Source: Ben Tankard Publicity / Ben Tankard
Nashville, TN — With almost 30 years of award-winning, platinum-selling, chart-topping radio hits, Ben Tankard’s “Rise” marks his first #1 Billboard Smooth Jazz Airplay single. “Rise” also rose to the #1 spot on the Mediabase Smooth Jazz Radio Chart and Smooth Jazz Top 20 with Allen Kepler on SmoothJazzNetwork.com. Emerging right on the heels of “Rise” is Tankard’s new follow-up single and official music video “Afternoon Nap”.
“Afternoon Nap” features Kyle Schroeder on sax and is the second single from Tankard’s Billboard Chart Topping Jazz Album release RISE. Tankard wrote the song to refresh the listener and be a musical backdrop to help them dream big and rest in the favor of God. “Afternoon Nap” is already on Billboard’s Most Added for SmoothJazz Radio songs. Listen To and Watch “Afternoon Nap”
In addition to his chart-topping successes, Tankard announces his Spring/Summer “Small Church Tour“. Tankard is a licensed pilot and owns two small airplanes which allow him to land on shorter runways and get into places where commercial airlines do not serve.
“I believe God takes you to #1 to put you in position to reach back and bless others,” Tankard shares. “We are thankful that with the help of Shell Aviation and Walmart, we are able to co-sponsor the costs and make appearances to smaller venues and areas that normally would not be able to afford to have a big name artist come to their city or church. I grew up in small towns (Starke, FL – population 5,307 and Chattahoochee, FL – population 3,103) and I have a heart for the underdog.”
“I play jazz festivals with audiences up to 30,000 people, but I still believe those people sitting in a church with less than 300 still love my music and deserve to experience a musical Evening With Ben,” says Tankard. “This year we are going to try to reach more of those precious souls. Jesus wants us to go into the hedges and highways, NOT just the places where the stars and celebrities hang out.”
No stranger to worldwide success (and failure), Tankard is a former NBA player who early on experienced a career-ending injury that sent him into depression and searching for answers at a small church. It was in the small church revival that Tankard received Christ and was miraculously gifted to play the piano. Since then, he has rebounded from basketball to become the best-selling Gospel/Jazz Artist of all-time, a 15-time Stellar Award winner and inducted into The Stellar Music Hall of Fame, sold 15 Gold and 6 Platinum records, and has earned numerous Dove, Grammy, Soul Train Awards and most recently a 2019 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Jazz Recording. All of this from a man who never had piano lessons and nor read music!
To top it off, Tankard’s family reality TV show Thicker Than Ever: The Tankards is in pre-production shooting now! The Tankard family will be shooting season 4 of their reality TV show this Spring/Summer and will no doubt have a camera crew in tow on some of the concert appearances. Who knows, your church may be seen on national TV next season!
As a reality TV Dad, musician, pilot, NBA motivational speaker, big & tall clothing designer, Tankard has his hands full of work but his heart is truly full of love for people and God’s work. He Pastors the Destiny Center Church (at no salary) and operates an outreach called Urban Eagles to expose kids to aviation.
Contact Asheia Wynn Leonard at 615-907-0185 to book your spot on the 2019 Small Church Tour. Sponsors are in place to help out and no church is too large or too small for Tankard to appear as a speaker or musician.
Courtesy of www.thebellereport.com
