Stanley Dance, one of the pre-eminent jazz critics of the swing era called her “America’s greatest singer”. Years later music historian Dave McGee wrote in the Rolling Stone Album Guide "One will come away from her recordings believing that she was nothing less than the greatest singer ever".
You might think they were talking about Ella Fitzgerald, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday or any number of great singers from that era but the person they were describing is not that well known to the general public. In fact there are many very dedicated music fans who adore singers from that era who have never heard of her.
Her name was Marion Williams. She began her recording career in 1948 and recorded prodigiously until her death in 1995. With her startlingly powerful voice and immense vocal range she could sing any style; blues, jazz and even opera. She had a lot of offers on the table to do just that but as a devoutly religious (and stubborn) woman, she refused to sing anything but gospel. That limited her career but not her singing. She could trill like an angel then swoop down and growl like a southern preacher and never make it sound contrived, or hard to do.
It is possible for a talented black woman to sing gospel and be mainstream (a term that was coined by Stanley Dance by the way) at the same time. Mahalia Jackson succeeded spectacularly but she toned it down a lot for her newfound, unhip audience. The Mahalia you hear on those Columbia recordings from the 1960s is not the same Mahalia that tore up Chicago churches in the 1940s. Although Marion Williams chose audience-friendly songs (like He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands) when she played the college circuit in the 1980s, she didn’t hold back on her performance, she sang like she did in church. She was always more at home in the church circuit where she felt inspired by God. Her New York Times obituary quotes her as saying "I call it 'the anointing.' It's an extra-special thing. When the inspiration of God is missing, I just rely on talent."
Although both of them came from humble beginnings Marion and Mahalia had a different ways of coping. Mahalia was a very astute business woman and a tireless self-promoter, she became quite wealthy. Marion stated in an interview that as long as she could sing the gospel and have a roof over her head, she was happy.
She was born in Miami in 1927, her father was a West Indian butcher who gave music lessons on the side, her mother was a laundry woman from South Carolina who was saved and sanctified as they get. Young Marion was exposed to a lot of music, from blues to calypso but she was always drawn to the old time gospel quartets. Her father died when she was nine so at fourteen, she was forced to quit school and work alongside her mother doing laundry. She recalls giving her first public performance when she was three, she sang in churches on weekends and by the time she was a teenager she had a solid reputation all over the city as a great gospel shouter.
She would have stayed doing that all her life but in 1947, on a trip to Philadelphia to visit her sister, she happened to go to a concert by the Famous Ward Singers. For some reason she was called up on stage to sing and the Wards, Gertrude Ward and her daughter Clara, were so impressed they asked her to join the group right away. This was a big deal. The Ward Singers were a known group with a national following. Gospel itself was going through some big changes. For years the genre had been dominated by those male quartets Marion loved so much but now a new type of dynamic, more jazz-influenced, urban sound was emerging, women were coming to the forefront and the Ward Singers were well-positioned to take advantage of it.
Gertrude was a very good manager, Clara was a natural at marketing and they had a connection with the Rev. Herbert W. Brewster, a brilliant songwriter. Even so, it was a year before Marion decided to join their group.
The Ward Singers were good performers but the addition of Marion Williams made them great. Their 1948 recording of Brewster’s Surely God Is Able had Marion singing lead on one verse but that’s what made it a smash hit and put them in a whole new league. It is still considered a classic. Author Anthony Heilbutt, who wrote The Gospel Sound the definitive book on the music and the stars from gospel’s golden age, described her singing the word “surely” at the end of the song as “the most terrifying blast out of gospel in the fifties”. From then on Marion sang lead on all their hits, and they had many. They constantly played to packed houses for over a decade.
Marion’s performances were even more legendary than her vocals. She ran up and down the aisles shouting, sometimes pretending to sit on a listener’s lap (a big woman, she never put her full weight down) while she sang at the top of her lungs.
The Wards were reaping in a lot of money but they kept it in the family, the other singers were only paid a salary. It’s hard work, all that shouting and running so when Marion began to have fits where she would shout at inappropriate times off-stage she decided to take control of things. She, and all the other singers, Frances Steadman, Kitty Parham and Henrietta Waddy, quit the Wards and formed a new group, the Stars of Faith. Partly because they didn’t have the Wards managerial skills and songwriting connections and partly because Marion was just tired and preferred to stay in the background more, the group was not that successful.
The ultimate success that she deserved seemed to be just outside her grasp and although she wasn’t overtly ambitious, she kept trying to get her message out to a larger audience. In 1961 she got her old fire back when, as she put it, she found Jesus again. The Stars of Faith joined the cast of an off-Broadway play, Black Nativity, written by Langston Hughes. It did well in North America but was a sensation in Europe where they again played to packed houses for three years.
She embarked on a solo career after that but despite rave reviews and a stellar performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, she remained known only to a relatively few very devoted fans. There was one final push that yielded some interesting records in the early 1970s. Mahalia Jackson died in 1972 so it looked like there might be some room in the pop world for a hugely talented but dedicated gospel singer.
She recorded three albums for Atlantic, each one progressively more modern than the last. For the first time she deviated from pure gospel to include “message” songs, mostly from Bob Dylan. They had an all-star cast, even Keith Jarrett, who doesn’t play with anyone, accompanied her. That’s like getting Elton John to play at your wedding.
The result was mixed, most tracks suffer a bit from 1970s production values but when she wails, she wails straight from the heart and it’s chilling. They were great albums and the Dylan songs got some FM radio play but, in terms of pop record sales, they sank without a ripple.
She had a good career and was happy with her life. Little Richard got his trademark “whoop” from her and Aretha Franklin was a big fan. Both sang at her tribute when she received a Kennedy Center Honour in 1993.
It’s just too bad that she may be the best singer you’ve never heard, unless, of course, you listen to Backbeat where I play her records regularly. If you want to hear - and see - here now in a clip from 1964, here is a YouTube link. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBpO3hXsVWo