Brother Joe May (November 9, 1912 – July 14, 1972) was an American
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
singer. He was sometimes billed as "The Thunderbolt of the Middle West", and has been described as "arguably the greatest male soloist in the history of gospel music....
ith
The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany.
Geography
Location
The Ith is immediatel ...
a voice of unimaginable range and power, moving from a whisper to a scream without the slightest suggestion of effort".
[ Biography by Jason Ankeny, Allmusic.com]
Accessed 8 October 2012
Life
Born Joseph May in
Macon, Mississippi
Macon is a city in Noxubee County, Mississippi along the Noxubee River. The population was 2,768 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Noxubee County.
History
In 1817, Jackson's Military Road was built at the urging of Andrew Jackson to ...
, he was raised as a member of the
Church of God denomination in which all males are referred to as "Brother". He sang with the Little Church Out on the Hills' senior choir and then the Church of God Quartet, building a reputation on the
Southern gospel circuit. He worked as a laborer in Macon, before moving in 1941 with his wife Viola and their children to
East St. Louis, Illinois
East St. Louis is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois. It is directly across the Mississippi River from Downtown St. Louis, Missouri and the Gateway Arch National Park. East St. Louis is in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. Once a b ...
, where he was employed in a chemical plant.
[
In ]St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, he met and came under the influence of the singer Willie Mae Ford Smith, and adopted much of her phrasing and performing style. He began singing at Thomas A. Dorsey
Thomas Andrew Dorsey (July 1, 1899 – January 23, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and Evangelism, Christian evangelist influential in the development of early blues and 20th-century gospel music. He penned 3,000 songs, a third of them ...
's National Conventions of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, directed by Smith, and after a performance in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
in 1949 was signed by talent scout J. W. Alexander to Specialty Records
Specialty Records was an American record label founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by Art Rupe. It was known for rhythm and blues, gospel, and early rock and roll, and recorded artists such as Little Richard, Guitar Slim, Percy Mayfield, and Lloyd Pr ...
. His first record, "Search Me Lord", became a gospel hit, and was estimated to have sold over one million copies though without reaching any of the published record charts of the day. His follow-up record, "Do You Know Him?" in 1950, was equally successful, and May became a full-time musician, touring nationally with gospel groups such as the Soul Stirrers
The Soul Stirrers were an American gospel music group, whose career spans over eighty years. The group was a pioneer in the development of the quartet style of gospel, and a major influence on soul, doo wop, and Motown, some of the secular musi ...
and the Pilgrim Travelers
The Pilgrim Travelers were an American gospel group, popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Musical career
Formed in 1936 in Houston, Texas, United States, they were influenced by another Texas-based quartet, the Soul Stirrers. They achieved ...
.[ He also sang duets with Willie Mae Ford Smith, and usually performed in a distinctive long white robe with a rope cross.][ W. K. McNeil, ''Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music'', p.248]
/ref>
As one of the Specialty label's most successful artists, the company tried to persuade him to record more secular material, but May refused, although he acknowledged blues singer Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock a ...
as a major influence. His records often used an organ-dominated rhythm section as well as a full choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
, and he was sometimes described as a male equivalent of Mahalia Jackson
Mahalia Jackson ( ; born Mahala Jackson; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American gospel singer, widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. With a career spanning 40 years, Jackson was integral to ...
, with whom he sometimes performed.[ He was cited as a musical inspiration by Little Richard.][Charles White, ''The Life And Times Of Little Richard: The Authorized Biography'', Omnibus Press, 2003, pp. 15-17]
However, his success in the gospel field was not translated into crossover
Crossover may refer to:
Entertainment
Albums and songs
* ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album)
* ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987
* ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album)
* ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album)
* ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
success in the white record market. He left Specialty in 1958, and began recording his own compositions for the Nashville-based Nashboro label. He also performed and made recordings with his daughter, Annette, and with singer Jackie Verdell
Jackie Verdell (November 5, 1937 – August 3, 1991) was an American gospel singer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Musical career
After leaving high school, she joined The Davis Sisters in 1955, at the start of their tenure w ...
. After returning to the South, May's popularity continued to grow in that region. In the early 1960s, he starred with Marion Williams in the musical ''Black Nativity
''Black Nativity '' is an adaptation of the Nativity story by Langston Hughes, performed by an entirely black cast. Hughes was the author of the book, with the lyrics and music being derived from traditional Christmas carols, sung in gospel st ...
'' in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, and toured the U.S. and Europe with the production.[
He continued to perform widely in the Southern states despite health problems, and recorded a series of gospel ]album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...
s for the Nashboro label through the 1960s and early 1970s.Nashboro Records album discography
. Accessed 8 October 2012 On his way to a performance in Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville is the county seat of Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The population was 18,413 at the 2010 United States Census, making it the second largest city in southwest Georgia after Albany.
The city deems itself the "City of Roses" an ...
, he suffered a massive stroke, and died in 1972 at the age of 59.[
In 2000, he was posthumously inducted into the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame in ]Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
.[
]
Discography
Albums
* ''Walk On and Talk On'' (1962)
* ''Songs Of The Gospel'' (1964)
* ''My Own Fault'' (1966)
* ''That's Enough'' (1967)
* ''Best Of Brother Joe May'' (1967)
* ''I've Been Dipped In The Water'' (1968)
* ''Don't Let The Devil Ride'' (1969)
* ''Today'' (1970)
* ''Thank You Lord for One More Day '' (1970)
* ''In Church With Brother Joe May'' (1971)
* ''The Brother Joe May Story'' (2-LP Set)
* ''Search Me Lord'' (1974)
* ''In Loving Memory of Brother Joe May: A Collection of His Most Famous Recordings'' (1974)
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Brother Joe
1912 births
1972 deaths
American gospel singers
People from Macon, Mississippi
Singers from Mississippi
20th-century African-American male singers