BORN TO SING THE GOSPEL to Play Philly Fringe Fest in September
Marion Williams' son Robin Williams Sr. presents the show, written and directed by Karen Moore.
In 1993, the MacArthur Foundation awarded its 'genius' grant to a singer for the first time in the history of the prize. That same year, the Kennedy Center placed her alongside Johnny Carson, Stephen Sondheim, Sir Georg Solti and Arthur Mitchell. Aretha Franklin and Little Richard sang in her honor. She had lived in Philadelphia for more than forty years. Ten months later she passed away, and the city largely moved on. This September, Marion Williams comes home.
'I played drums behind my mother for years, and I watched what that voice did to a room. Philadelphia was her home. This city should know her name.' - Robin Williams Sr.
Born To Sing the Gospel: The Story of Marion Williams, a multimedia stage production presented by her son Robin Williams Sr., written and directed by Karen Moore with Chabrelle Williams as Marion, runs September 9, 12 and 27 at Cannonball, the largest hub of the 30th annual Philadelphia Fringe Festival. The production combines live performance with rare archival film drawn from the documentary The Legendary Marion Williams, which Williams Sr. executive produced.
The opening falls eleven days after what would have been Williams' 99th birthday on August 29. The closing performance lands on September 27 - the final day of the festival, the last Sunday of Gospel Music Heritage Month, and eleven months before her centennial.
Williams was born in Miami in 1927 and began singing as a child in Sanctified churches. In 1947 she came to Philadelphia to join the Ward Singers and quickly became their lead voice, singing on 'Surely God Is Able' - among the first gospel records to sell a million copies - and on 'Packin' Up.' She left in 1958 to co-found the Stars of Faith, starred in Langston Hughes' Black Nativity from its 1961 premiere through a three-year European tour, and was among the first gospel singers to tour Africa under U.S. State Department sponsorship.
Her influence traveled further than her name did. Little Richard credited her as the source of the falsetto whoop in 'Tutti Frutti.' Writing in Vogue, Margo Jefferson called her 'the lady who gave Little Richard his whooo.' The MacArthur Foundation described her as 'among the last surviving links to gospel's golden age,' citing her role in the development of rock 'n' roll and soul.
She remained in Philadelphia until her death at Albert Einstein Medical Center in 1994. She is enshrined on the Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame.
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