Album Notes

Batiste was exposed to the world of music at a very early age. With their father being a pianist, songwriter and former member of the Southern University Marching Band in Baton Rouge, LA, and their mother’s love for the Saturday morning oldies station extravaganzas, Batiste naturally developed a deep passion for music. On any given day at the Batiste household, you could always find someone playing the piano, and someone else singing and/or dancing aloud, and this would become the foundation of a special musical experience born thru Batiste.

Lionel and Lyndon, with Lionel (Ray) being the oldest, are four years apart in age and shared a room together practically all their life. Out of this closeness a bond formed beyond brotherhood, into friendship. It was not known if music would become a serious part of their lives as they were growing up. Because their father and mother are graduates of Southern University, education was high priority in the Batiste household and each child was steered towards higher education to obtain a college degree. Batiste would follow their parent’s admonishment with both Ray and Lyndon graduating from Morehouse College in 1999 and 2004, respectfully.

It all began in the year 1996. Lyndon was asked to sing at a Black History program for his middle school chorus performance. Lyndon asked his chorus teacher if his brother could sing with him and if his father could accompany them, on the piano, with his version of ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing.’ For the first time, Batiste performed together and the vision was born.

Initially, Batiste wanted to sing secular music, but after singing for a talent director he suggested that they think about singing Gospel. The director thought they should sing gospel because all of their audition songs were gospel. After some soul searching, Ray and Lyndon decided they would sing gospel, but the only problem was that they did not have any gospel roots or influences. Raised in the Roman Catholic Church, Batiste was never exposed to traditional African-American Gospel music. In fact, one of Batiste’ greatest concerns was whether or not they would be accepted by the gospel community since they had no traditional gospel influences in their music.

Batiste expressed their concerns to their Father and he immediately decided to take his sons under his wing and prepare them for their future endeavor. He began writing gospel songs for them and training them vocally. For years, their intense training took place in the front room of their home with one piano, a coach/songwriter, and two voices dedicated to singing for God.

As Batiste matured vocally, and their vision expanded, they began writing lyrics. And, after building their own home studio, they began producing their music. Now, ten long years of preparation and growth, their debut album is here.