R&B singer Jonte Short finds church resistance in New Orleans.

IN A MAJOR photo feature The Sunday Times Magazine ran an article on Jonte Short, who has recently joined new band Fried, led by Englishman David Steele, formerly the bassist and chief songwriter with hitmakers Fine Young Cannibals. Journalist Robert Sandall accompanied Short to the Ebenezer Tabernacle New Baptist church in New Orleans where she sang. The article reported, "After the three hour worshipful marathon, everybody is civil. But the next day, Short receives a stream of complaints about the intrusive media contingent and the inappropriateness of her singing in God's house when she's on the payroll of Madonna's record label. It transpires that in this poor neighbourhood in the Deep South, there is still such a thing as 'the devil's music'. As a gospel singer, you can use your God-given voice for scriptural purposes, or stand accused of selling it to the other side. Which is what many of the Ebenezer faithful believe Short has done. She has attended church every Sunday, all her life, but she doesn't expect to be invited to sing with her family in the Ebenezer Baptist choir for the foreseeable future."