"Yolanda Yvette Adams"   (born August 27, 1961) is an American multi-platinum gospel singer, record producer, actress, and radio host on WBLS. As of September 2009, she had sold 4.5 million albums since 1991 in the United States, and nearly 8 million albums worldwide according to SoundScan.
On December 11, 2009, Billboard Magazine named her the No. 1 Gospel Artist of the last decade.  In the same chart, her album Mountain High...Valley Low was acknowledged as the best gospel album.  The oldest of six siblings, Adams was born in Houston, Texas. She graduated from Sterling High School in Houston in 1979. After graduating from Texas Southern University, she began a career as a schoolteacher and part-time model in Houston.  Eventually she gave up teaching to perform full-time as a singer.
In total, Adams has won four Grammy Awards, sixteen Stellar Gospel Music Awards, four of the Gospel Music Association's Dove Awards, one American Music Award, seven NAACP Image Awards, one Soul Train Music Award, and five BET Awards.