Marvin Sapp

Marvin Sapp and Matt Redman lead the nominations for next month’s Grammy Awards in the Gospel and Christian music categories.

Sapp has two nominations for the inspirational song My Testimony in the Best Gospel Song and Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance categories, while the album that features the song – ‘I Win’ – is up for Best Gospel album.

Matt Redman

Redman’s song 10 000 Reasons has been nominated for Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance, and Best Contemporary Christian Music Song.

In that last category, Redman has been nominated a second time for White Flag which he co-wrote with Jason Ingram, Matt Maher and Chris Tomlin.

MaryMary, Casting Crowns, James Fortune, as well as Israel & New Breed follow with two nominations. Toby Mac, Rhett Walker, Britt Nicole, Kari Jobe and Lecrae are also nominated.

The awards will be held at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles on February 10.

Also in Christian music news this week, Planetshakers launch their latest album and presents their first US conference in San Diego.

Their latest album, their 25th, is titled Limitless. Earlier this week, the title song from the new album scored more than 170 000 views on Youtube, and begun romping up the Australian Christian radio charts.

 The band originally formed in the mid 90s to lead worship for the first Planetshakers Conference held in Australia. The group now tours the globe regularly and is the musical force at Planetshakers City Church – a multi-campus, 8500-member congregation in Melbourne.

Some of the best known songs coming out of the church in the past few years have been Get Up, Nothing Is Impossible, Healer, Beautiful Saviour and The Anthem.

Worship leader Joth Hunt says it’s exciting to couple the launch of the new album with the three-day US event.

Last month, Planetshakers Band was well received by more than 200,000 people at a Christmas celebration at Jakarta’s Bung Karno Stadium. The event followed a 12 week tour that saw the band hit major festivals coast-to-coast across the US, including mainstage appearances at Creation Northwest and Northeast – which is Christian music’s largest festival.

Cam Want has more details. Click here to listen: