Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 19, 1991 TAG: 9104190286
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TRACIE FELLERS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A Rolling Stone writer who heard her open for Al Green in a 1984 concert went as far as to call Caesar "Gladys Knight with a chip on her shoulder."
In a review of her 1985 album "Sailin'," Essence magazine likened Caesar's voice to Tina Turner's.
But while Caesar's sound has the husky earthiness of Turner and the undisputed soul of Knight, Caesar is no also-ran. With five Grammys, 11 Grammy nominations and three gold albums, this diva of divine music is a star in her own right.
When you listen to her deliver a musical message in "No Charge," a tender song about a mother's love, or in "Don't Give Up," in which she tells the story of woman who decides to hold on to her faith in troubled times; you won't wonder why she's called the first lady of gospel.
Southwest Virginia fans can catch Caesar in concert Sunday at the Roanoke Civic Center Auditorium. General admission tickets for the 7 p.m. show are $10 in advance, $12 the day of the show. Tickets can be purchased at the civic center box office and all Ticketron outlets.
There's no doubt that Caesar, a native of Durham, N.C., has made an indelible impression in gospel music. But it would have been hard for Caesar to miss making a mark. For 27 years - from 1962 to 1989 - she recorded an album each year.
In recent years, however, Caesar has turned her evangelical efforts in other directions. In the '80s, she formed the Shirley Caesar Outreach Ministries Inc. in Durham, where she lives with her husband, Bishop Harold Williams.
The ministry, funded by contributions and the incomes of Caesar and Williams, provides those in need with clothes, food and funds for rent and utility bills.
In a 1988 interview, Caesar told Ebony magazine she decided to start her ministry after watching a documentary about world hunger. Caesar said she asked God what she should do to help. The answer was: "Feed My Sheep," she said.
"I don't want to give them a handout; we want to give them a hand," Caesar said of her ministry.
Caesar also has tried to extend a hand to everyday people through the Durham City Council. She was elected to the council in 1987 after placing third among nine contenders in a primary election.
Fair housing and programs for the poor and the elderly have been Caesar's priorities. "I don't see it as politics," she said in the Ebony interview. "I just see it as being a concerned citizen. My main objective is to make sure we focus on the needy and not the greedy."
Caesar, the 10th of 12 children, knows something about being needy. The title song from her 1989 album, "I Remember Mama," reminisces a bit about her childhood:
We went to school with holes in our shoes
We didn't have much, but the Lord saw us through
Mama kept the family together
I remember Mama in a happy way.
Caesar dedicated the album to her mother, Hallie Martin Caesar, who died in 1986. In her album notes, Caesar wrote about her mother's willingness to provide a hot meal for neighborhood children, preachers, even insurance agents.
"We lived on a fixed income, so Mama could not serve elaborate dishes, but her favorite words were `such as I have,' " Caesar wrote.
When Caesar was 12, she started singing with a local group that traveled to churches and schools in neighboring states. She left Durham at 19 for Chicago and a chance to sing with The Caravans, which featured legend-to-be Albertina Walker. But Caesar never strayed far from her roots.
She resisted offers to cross over into rock or rhythm and blues. "I wanted to be in full-time service for the Lord," she told People magazine in 1987.
And Caesar says half of her income goes to those who need it most. "Fifty percent of everything I earn on the road I put back into the community," she told Jet magazine last year.
She summed it up with silver-tongued style in a 1990 Essence magazine profile:
"I can't take five pounds of sugar and sweeten the Atlantic Ocean, but I can sure make a little bit of lemonade for a few people to drink."
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by CNB