Twenty-one year old Kimone "Kimmie" Alicia Anderson, vibrant singer, choir director and mentor, was catapulted from her friend's burgundy Suzuki in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. as reported by Sun-Sentinel Digest on September 19, 2008.

The highway drive ended with Anderson dead at the scene surrounded by a crowd of onlookers comprised of family, church members, and friends.

Al Archibald is one who can never forget that fateful day-he'd known Anderson for 20 of her 21 years and had been as close to her as a brother.

"I was leaving a youth meeting and I was called to the accident scene. After speaking to the officer on scene, myself and the others awaiting the news were told that the passengers were being transported to the hospital," said Archibald, who was also Anderson's youth pastor. We assumed all was well and went to the hospital, but we only counted four ambulances and there were five people."

Anderson was the only one who did not survive. The news was delivered to a hospital waiting room of 200 people, clamoring to learn of her condition.

Something of a walking motivational poster, Anderson seemed to have touched everyone in her community. So, her death was not only a shock, but a throbbing blow to the belly of the Christian community in South Florida.

"She never had a problem with anyone, she always used Godly principles to settle differences and she would always have an expression of hope for all in need," said Archibald.

Archibald says he lost a "sister" that day, and members making up a new edgy, vibrant Miami-based gospel choir called Level 8, specifically created in her honor, lost a dear friend and a mentor.

Level 8 was birthed September 27 - just a mere eight days after Anderson's death. It was the day of her funeral.

"We had talked about it a few years back-getting together a community choir and we never did it, between Kim, myself and a friend of Kim's, Rasheen Williams. We had several discussions. When Kim passed, we put together a choir in six days to minister at the funeral. They sang to God's glory and blessed me so much, it was as if God was saying, 'Here it is, get it done'-and that we did," Archibald said.

So, why a choir of all things to maintain Anderson's legacy? Well, it was what everyone knew her to be about. She had a voice with its own presence.

Her voice is captured for posterity on the album Fellowship ova Friendship by St. Matthew, a popular reggae artist, on his song "Mysterious Lover." She softly and continuously breaks through the guitars and drums throughout St. Matthew's bars. She is heard.

What's more, her voice still rings in the heart of people like 17-year-old Level 8 member Christina Young.

"If Kimone could see us now,

she'd probably say, 'Remember it's not for me it's for God.'"

Level 8 knew well Anderson's passion for her Christian faith and it provoked the group to continue to carry the torch. They knew they had a responsibility to reach the lost and show them a better way, a new way-a new beginning.

As life is but a breath, Anderson seems to have used hers in full. Level 8 wants to promote this sort of abundant living to all the young people they meet, just as Anderson would have.

"Just to see something that Kimone thought about come true even after her death is amazing, it's like being a part of Martin Luther King's dream. It's an honor," Young, an alto for Level 8.

Comprised of 28 of Anderson's "home boys" and "home girls," including seven band members. the eight in Level 8 - while it is a Biblical allusion to one number higher than 7, the number of completion - the number also signifies the number of Miami-Dade area churches that came together to form Level 8.

Members of the church Anderson attended, Grace United Community Church, as well as young adults from New Life Worship Center, Grace Church of the First Born, M

onument of Faith, Harvest Fire Worship Center,

Fellowship New Testament, Latter Rain Family Worship Center and Living Word Community Church all comprise this choir that some liken to Tye Tribbett's Greater Anointing.

With performances across the state of Florida and requests from the neighboring state of Georgia, Level 8 is on a fast rise to success. The choir has been nominated by South Florida Gospel Music Awards for "Best Gospel Youth Performance" and "Best Gospel Choir of the Year."

Their sound is eclectic. Comprising a jazz vibe, the electronic instrumentation of techno, some rhythmic r&b, reggae, latin, rap and rock, they seem content in not being labeled.

The songs on the current project were all written to help cope with the loss of Anderson. Each song title plays off a particular experience or emotion that occurs during the grief process. The songs are either written about Anderson or written from a first-person perspective, as if Anderson were singing the lyrics herself.

"Song titles tell the story. Titles like "I'm Free" speaks to her being taken away from the misery of the world and brought to heaven; "Redeemed" speaks to the redemptive life after surrendering to Christ, "Beauty from Ashes" says who we were before Christ and who we become afterward," said Archibald, the choir's director.

Level 8's first album

is set to be released January 2011, with the first single set to debut this November. The album title and theme, "The One," is a play on the last three letters in Anderson's first name, Kim"one" and Jesus, "the One we need to make it."

"She was a special one, a person everyone would want to model their daughters after, she was truly one of a kind," Archibald said.

At the time of the accident, Anderson was in her last semester and poised to graduate in December of that year with a double major in Science in Inter-disciplinary studies, including concentrations in pre-med and pre-law. Anderson's Bachelor's degree was even posthumously awarded in a ceremony by Florida Atlantic University.

In the name of Anderson's drive, ambition and achievement, Level 8 is continuing her legacy and celebrating her life. And just as Kim loved being a tool used by God to touch others, Level 8 aims to do the same-at all times, Archibald said.

For more information and to book Level 8, visit: http://www.thisislevel8.com