Thursday May 5, 2022

Over the course of her storied career, Pastor Shirley Caesar has picked up 12 Grammy Awards, 18 Dove Awards, 14 Stellar Awards, a Star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, and numerous other honors. She has been a standard-bearer for traditional African-American gospel music, yet at the same time has been unafraid to challenge convention and take the genre in daring new directions. Born and raised in Durham, Caesar was inspired by her father, Big Jim Caesar, a farmer who sang with an a cappella quartet called The Just Come Four. He died of a brain seizure when she was 10, and to help support her mother, Hallie Caesar, and her brothers and sisters, she hit the road as a gospel soloist with a one-legged evangelist named Leroy Johnson. In 1956, Caesar enrolled in North Carolina State College, where she majored in business education. Two years later she left, with her mother’s permission, to join the Caravans, a ground-breaking gospel ensemble who were renowned for their innovative arrangements and musical dynamics. Caesar has collaborated on recordings with such artists as Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Whitney Houston, Michelle Williams, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Kirk Franklin, Dottie Peoples, Christian Rapper, Tonex and producer and singer J. Moss. She has also appeared on television in Good News, Soulfood, The Parkers, and Family Time, on Broadway in This is My Song and the Born to Sing trilogy, and in motion pictures Gospel, The Preacher’s Wife, Why Do Fools Fall In Love, The Fighting Temptations, and The Unseen. Notably, her recording Live In Chicago, featuring her classic “Hold My Mule,” remained No. 1 on Billboard’s gospel chart for 52 weeks. Years later, the line from that song “I got beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes” went viral as an internet challenge, introducing her to a whole new audience. Today, she is known as the Reigning Queen of Gospel. Caesar’s plans of completing her education and becoming a minister, interrupted by her stint with the Caravans, eventually reached fruition. In 1984 she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Shaw University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. In 1990 she was ordained as a pastor by her husband, Bishop Harold Ivory Williams. She currently serves as the Senior Pastor of the Mount Calvary Word of Faith Church in Raleigh. Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or negative test is required for admission. Masks are required regardless of vaccination status.