Former lead vocalist of the Mississippi Mass Choir, Mosie Burks, handed away lately. We’ve got a remembrance of the gospel singer.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The Mississippi Mass Choir, a prolific Grammy-nominated gospel refrain, has misplaced one in all 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 pals 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: In the event you’re a fan of Southern gospel music, then you definitely’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 might 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 enable you to? (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “A CITY BUILT FOUR SQUARE”)
MISSISSIPPI MASS CHOIR: (Singing) They acquired the phrase.
(Singing) They acquired the phrase.
(Singing) They acquired the phrase.
(Singing) Oh, I will be on the nice coronation.
KING: Each girls acquired the prospect to go on tour with the Mississippi Mass Choir. McBride says Burks made certain to assist anybody within the church any manner she may, from the youth to the elders.
MCBRIDE: Miss Mosie wasn’t only a expertise. She wasn’t only a lady who had a voice, however she had a spirit, and he or she had a coronary heart. And if 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 ok to affix, despite the fact that she was performing in church buildings frequently. 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 encompassing areas for years, and folks knew her.
KING: He remembers the evening she recorded her first tune because the lead vocalist for the Mississippi Mass Choir. The hymn? “Once 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 along 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 question.
MANNERY: And when she shook her head, the entire ambiance within the room shook. And the shock wave went out by means of the nation, all through the gospel music business, and we’re nonetheless feeling these shock waves in the present day.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I’M NOT TIRED YET”)
MISSISSIPPI MASS CHOIR: (Singing) I am not drained but.
(Singing) I acquired to maintain on working.
(Singing) No, I am not drained but.
(Singing) Acquired to maintain on working.
(Singing) No…
KING: Mama Mosie Burks left a long-lasting 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 appropriate errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org could also be edited after its unique broadcast or publication. The authoritative file of NPR’s programming is the audio file.