TV REVIEWS : ‘Stellar Awards’ Spotlight on Gospel Singers

Now may be a more appropriate time than ever for mainstream music fans to tune in to that annual celebration of gospel, “The Stellar Awards” (at 11 p.m. Sunday on KCAL-TV Channel 9). Not because black gospel has been making inroads commercially, but because R&B; as a genre has so been tipping its hat to its roots lately--and, conversely, gospel growing so contemporized--that a lot of this stuff won’t sound all that foreign to anyone who skips church to listen to hit radio.

The two-hour telecast is a first-class affair that, for the moment, makes you forget the commercial ghettoization of gospel. The presenters--more than a dozen African American TV series regulars--may be better known to most viewers than the nominees themselves, but the performances offer a quick, appealing primer. (And unlike most other opportunities to experience live gospel, there’s the safety of a definite ending time.)

Not all the genre’s aficionados will appreciate the fairly glitzy trappings in this special (taped at Chicago’s Auditorium Theater in November, but scheduled for airing in conjunction with Martin Luther King Day celebrations). And the extremity of co-host Clifton Davis’ cheerful enunciation cuts the grit factor in half all by itself.

But the grins and gowns are a small price to pay for a lineup that ranges from legend Albertina Walker to new-artist nominees, the Kurt Franklin Family Singers.

Highlights include perpetual gospel chart-toppers the Mississippi Mass Choir; Stephanie Mills fronting the crowd-pleasing Tri-City Singers; Ricky Dillard, the “Leap of Faith” film’s choir director, with his New Generation Chorale; Mavis Staples, providing some welcome lower-register fireworks with a track from her recent Prince-produced album; and Company, a male sextet that, while not the hottest thing happening here, does effectively demonstrate the bridge between this body of work and all the gospel-influenced vocal groups out now like Boyz II Men.