The brother of hit recording artist, songwriter and producer, Jonathan Nelson, and one of four musically inclined siblings, Jason Nelson has been performing music most of his life. His father was a Bishop, and pastor of The Tabernacle at GBT in Baltimore, where Jason now serves as pastor. “As preacher’s kids we lived our life under a microscope,” he says. “But ultimately, it was a good experience and I am really grateful for my upbringing.”
Influenced by Gospel greats Fred Hammond; Marvin Winans; Eric Dawkins of Dawkins and Dawkins; plus the late Donnie Hathaway and the sounds of Classical, Jazz and Gospel music, Nelson started playing bass for his father’s church at age 12. “My brother Jonathan played the organ, and my other brother James played drums,” he recalls. “My dad said he needed a bass player, so I learned to play bass.” He went on to receive Classical vocal training at the Baltimore School for the Arts and continued singing when he attended Morgan State University.
Armed with his vocal skills and an enduring love affair with the bass, Nelson made a name for himself singing at national conventions and playing bass in bands for Gospel artists including Yolanda Adams, BeBe Winans, and Karen Clark Sheard. Around 2003, one of these gigs would change his life, leading to a working relationship with hit songwriter/super producer, Donald Lawrence.
“Donald Lawrence came to town and needed a group to sing behind him, so my brother Jonathan put the group together and I was part of it,” says Nelson. “After the event, Jonathan told Donald that he really should hear me sing. After he heard me sing, Donald asked me to record with him and ultimately asked me to be a part of his group, Company. I recorded on Donald’s I Speak Life, and YRM (Your Righteous Mind CDs. Those experiences put the singing bug in me, and the more I sang with Donald the more I wanted to record live.”
Nelson released an independent project in 2005, but his major label break came in 2010 when he sang at a service where Verity Records A&R Executive Stanley Brown was in the audience. Brown was so impressed that he signed Jason to a deal. The result of that deal is the CD, SHIFTING THE ATMOSPHERE, co-produced by Nelson and his production partner, Dana Sorey. Also an accomplished songwriter (past credits include Marvin Sapp’s “Thirsty” and “Place of Worship”), Nelson wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on this CD.
