The Mississippi Mass Choir is an American gospel choir based in Jackson, Mississippi.
After wrestling with the idea of forming a mass choir, Frank Williams, a member of The Jackson Southernaires and an executive in the gospel music division of Malaco Records, decided to form The Mississippi Mass Choir. First, he got the record company’s support. Then, he began calling on Mississippi talents like David R. Curry Jr., who became the choir’s music director.
Having the foundation laid, open auditions were held and more than 100 voices from across the state came together to form The Mississippi Mass Choir. After months of rehearsals, the choir recorded their first album and video The Mississippi Mass Choir live on October 29, 1988.
“I was drafted into the choir,” said lead singer Mosie Burks. “I’d never felt qualified to the standard they were looking for. I was very excited to get to audition and then join. Being together with all the saints has been a joy to me.”
Doris Vickers also answered the first call for auditions back in 1988.
“We had so much energy because we were so much younger,” she said with a laugh. “It seems we just hit the ground running after that first rehearsal. We started getting invitations from all over.”
In the spring of 1989, five weeks after their debut album was released, Billboard magazine certified it as the Number 1 Spiritual album in the country. The album stayed on the Billboard charts for a consecutive 45 weeks, setting a new record for gospel recordings. At the 9th annual James Cleveland GMWA Awards, the Mississippi Mass won the Choir of the Year-Contemporary, and Best New Artist of the Year-Traditional. They also walked away with four Stellar Awards in 1989 and were nominated in several categories for the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards and Dove Awards.
The choir’s next project, God Gets The Glory, in 1990, debuted on the Billboard chart in the Number 16 position, reaching Number 1 position two weeks later. Awards followed https://www.glenerinpharmacy.com/buy-viagra-online/ with the release of the album. One of the most treasured albums released by the choir was the one on January 1993; It Remains To Be Seen. It maintained the Number 1 position for twelve months. The special part of the album is that it contains the last recorded performance of the choir’s founder, Frank Williams, who died on March 22, 1993.
The choir has ministered in song in over 40 states within the USA, including Alaska. They have traveled to Japan, Italy, Spain, Bahamas, and Greece; becoming the first gospel group to perform at the Acropolis. While attending the Umbria Jazz Gospel and Soul Easter Festival in Terni, Italy, the choir was invited to sing for Pope John Paul II at his summer residence.
On December 8–26, 2010, the choir made a fourteen city tour of Spain and the Canary Islands. According to concert promoter Luis Manjarres, “Since their first Spanish tour, the Mississippi Mass Choir has become a classic of the European and the Spanish Christmas. They will showcase their talent in the main venues of Barcelona, Madrid, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Pamplona, Gijon, and Vigo. This tour of fourteen concerts will culminate on Christmas night, in the wonderful city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife at the Canary Islands, in a very special event with the 92 piece Tenerife Symphonic Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Lu Jia. Mississippi Mass Choir will be the first African American choir to perform with a European Symphonic Orchestra before an audience of 20,000. It is the time for Mississippi Mass Choir…It is the time for Classic Gospel.”
The choir has grown to 240 members from all over Mississippi, and even though they have traveled the world, they are most proud of their Mississippi roots.
“I think the Mass represents Mississippi in a way that no one else has,” Burks said. “There’s nothing else in the world like the Mississippi Mass Choir.