Nashville, TN ­ Gospo Centric Records recording artist Natalie Wilson & The S.O.P. Chorale are defining the true pleasures of life on their sophomore release, The Good Life, which is set to release on October 21. The album is the much-anticipated follow up to their 2000 debut release, Girl Director, for which they captured three 2002 Stellar Award nominations.

"I can see the Lord giving the group more discipline and focus ­ and a very clear direction since the first album ­ of who we are, where we¹re going and what we are to do. He has definitely refined us in that time, and we¹ve become more polished in the sharing of the gifts He¹s given us," says Wilson.

Natalie Wilson & The S.O.P.'s distinctive sound is instantly recognizable on The Good Life, but the new album showcases the maturity that the choir has developed over the past few years. The Good Life still features live strings and horns, and the music still has a street, edgy, urban beat flowing through it. But this time, there are more ballads and mid-tempo tunes included on the album and the vocals are tighter than they¹ve ever been before.

"There¹s a gentler flow to this album," Wilson says of The Good Life. "I think that comes from growth and change in the content of our hearts and character, and it¹s very much reflected in the lyrics of our songs. Each of the songs embraces one aspect or another of what, as Christians, we live and know as the good life."

Wilson became the director of The S.O.P. Chorale in 1992 after the devastating death of her brother, the director for the chorale at the time. The choir, formed at the St. Paul Cathedral in Newark, New Jersey, is known for launching the career of Faith Evans, and the group¹s first independent album gained national popularity despite the lack of marketing and promotion. Wilson, formally trained at a Church of God in Christ Bible school and an ordained minister in the national Sounds of Praise ministry, became the first woman to lead a nationally-known, major label gospel choir when she and the chorale signed with Gospo Centric Records in 2000. Even with the growing success of the chorale, Wilson maintains the choir¹s original mission, which is to show the young members of the choir a working, living faith in Christ.