gpg:sign goal hanging build.

i am attempting to release:perform with gpg signing but the gpg:sign is hanging. i have tried waiting for over an hour, but it does not progress.
there is no prompt for a passphrase, and i have tried providing -Dgpg.passphrase=xxxxx and it still hangs.

my config is as follows:
<scm>
<url>https://maven-replacer-plugin.googlecode.com/svn/</url>
<connection>scm:svn:https://maven-replacer-plugin.googlecode.com/svn/</connection>
<developerConnection>scm:svn:https://maven-replacer-plugin.googlecode.com/svn/</developerConnection>
</scm>
<distributionManagement>
<snapshotRepository>
<id>sonatype-nexus-snapshots</id>
<name>Sonatype Nexus Snapshots</name>
<url>http://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots</url>
</snapshotRepository>
<repository>
<id>sonatype_oss</id>
<name>Sonatype OSS</name>
<url>http://oss.sonatype.org/service/local/staging/deploy/maven2/</url>
</repository>
</distributionManagement>

<developers>
<developer>
<id>bakersemail@hotmail.com</id>
<name>Steven Baker</name>
<email>bakersemail@hotmail.com</email>
</developer>
</developers>

<profiles>
<profile>
<id>release-sign-artifacts</id>
<activation>
<property>
<name>performRelease</name>
<value>true</value>
</property>
</activation>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-gpg-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.0</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>sign-artifacts</id>
<phase>verify</phase>
<goals>
<goal>sign</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</profile>
</profiles>