From Lansing to the World: Dr. LaVonté Heard Celebrates 10 Years of Doxology Live and a Doctoral Milestone
For years, Dr. LaVonté L. Heard was content to keep moving forward through education, performance and service. He earned degree after degree, took on new opportunities and continued building a life centered on excellence. Celebration, however, was something he often avoided. “I refused to have anything for the four degrees I’ve earned over the years,” Heard said with a laugh, adding that he once thought such celebrations were “kind of tacky.”
That changes Nov. 28, when Heard will allow himself the opportunity to be celebrated. The Doxology X Concert Gala will mark both the 10-year anniversary of Doxology Live and Heard’s completion of a doctorate in educational leadership. The evening will bring together music, scholarship, faith, community and a journey that stretches from Lansing to Central State University and onto stages around the world. “This gala is a moment where I have finally conceded to be celebrated for my many years of service to art and education, as well as the pursuit of scholarship,” Heard said.
Heard said he did not fully understand the impact he had made on others when he was younger. Over time, however, he began to realize how many people had been touched by his work in music, education and ministry. The gala gives him an opportunity to acknowledge those relationships rather than simply move on to the next accomplishment. “This gala is an opportunity to celebrate with the people who have supported me through this journey,” he said.
The music that refused to fade
The story of Doxology began long before there was an album. Heard first imagined the project while an undergraduate student at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, where he sang with a group of friends called the Priesthood and wrote music for them. The group wanted to record, but money was limited and completing a project proved difficult. By the time Heard was ready to move forward, he was preparing for graduate school and the group had gone in different directions.
While studying at Louisiana State University, Heard formed new friendships and revisited the idea of recording his music. He eventually decided to return to Lansing and create a live recording that would showcase the material he had written. The community showed up in large numbers to support the project, giving Doxology Live a foundation Heard had not fully expected. “The community came out in numbers for that recording,” he recalled.
At the time, Heard said, he did not fully understand the business side of releasing music. He lacked significant funds for post-production and was still learning how the industry worked. What he did have was music that reflected his faith, his artistic voice and the place he occupied in life at the time. “This music came out of my soul and spoke to where I was at the time and my devotion to worship,” Heard said.
The project’s unconventional style once made Heard question how far it could go. He worried that its non-commercial sound might limit its reach or longevity. Looking back a decade later, he sees that concern very differently. “I couldn’t have been more wrong,” Heard said. As Heard has revisited the arrangements in preparation for the anniversary gala, the music has taken on new meaning. Songs he wrote as a teenager and young adult now reveal layers he says he could not fully appreciate at the time. Preparing the music again has forced him to hear his younger self with new ears. “I have been left speechless at the beauty and depth of music given to me as a teenager and young adult,” he said.
One voice preserved in the project has become especially precious to Heard. His grandmother, known to the family simply as Mama, appeared on the album and became part of its lasting legacy. She died unexpectedly in 2020, and Heard said the loss left him questioning whether he wanted to continue making music at all. “I still struggle doing life without her sometimes, but I will never forget her voice because of Doxology,” he said.
A Lansing foundation
Although Heard’s education and performing career eventually carried him far beyond Michigan, he traces much of his foundation back to Lansing. As a boy, he danced with the Brand New Me Workshop African Masquerade Dancers, where he learned discipline, self-pride and the importance of community service. Those early lessons became part of the values he later carried into education, ministry and leadership. Lansing, he said, gave him many of the people and experiences that first taught him what excellence could look like.
His musical development continued through churches, classrooms and mentors across the city. Andrea Singleton of The Singletons recognized his voice when he was young, while his grandmother encouraged him to sing in the music ministry at Christ Temple. He studied band with Sallie Jones, jazz with Tom Jones and organ with Dr. Darnell Ishmel. Heard remembers Ishmel as the first Black man he ever heard sing classical music.
Heard credits his first music teacher, Verna D. Holley, with opening an entirely new world to him. During a piano lesson, Holley invited him to join the Historic Earl Nelson Singers Company, where he began performing in eighth grade and continued through high school. He later returned to sing with the group whenever he came home. Holley and the late Sandy Patterson also helped make it possible for Heard to study with Professor Richard Fracker at Michigan State University while he was still in high school.
Eventually, Holley and Angela Dillard-Warren pointed Heard toward Dr. William Henry Caldwell at Central State University. Heard describes choosing Central State as one of the most consequential decisions of his life. The historically Black university provided both rigorous musical training and a sense of confidence he would carry into his career. “It is the best decision I ever made,” he said.
Central State and the confidence to belong
Heard speaks about Central State with the kind of affection reserved for places that fundamentally alter the direction of a life. The university taught him to overprepare, take his work seriously and enter unfamiliar spaces with the understanding that he belonged there. Those lessons followed him beyond the classroom and into an international performing career. “Central State made me an international star,” Heard said.
Heard said opportunities connected to his Central State experience helped him make performing debuts in Europe, Asia and South America. The relationships and training he gained there also contributed to later work with the Jeremy Winston Chorale International and EXIGENCE. For Heard, the value of the HBCU experience extends far beyond graduation day. “Once you graduate from an HBCU, it stays with you,” he said.
His education continued at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and later at Central Michigan University, where he earned a doctorate in educational leadership. Each institution added another layer to his understanding of leadership, scholarship and service. Heard said those academic experiences worked alongside his performance background to give him confidence to create something of his own. That confidence ultimately helped shape the vision behind Transcendence Performing Arts Centers, Inc.
Heard said his education also sharpened the values that guide his leadership today. He believes leadership requires love, integrity, courage and an unwillingness to compromise on excellence. His experiences also strengthened his commitment to confronting racism wherever he encounters it. “I learned to lead with love and integrity, to fiercely combat racism wherever it shows its head, to make no apology for excellence and to fear no man,” Heard said.
A night built around excellence
Guests attending the Doxology X Concert Gala can expect far more than a retrospective. The evening will feature live appearances from Grammy Award winner Merkell Williams, saxophonist Derick Oaks, and Alfred Singleton III of the Stellar Award-nominated Singletons family. Heard will also lead a full concert tribute to Doxology alongside friends and a live house band. The evening will include food, fellowship, celebration and dancing.
Heard describes the gala as an elegant affair centered on music, memory and community. It is intended to recognize both what has already been accomplished and the people who helped make those accomplishments possible. The event also gives him a chance to connect his educational achievements with the musical legacy of Doxology Live. In that sense, the evening functions as both a milestone celebration and a thank-you. “This celebration is my tribute to the community,” Heard said. He is especially aware that the gala falls during Thanksgiving weekend, when families may already be balancing travel and holiday traditions. Still, he hopes Lansing residents will see the event as something larger than a personal achievement. He wants it to reflect the talent, creativity and perseverance that continue to come from the city. “I want people to come out and join in a celebration that is a testament to the greatness that comes from Lansing every day,” Heard said. He believes the city is filled with artists doing remarkable work locally, nationally and internationally. His own journey, he said, has required faith and perseverance through difficult seasons. “I’m here because God has graced me to persevere through many hardships,” Heard said.
Heard makes no attempt to minimize the importance of the evening. He wants guests to expect a polished, memorable and meaningful experience. “This is not an event you want to miss,” he said. “Excellence is the hallmark of my creed.”
For a man who spent years resisting the spotlight, Nov. 28 may ultimately be about more than finally accepting applause. It is also about recognizing the teachers, family members, institutions and communities that helped shape his path. From Lansing to Central State and beyond, Heard’s story is one of talent strengthened by mentorship and ambition grounded in service. This time, he is allowing himself to stand still long enough to celebrate it.
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