Today we’d like to introduce you to Lamont Smith.
LAMONT SMITH has an incredible, unusual story that signifies the hand of God truly being upon his life from birth to adulthood. Lamont was born and raised in New York City and born into the child welfare/foster care system there due to his birth mother having various issues and being unable to keep him. Lamont got his roots and started in the Baptist church, as he resided with a strongly devout Christian foster family there at that time, up until the age of four, when he was legally adopted by a single father. Lamont discovered his love for music and mainly his gift for singing around the early age of 5 or 6, his adoptive father was a musician and exposed him to various types of music like R&B, Jazz, Classical and Gospel music.
Lamont and his adoptive father relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, when Lamont was eight years old and sadly, two years later after they relocated, Lamont’s adoptive father passed away when he was ten years old. Shortly after his adoptive father passed away, Lamont went on to reside with another foster family who was biologically related to his adoptive father and it was during this time, Lamont began to take music and singing even more seriously and passionately. Lamont found a lot of comfort in music because there were many struggles he faced during his childhood and teen years after living with different families. Lamont faced and experienced various issues like rejection, verbal/emotional/physical/
During these high school years, Lamont took major inspiration from various musical artists but mainly people like The Clark Sisters, J Moss, Kim Burrell, Smokie Norful and Tonex were the people he took his biggest inspirations from and enjoyed the most. Lamont relocated back to New York in 2005 and got very involved in church and ministry. Lamont eventually grew a passion for leading worship and was appointed the first worship leader for the ministry he currently serves at daily, Radical Nation Citadel of Praise in Atlanta, GA, but at that time in 2009, the ministry was known as Praise & Unity Tabernacle of Deliverance, which was located in Albany, NY at the time.
The ministry went through various name changes and relocated to Atlanta, GA in 2015 and through it all, Lamont has joyfully remained and is a charter member of the ministry. Lamont also serves as the pastor of music at the ministry and also as one of the associate pastors. Lamont launched a graphic design business in 2012 (Mont Does Graphics) due to finding a newfound gift for creative graphic design. Lamont was also able to graduate college in 2015 with his bachelor’s in psychology (major) and music (minor). Lamont does desire to return back to school soon to obtain a master’s degree. During his time as a worship leader down through the years, Lamont has had the opportunity to share the stage with, sing on the same program as and/or sing back up for various artists in Gospel music, including people like Tyler Little (Sunday Best Contestant), Tiffany Andrews (Sunday Best Contestant), Keyondra Lockett (Gospel Recording Artist), Lillian Lloyd (Lead Singer, Ricky Dillard & New G) and Arthur Danzy (Gospel Recording Artist), to name a few.
Lamont finally felt led by God and also by the push of his leader, Apostle Lahtrey Majors, to finally launch out as a recording artist in 2019 and Lamont is currently working on his first EP release Perfecting Me, which will be released first quarter 2021. The first single from the EP, “Waiting for You” was released in February 2020. The second single, “Freedom” was released in October 2020 and also has an accompanying music video (which can be viewed on YouTube & Facebook), released in December 2020 and features guest artists K4C Music on the remix version of the song. Both songs are currently available on all digitial music outlets. Lamont is a testimony of God’s goodness and how He brought him out of the darkness and Lamont’s message everywhere he goes is that God can, God will and God IS delivering!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road at all. I have had to face many naysayers, doubters and people/issues that would come up like not being able to completely finance the vision the way I wanted and people who initially said they would assist and support me that walked away mid-project. For example, I was in the process of completing my first music video, it was half filmed and the videographer quit on me due to not feeling like they were a good fit for the project. However, that was time and energy spent for nothing and so thankfully, I was able to proceed with someone else who turned out to be a perfect match for my brand and what I desire to do.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a new gospel recording artist and worship leader at my local church, Radical Nation Citadel of Praise in Riverdale, GA. I am mostly known for leading worship and recording music. I am grateful that I have been able to put out two singles, Waiting For You & Freedom, the latter, which has an accompanying music video, which can be viewed on YouTube. I have several moments that I am very proud of, including filming my very first music video, doing a TV appearance late last year on WATC Ch. 57 here in ATL and doing my very first live recording last year back in July 2020. I would say the thing that sets me apart from others or maybe from a lot of “artists”, I definitely desire to come across as a regular person who just has a vision and purpose of spreading the Gospel but yet letting people know you don’t have to be perfect and polished while doing so. I want people to know that you can go after your dreams and desires and do what God is leading you to do, even if you may not be the typical artist that fits in. I realize that my way of doing things and my approach may be different than your typical Gospel artist and that is my desire to be different but yet, point people back to the reason why we do this and why we are even here.
What matters most to you?
My relationship with God, family, friends and my supporters all matter the most to me. This is because I realize that the reason I am even in existence is because of God and the reason I can have family, friends and supporters is because of God allowing them to be around. I believe each of these areas are important for having a fulfilling day to day life.
Contact Info:
- Email: montakalamontmusic@gmail.com
- Website: www.lamontsmithmusic.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/montakalamont
- Facebook: facebook.com/lamontsmithmusic
- Twitter: twitter.com/MontAKALamont
- Youtube: youtube.com/LamontSmithMusic
Image Credits:
Akai Jones, Darryl Humphrey, Nyree Preiser, and James Thorpe
