Grammy-nominated gospel singer Willa Mae Dorsey singer died Jan. 5 at a Portland. Oregon care center following a series of strokes. She was 75.
Dorsey, who was born in Atlanta, lived in Portland for almost 40 years. She began singing professionally when she was 19, tackling Gospel songs written by her father's cousin, Thomas A. Dorsey, who wrote "Precious Lord," one of her lifelong favorite songs.
In an interview in 2002, she recalled singing at Lincoln Center, performing with Mahalia Jackson and sharing the stage with the Rev. Billy Graham. Dorsey sang in almost 40 countries for presidents, princes and ordinary people of faith.
"Gospel music is for everybody," she said at the time according to an article by Nancy Haught (Winston-Salem Journal). "The Creator is like the manufacturer who makes automobiles. If something is wrong with a car, you take it back to the manufacturer. That's where humanity has let itself down, by not going back to the manufacturer who made us."
Dorsey was a trailblazer when it came to integrating churches in the 1960s, according to Bill Carpenter, who profiled her in his book on Gospel music, “Uncloudy Days.”
"I broke the barrier for black singers in the white churches," she told Carpenter. "I sang at a lot of white churches where they would come up to my face and tell me, ‘You are the first black to stand at our pulpit’."
As late as 2006, Dorsey was still playing piano and singing at her church in Portland. She'd linger after services to play the piano softly as people prayed in their seats.
"It's the least I can do," she said. "People's minds are so bothered in these days."
(Source: Religion News Service/www.2.journalnow.com)
