Nominations for the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards were announced last night by The Recording Academy and reflected an eclectic mix of the best and brightest in music over the past year as determined by the voting members of The Academy. The 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held on "GRAMMY Sunday," Feb. 13, 2011, at Staples Center in Los Angeles and once again will be broadcast live on CBS from 8–11:30 p.m. (ET/PT).

Houghton’s CD was nominated for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album while the song “You Hold My World” was nominated for Best Gospel Performance. A complete list of nominees in the Gospel field is available at http://www.grammy.com/nominees?year=2010&genre=14.

If Houghton’s Love God. Love People. CD wins a GRAMMY, it will be four straight for the worship leader from Houston. Each of Houghton’s last three CDs have been honored with GRAMMY Awards. Last year he won for his solo debut CD The Power of One, and with his powerhouse musical ensemble New Breed, Houghton won a GRAMMY in 2008 for A Deeper Level and in 2007 for Alive in South Africa.

Love God. Love People. released in August on Integrity Music/Columbia Records and has garnered praise from critics reaching out to a diverse variety of music fans nationally and beyond. Critics at media outlets ranging from CCM to Gospel Today and ChristianityToday.com to SoulTracks.com, CBA Retailer + Resources, GospelFlava.com, Breathecast.com, Crosswalk.com and more have lauded the new album, calling it “gospel music milk and honey,” “profound” “uplifting,” “spectacular,” “God dropped it out of heaven,” “excellent,” “amazing,” “musical and spiritual masterpiece,” “relentlessly original,” “wonderfulness” and more.

Writing or co-writing all but one of the songs on Love God. Love People., Israel is an innovative worship leader, singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer who has also written or co-written 11 CCLI Top 500 favorites. Breaking down barriers and defying categorization with his music, Israel uses his own multi-cultural upbringing as a reference point with a desire to draw people of all races, ages and cultures together.

The album features the musically masterful energy that has become synonymous with Houghton recordings, and includes special guest appearances by Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond and Take 6’s Claude V. McKnight, III, Mark Kibble and Joey Kibble, as well as song co-writes with Meleasa Houghton, Aaron Lindsey, Tommy Sims and Michael Gungor. Love God. Love People. blends the musical genres of worship, rock, pop, Gospel and R&B and was recorded and engineered at Abbey Road Studios.

Active as worship leader in his local church, Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church, Houston, Israel has served as worship leader at Hillsong conferences, Franklin Graham crusades, and is a featured CompassionArt songwriter and artist. Israel also ministers through concerts in the U.S. and around the world, has accompanied Alicia Keys at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards for a performance of George Michael's “Freedom '90,” and has performed at the 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards, taking part in a segment saluting Gospel music alongside the likes of Aretha Franklin and BeBe Winans. Houghton has been featured on FOX, CBS, ABC, BET, CNN, TBN and CBN, and has amassed a legion of fans that cross generational and cultural lines. While blasting down barriers, he has been fittingly graced with two Gold-selling albums, three GRAMMY Awards, six Dove Awards, two Stellar Awards and a Soul Train Award.

For more information, go to http://www.israelhoughton.net or www.integritymusic.com.

For more info on Israel Houghton, visit the JFH Artists Database.