Shirley Caesar: the Durham evangelist who became the First Lady of Gospel

She got her chance because someone else could not sing. When the Caravans, one of the great gospel groups of the 1950s, came to Durham, North Carolina, one member was unable to perform. A young local singer named Shirley Caesar asked to step in. The group’s leader, Albertina Walker, was impressed, and Caesar left college to join them.

Durham and the Caravans

Caesar was born in Durham in 1938. Her father was a gospel singer, and she began singing in church as a child. She was singing in public by her early teens and was known locally as “Baby Shirley”. She joined the Caravans in 1958. The group included some of the finest gospel singers of the era, and Caesar’s energetic, preaching style of singing made her a standout. Her performances often included sermonettes, short spoken passages that moved audiences.

Solo career

Caesar left the Caravans in the 1960s to devote herself to evangelism and to start her own group. Her solo career took off. In 1971 she won her first Grammy Award, for “Put Your Hand in the Hand”. She went on to win many more Grammys, as well as Dove and Stellar awards.

First Lady of Gospel

Caesar became known as the “First Lady of Gospel” and the “Queen of Gospel”. Her voice is powerful and raw, and her concerts mix singing, preaching and storytelling. Alongside her music, Caesar has been a pastor and evangelist in North Carolina. She married Bishop Harold Ivory Williams in the 1980s; he died in 2008. In 2016, a clip of Caesar performing her song “Hold My Mule” became a viral internet challenge, introducing her to a new, young audience. Many people who had never heard gospel music were suddenly dancing to her voice.

Honours

Caesar has received honours including a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, recognising her contribution to American music and culture. Many gospel singers, in America and Africa, model their performance on Caesar’s mix of song and sermon. Ghanaian and Nigerian gospel ministers who preach between verses are following a style she helped make famous.

Caesar has been singing for nearly seven decades. The girl who stepped in for a missing singer in Durham became the standard by which gospel performers are measured.