BET’s Sunday Best and America’s Got Talent participant Bay Turner didn’t win either competition, but he believes they were part of God’s plan to get him to where he is now. However, four years after entering those shows and beginning to make strides toward being signed by a Christian record label, doctors told Turner that his vocal cord was damaged beyond repair, meaning he could never sing again.
To even possibly heal, Turner had to be completely silent for three months. He couldn’t talk, much less sing. But God used that time even more than if Turner had spent it in intensive vocal training.
“I learned about His heart for me,” Turner said. “It wasn’t until that silent time that I began to hear from Him, that I really began to understand His heart for me. Singing was my identity. It was who I was.”
Put on pause
“I think God had to pause me and take me off of my track to stop me for long enough to realize that my identity was not as a singer but as a son of God,” Turner noted. “When I was able to figure out the distinction between who I am in Christ and my gifting, that’s when God gave me my voice back.”
Joy
This journey led to his first single, “Brand New,” released May 3.
The song is about the joy Turner felt knowing that God performed a miracle on his body. Turner also wanted to encourage new and seasoned believers to participate in that same joy.
“Whoever listens to this music, I wanted them to feel that absolute joy come through their radio or their phone or wherever they are listening from,” he continued.
Another yet-to-be-released song that is a personal favorite of Turner’s is “Better Days.” It was his first song written with Centricity Music and is targeted to those who need hope and have been beaten up by life.
‘Better days are coming’
Turner said he has had to remember and lean on the Scripture about Jesus being near to the brokenhearted during his own times of being in that state.
“I wrote that song for the person who hasn’t experienced a breakthrough or a miracle yet, just to give them hope that better days are coming,” Turner said.
Starting out as an extremely shy child who never sang in front of anyone, it took his parents’ divorce, mixed tapes from a gas station and a 1 ½-hour drive to give him what he needed to eventually use his gift to encourage Christians and to glorify God.
During those drives to and from his dad’s house for visitation, he listened to mixed tapes of various genres of music, especially soul singers. During the week between visits, he practiced the songs and inflections the vocalists used. To continue learning these vocal nuances, he focused on music in college.
God using gifts
Turner then learned voice through a different avenue than planned. He landed in a classical opera program “on accident” and ended up traveling the world as an opera singer. After finding the opera world didn’t line up with his beliefs, he turned to Christian music and began leading worship alongside the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.
Turner performed on Sunday Best in 2020 just prior to his vocal cord injury, and his shyness really left as he performed on AGT in 2022. He knew that “a little bit of trepidation is normal,” but he was totally at peace.
He remembered AGT judge Heidi Klum saying that as soon as he started singing, there was something special about him she couldn’t put her finger on.
“Of course as a Christian, knowing about our giftings — just the power that music has and honestly, the power that the Lord has through using you and your gifts — I realize that they were really saying, ‘We could sense Jesus in you.’
“That really gave me a real boost of confidence knowing that if I do this thing the right way and keep Christ in the center, there’s really nothing that I can’t do. God’s going to take care of it,” Turner said.
Building the Kingdom
Signing with a Christian label — much like his path toward singing opera — could be taken as circumstantial, but Turner knows both were God’s plan.
After his television appearances, he was noticed on Instagram and invited to go to an independent artists’ retreat where he fell in love with some of Christian music’s talent and staff. He made an impulse decision to move to Nashville.
“I told the Lord, ‘In six months, if nothing happens, then I’ll go home and I’ll do something else with my life. But I feel like I need to capitalize on this opportunity with Centricity — these people I just met, this community I was just introduced to.’
“On the first week of the sixth month in Nashville, I was offered a record deal with Centricity,” he said.
Through all of these ups and downs, Turner has learned that he can do nothing without Christ.
“In order to walk out this life the right way as a Christian singer-songwriter, you have to have your heart and your mind in the right space.
Singing is not first and foremost as a Christian singer-songwriter, he noted.
“First and foremost is the gospel message,” he added, “and first and foremost is building the Kingdom and glorifying the name of Jesus. Second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth is the singing part.”
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