, releasing his first book on finances soon.