Grammy award winning gospel singer Shirley Ceasar will perform tonight at 6 at the Humphrey Coliseum. With the student gospel choir Black Voices, the singer labeled the “first lady of gospel” will take the stage at an event also sponsored by Music Maker Productions.
“We are pumped about seeing Shirley,” said Black Voices vice president Joe Long, who has been singing gospel music since he was 5. “She’s the premier gospel woman of the world, traveling from country to country.”
Through the production of over 40 albums since the ’60s, she has received 18 Dove, 13 Stellar and 11 Grammy awards.
The North Carolina native has also received the NAACP Achievement Award, McDonald’s Golden Circle Lifetime Achievement Award and an induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
Caesar has been featured in other areas of entertainment, such as the soundtrack for the motion picture “Prince of Egypt” and the gospel Broadway, “Mamma, I want to Sing.”
“She has a strong presence, one that I’m used to seeing only on TV,” Long said.
President of Black Voices, James Strong said, “The most important thing is that distraught People’s lives will be changed.”
“Her music is so uplifting, I can’t even put it into words,” he said. “She truly is an insightful anointed woman of God.”
Maria White, director of the campus Cultural Diversity Center, also advises the Black Voices with their projects, including the concert.
“This allows music to reach across boundaries,” said White. “There is a message in her music for everybody,” she said. White accredits the event solely to the Black Voices.
“Their contribution to the campus is the product of hard work,” she said. “They put this whole thing together.
Students with identification can buy tickets for $10. They also sell in advance for $15 at MSU Athletic Ticket Office, Bebop Records and Bryan’s Records and Pets in Columbus. In Tupelo, they are sold at the Bancorp South Center and Ticket Alley.
Online purchases are at ticketweb.com. At the door adults can pay $20 and $10 for children between the ages of 5 and 10.