Already several verses into an old and trusted melody, New Haven-born gospel singer and minister Quan Grant had mentally left the light-soaked stage at the Outer Space and was back in a Sunday church service, moving between the pews as he closed his eyes and cocked his head towards the sky.
“Thank you for loving me,” he sang, lifting his arms high as he formed an L with the fingers of his right hand. A warm light fell onto his face, changing shape and bouncing off of his glasses as he sang.
”I swore I wasn’t going to turn this into church,” he had joked before the song. Friends and family members beamed from the front of the house. Now, amidst audience cries of bless his name!, he held the microphone to keep steady, a spirit of fervent praise nearly bringing him to his knees.
Lucy Gellman Photos
Grant during his performance.
Grant’s gospel performance, part music and part transcendent testimony, was part of “Impact: A Charity Concert,” a fundraiser for the American Liver Foundation held Friday night at the Outer Space. Backed by Grant’s Team Glink, “Impact” sought to honor and protect the legacy of his mother Stephanie, a New Havener who died during liver transplant surgery 10 years ago. Grant battled depression and grief after her death, he said, and credits his faith for pulling him through that dark period. He wanted to spend the evening celebrating her life in ways that she would find most fitting: prayer, love, and charity.
Grant leads a prayer before performing.
“My mom had a huge impact on people’s lives … and I just wanted to share that legacy of giving,” the 30-year-old said between songs, asking the audience to come in close to the stage. “When she was 12, they found a tumor inside of her, and they wouldn’t even give her a 50 percent chance of life — but God pulled her through that. And then they told her: ‘okay, you’re healed, but you’ll never have children.’ I’m here tonight … and I have a younger brother. So I’m here to carry on her legacy and do something she would want to do, something she would be proud of.”
Clark.
“It’s been 10 years, and I just felt like it was time to turn a sad situation into something so positive,” he added after his set. “I know this is something she would want to do. I know she would want to give back. After my mom passed, I didn’t feel honestly like I had a reason to live. You want your mom to see you graduate from college, you want her to see you get married … when that person’s not here, you say: ‘what do I live for now?’ It was God that showed me that I still have purpose — that I can still live and do things that made her proud.”
Nowhere was that more evident than in the evening’s performances, most of which transformed the craft beer and music venue into a song-filled place of worship.
Oyola.
Jones.
New Haven comedian Davey Lozano took a step back from an otherwise very funny set to remind the audience not to give up on their dreams and sense of purpose. Vocalist TJ Clark, who is releasing an album later this spring, shook his nerves to deliver a soft, heartfelt acoustic set of three praise songs. A hop-hop poet wowed the crowd with his intimate and candid lyrics, and New Havener José Oyola gave a solo set that reinvigorated members of the audience who were feeling the late hours creep in.
”Quan and his singers really ministered to my soul tonight,” said American Liver Foundation representative Denise Jones, who was moved close to tears later in the evening as Grant sang. “I know that God is good. The reason I came to work for the American Liver Foundation is because my aunt died from liver disease, and it was important for me to work for an organization that does something that’s positive for people who are suffering from liver disease. We are living in the most organized, most civilized, richest country in the world, and no one should be dying from liver disease …so thank you for your time tonight.”
Those words were music to Grant’s ears. As another performer took the stage, asking New Haveners, Hamdenites, and others what they were going to do for their fellow man, Grant nodded. He relaxed his shoulders and bowed his head, listening intently, ready for a Friday night prayer.
