Former lead vocalist of the Mississippi Mass Choir, Mosie Burks, handed away lately. Now we have a remembrance of the gospel singer.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The Mississippi Mass Choir, a prolific Grammy-nominated gospel refrain, has misplaced one among its most legendary lead vocalists. Mama Mosie Burks died earlier this month on the age of 92. Joseph King with the Gulf States Newsroom talked to a few of her buddies 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 very long time.
(Singing) I am not drained but.
JOSEPH KING, BYLINE: If you happen to’re a fan of Southern gospel music, then you definately’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 very long time.
(Singing) I am not drained but.
KING: She was born in Forest, Mississippi, and began singing within the church at an early age. Lannie Spann McBride sang alongside Burks within the choir at Higher Fairview Baptist Church in Jackson.
LANNIE SPANN MCBRIDE: We developed a friendship. I used to name her Miss Mosie, and they’d say Sister Lannie. However after some time, we dropped all the opposite half, and we simply known as one another sister.
KING: She additionally remembers that earlier than Mama Mosie grew to become a gospel music star, she labored for a phone firm.
MCBRIDE: I can hear her voice smiling on the telephone when she mentioned, could I assist you? (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “A CITY BUILT FOUR SQUARE”)
MISSISSIPPI MASS CHOIR: (Singing) They bought the phrase.
(Singing) They bought the phrase.
(Singing) They bought the phrase.
(Singing) Oh, I will be on the nice coronation.
KING: Each ladies bought the possibility to go on tour with the Mississippi Mass Choir. McBride says Burks made positive to assist anybody within the church any means she may, from the youth to the elders.
MCBRIDE: Miss Mosie wasn’t only a expertise. She wasn’t only a girl who had a voice, however she had a spirit, and he or she had a coronary heart. And while you put that coronary heart and that spirit collectively, you get goal.
KING: Jerry Mannery can attest to that. He is likely one of the founding members of the Mississippi Mass Choir. He says at first, Mama Mosie did not suppose she was adequate to affix, though she was performing in church buildings repeatedly. However in 1993, after some pleading, she agreed.
JERRY MANNERY: She was our biblical Esther. God had ready her. She had been singing round Jackson and the encircling areas for years, and folks knew her.
KING: He remembers the evening she recorded her first music because the lead vocalist for the Mississippi Mass Choir. The hymn? “After I Rose This Morning.”
MANNERY: When Mama walked from that soprano session to that microphone, and also you observed her signature is the shaking of her head and together with her grey hair flying…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WHEN I ROSE THIS MORNING”)
MISSISSIPPI MASS CHOIR: (Singing) This morning after I rose, yeah.
(Singing) I did not have little doubt.
MANNERY: And when she shook her head, the entire environment within the room shook. And the shock wave went out by the nation, all through the gospel music business, and we’re nonetheless feeling these shock waves immediately.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I’M NOT TIRED YET”)
MISSISSIPPI MASS CHOIR: (Singing) I am not drained but.
(Singing) I bought to maintain on working.
(Singing) No, I am not drained but.
(Singing) Received to maintain on working.
(Singing) No…
KING: Mama Mosie Burks left an enduring mark in her group, within the gospel music business and within the hearts of everybody who has heard her voice. For NPR Information, I am Joseph King.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I’M NOT TIRED YET”)
MISSISSIPPI MASS CHOIR: (Singing) Been working for Jesus a very long time.
(Singing) I am not drained but.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts could range. Transcript textual content could also be revised to right errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org could also be edited after its authentic broadcast or publication. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.
