SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The Mississippi Mass Choir, a prolific Grammy-nominated gospel chorus, has lost one of its most legendary lead vocalists. Mama Mosie Burks died earlier this month at the age of 92. Joseph King with the Gulf States Newsroom talked to some of her friends and colleagues and brings us this joyful remembrance.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M NOT TIRED YET")
MISSISSIPPI MASS CHOIR: (Singing) Been working for Jesus a long time.
(Singing) I'm not tired yet.
JOSEPH KING, BYLINE: If you're a fan of Southern gospel music, then you'll know Mosie Burks' voice the time it hits your ear.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M NOT TIRED YET")
MISSISSIPPI MASS CHOIR: (Singing) Been working for Jesus a long time.
(Singing) I'm not tired yet.
KING: She was born in Forest, Mississippi, and started singing in the church at an early age. Lannie Spann McBride sang alongside Burks in the choir at Greater Fairview Baptist Church in Jackson.
LANNIE SPANN MCBRIDE: We developed a friendship. I used to call her Miss Mosie, and they would say Sister Lannie. But after a while, we dropped all the other part, and we just called each other sister.
KING: She also remembers that before Mama Mosie became a gospel music star, she worked for a telephone company.
MCBRIDE: I can hear her voice smiling on the phone when she said, may I help you? (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "A CITY BUILT FOUR SQUARE")
MISSISSIPPI MASS CHOIR: (Singing) They got the word.
(Singing) They got the word.
(Singing) They got the word.
(Singing) Oh, I'll be at the great coronation.
KING: Both women got the chance to go on tour with the Mississippi Mass Choir. McBride says Burks made sure to help anyone in the church any way she could, from the youth to the elders.
MCBRIDE: Miss Mosie wasn't just a talent. She wasn't just a woman who had a voice, but she had a spirit, and she had a heart. And when you put that heart and that spirit together, you get purpose.
KING: Jerry Mannery can attest to that. He is one of the founding members of the Mississippi Mass Choir. He says at first, Mama Mosie didn't think she was good enough to join, even though she was performing in churches regularly. But in 1993, after some pleading, she agreed.
JERRY MANNERY: She was our biblical Esther. God had prepared her. She had been singing around Jackson and the surrounding areas for years, and people knew her.
KING: He remembers the night she recorded her first song as the lead vocalist for the Mississippi Mass Choir. The hymn? "When I Rose This Morning."
MANNERY: When Mama walked from that soprano session to that microphone, and you noticed her signature is the shaking of her head and with her gray hair flying...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN I ROSE THIS MORNING")
MISSISSIPPI MASS CHOIR: (Singing) This morning when I rose, yeah.
(Singing) I didn't have no doubt.
MANNERY: And when she shook her head, the whole atmosphere in the room shook. And the shock wave went out through the country, throughout the gospel music industry, and we're still feeling those shock waves today.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M NOT TIRED YET")
MISSISSIPPI MASS CHOIR: (Singing) I'm not tired yet.
(Singing) I got to keep on running.
(Singing) No, I'm not tired yet.
(Singing) Got to keep on running.
(Singing) No...
KING: Mama Mosie Burks left a lasting mark in her community, in the gospel music industry and in the hearts of everyone who has heard her voice. For NPR News, I'm Joseph King.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M NOT TIRED YET")
MISSISSIPPI MASS CHOIR: (Singing) Been working for Jesus a long time.
(Singing) I'm not tired yet.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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