The Life and Times of LaShun Pace, Gospel Singer, and Songwriter
How a gaping hole has been left on the gospel stages and TikTok.
March 21, 2022, Gospel singer, songwriter, Stellar Award winner, and Evangelist, LaShun Pace, 60 years old, of The Anointed Pace Sisters, got her wings and left a legacy to be cherished and adored forever. She was a singer with a bright smile that has shown from within to without as that light has been dimmed with her transition.
Most recently on TikTok her “Act Like You Know” became a viral sensation. She performed like no other as her lyrics penetrated beyond the walls where she sang. Her spirit touched many hearts, young and old, illuminating life lessons for all to do and be.
LaShun Pace was born, on September 6, 1961, into a Gospel performing family to Pastor Murphy J. Pace and Bettie Ann Pace in Atlanta. During the mid-1970s, she appeared on the gospel scene performing solo and later with her siblings, “The Anointed Pace Sisters, ( Duranice, Phyllis, June, Melonda, Dejuaii, Leslie, Latrice, and Lydia).
While on tour with the Rev. Gene Martin and the Action Revival Team, her singing and ministering skills blossomed and this led to her recording in 1988, “In the House of the Lord” with Jonathan Greer and the Cathedral of Faith Church of God in Christ Choirs for Savory Records.
After this success, Pace was signed to do solo with Savoy Records and in 1990, she debuted her album, “He Lives” and it garnered her the number two spot on the Billboard gospel charts and featured her signature song “I Know I’ve Been Changed”.
Success after success, next came Pace’s follow-up song “Shekinah Glory” in 1993. On the hills of that success, “Wealthy Place” followed which was inclusive of the song “Act Like You Know” which featured Karen Valencia Clark Sheard, Grammy Award-winning Gospel singer, musician, songwriter, and businesswoman.
Pace had successive releases, i.e. 1998’s “Just Because God Sait it”. Not only did her bright light shine on the music stage but the television world, alike. As an actress, she co-starred as the Angle of Mercy in the 1992 Steve Martin film, “Leap of Faith,” a renowned successful film akin to a classic.
This lady was unstoppable to the very end. In 2003, Pace released her autobiography, “For My Good But For His Glory” as she candidly shared difficult times of her life such as when her first-born daughter, Xenia, died of a heart attack the result of an enlarged heart.
All of her successes, lead to her being inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2009, LaShun was nominated for The Urban Performer of the Year in the Visionary Awards.
According to 11Alive, Pace had been on dialysis for five years awaiting a kidney transplant, and died due to organ failure. The 11Alive called her the baddest soprano to ever walk this earth.
Family members that proceeded her death were her sister, Duranice Pace, and Mom, Pastor Betty Pace. Death always comes at what appears to the living the wrong time but is there ever a good time for loved ones to leave this earth?
In conclusion, Pace sang her way into many hearts who will forever hear her voice through her sisters, on her albums, and in the hearts that were moved to a level beyond explaining with mere words. May Pace, RIP as she made a difference in the world, left a legacy, and sang her heart out, literally.
For additional reads:
