Pastor Thency Dennis is going to the Linkage Awards in New York on March 16 and she couldn't be happier. "I have been invited and I am so excited," she tells THE STAR, "and it's all because of the CD."

The CD is her latest album, We Praise His Name, which was produced by Sidney Mills of SPI Music. A couple of the songs on the album - We Praise His Name and It's A Celebration - have been doing well in the United States (US), the United Kingdom and some Caribbean territories. The impact of her music has also brought her much recognition in the Mount Vernon community where she serves as a pastor and which prompted her invitation to the Linkage Awards show, which is in its fourth year.

significant contribution

The awards show pays tribute to players in the entertainment industry, including deejays, artistes, and journalists who have made significant contribution to the media and entertainment landscape, and will be held at the Thornton School Auditorium in Mount Vernon, New York.

Pastor Dennis has always had music coursing through her veins. She was born in St James and grew up loving music. "Since I was a child I have loved music. I grew up listening to Sam Cook, Ben E. King and Bob Marley. As a little girl, I was always singing," said the humble, well-spoken pastor, who, in search of a better life, migrated to the United States in the late 1960s when she was but a teenager. "I was brought up in a very poor background, but rich in the word of God, and I didn't leave that behind when I left for the United States." On arriving in the US, Dennis pursued and received her high-school diploma and set about in pursuit of higher education but music was never far from her heart. After spending a few years trying to find her niche, she recorded her first album at RCI Studio in Elmsford and then another shortly after called Yeshua Is Coming, Hallelujah. She toiled hard to pay for the production of both albums.

On this latest album is a song, one of her favourites called Can't Say Goodbye that she was inspired by her quest for closure after spending years mourning the loss of her mother in 2007. "It's about not being able to say goodbye to my mother," she said. "I have been singing it for a while."