CD/DVD

Live from Cincinnati, Bringing' It Home Word/Warner Bros. CD, $17.99; DVD, $14.99 Live in Cincinnati, Bringing' It Home was filmed onstage at the Aronoff Center in June, for the Christian music phenomenon's first DVD/CD package. Highlights from Mullen's high-energy show include her early hits, such as "Black White Tan," sung with her 9-year-old daughter, Jasmine; "Shooby," "Homemade" and "Redeemer," sung in both English and Spanish. Mullen unveils a new song, "Music Of My Heart," a pretty ballad sung with a pure, bright soprano.

Nicole C. Mullen visits some of her old Cincinnati haunts - sometimes on a Cincinnati Metro bus - filmed on location for her first DVD:

• Poppie's in Madisonville - We see Mullen chomping down on hot metts, Grippo's barbecue chips (extra hot) and Icees. "I love going there every time I'm there," she says.

• Her family's house, Kennedy Heights - Growing up in the Coleman home, the house was full of people, including adopted and foster kids.

Her dad, who was her first musical role model, has a velvety baritone that could be mistaken for Nat "King" Cole. When she was a baby, Dad nicknamed her "Bubbles," because she was a chubby child who got stuck under a sink.

Mom gets emotional, saying that RCA Records wanted to sign Nicole, but "Mama said no." At 17, she put her daughter on a bus for Bible college in Dallas. She told her to sing to the Lord - not for people, "because people like you today, tomorrow they won't."

• The bus stop, Kennedy Heights - The pole across the street from her house, where Nicole and her sisters caught the bus to school, inspiring the song, "Homemade."

• New Life Temple in Madisonville, her church, and New Life Christian Academy, her school.

• Baby Girls Club: Footage from Franklin, Tenn., shows Mullen dancing with the young girls she mentors when she's in town.

• Childhood influences: Mullen's longtime friend, Cecelia Jackson, says "She was always a child that knew her purpose and destiny. ... She was born for music."

Janelle Gelfand