Mervin Mayo’s “God Did It” album released April 26. For more information, visit mervinmayo.com or @mervinmayo on Instagram. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Richmond police officer and minister Mervin Mayo, who went viral in 2020 with his cover of the Marvin Sapp song “The Best in Me,” released a follow-up album on April 26, titled “God Did It.”
An East End native, as a kid Mayo hung around a police substation, where he was befriended by two officers, Curtis Simmons and Gerald Tuck. The duo worked with the nonprofit Police Athletic League, which aims to keep kids out of trouble through programming such as trips to amusement parks and sporting events.
“It was a miracle for me, the best thing that happened to me,” Mayo says. “Growing up in Creighton Court, we didn’t have a lot of money. ... [PAL] made me see things I would’ve never seen and be in places that I probably would’ve never gone. It made me a better person and made me realize there was more than what was around my block.”
The experience inspired Mayo to become a police officer himself. “I wanted to basically do the same thing the [PAL program] did for me for other young men and women growing up in poverty-stricken areas,” he says.
Mayo found music through happenstance. “I started going to church when I was 13 and joined the choir,” he explains, adding that he performed rap for a time, but once his manager heard him sing, he was advised to “glaze over” rap and focus on singing. Mayo chose gospel music for the feelings it evokes. “I just love to sing gospel music and I just get God praised through my voice,” he says, noting he is also an ordained minister of music at Truth Ministries.
Mervin Mayo (Photo courtesy God’s Glory Music Group)
“The Gospel Cop” has been uploading music videos to his YouTube channel for 15 years, each typically garnering around 30 views. But in 2020, Mayo’s videos started gaining traction. “The remake of Marvin Sapp’s ‘The Best in Me’ got shared by some celebrities, I think, and it blew up,” he says. “The next morning, it had like 2 or 3 million views.” Subsequent videos met with similar success. “And then it just kept going.”
While Mayo has a passion for music, he also cares deeply about his job as a resource officer at an alternative school. “The kids have been kicked out of all other schools, so this is the last resort for them,” he says. “There were times growing up where I could’ve been arrested, but the officers granted me grace. ... My job actually is to keep the kids out of jail. That’s why I don’t want to leave, because I have a rapport with these kids and their parents, and I love my job. ... I just love working with the kids.”
Mayo found a way to get the best of both worlds by signing with Warner Music Group as a partner, which gives him creative control over the kind of music he produces and makes. “It’s a 50-50 cut, which means all the production, music and everything comes out of my pocket,” Mayo says. “Now, the promotion and all that stuff, the record label does. What I don’t have control over is when it actually gets released; Warner Music makes that decision.”
The first single from the album, “God Did It,” debuted in June 2023; Mayo followed it with “The Best Friend,” which earned radio play. “I’m in the top 28 on the Billboard gospel charts, which is really good,” he says. “Once you get into the top 30, it’s pretty good.”
