Willie Norwood, Sr.

Gospel music veteran – Willie Norwood, Sr. – clearly knows a thing or two about music and ministry. With a music career that spans over a generation, a classical training and a couple of children that have provided Gold & Platinum selling albums, it seems that Willie has made a mark for himself in the very cluttered world of music.

However, Brother Norwood is just getting started. His latest offering – ‘Bout It (Atlantic) – is a refreshing take for Gospel fans to enjoy, exuding both a unique style to call his own and a sense of integrity about the music he sings about. It’s a reflection of the man who’s achieved more than most but elects to live a life of humility in Christ. Enjoy our dialogue with a true southerner, Brother Willie Norwood.

Christopher Heron: Well Willie – can I call you “Willie”, Mr. Norwood? Let’s talk about your musical background. Everybody seems to know about your successful children – Brandy & Ray-J. So, let’s talk about you and your evolving musical career and how it affected the children. Were you actually the first artist in the Norwood home? Give me a little background.

Willie Norwood: Well, I began as a young boy in Mississippi. I always had a love for church music. We had children’s choirs and youth choirs, that’s how I first started singing. Then I went to high school and played brass instruments, trumpet and baritone. After high school, I got a music scholarship to Jackson State University. I played in the Sunny Boom Band. Following that, I was singing all of the time; then I went out on the road. We formed our top 40 secular group. Ten guys together we went all over the state of Mississippi and we went all over the world.

CH: What was the name of the group?

WN: The name of the group was The Composers. It started in Jackson State and then I went to Jackson State University and played in their band. But let me just go back a little bit. After I learned how to play in high school, I played in clubs and things like that. I played trumpet in the swing band.

Music was so good to me because I could make more money playing music than I could if I went to the cotton fields in the Delta, picking or chopping cotton. Music has always been with me. Then I formed my own music school in McCaul, Mississippi. After I did that, I was teaching music and heavily involved in music ministry first. While I was in the valley, I became a Christian.

I immediately went into music ministry teaching choir, working with the churches, working with church choirs, travelling all over the world teaching music fundamentals and teaching people how to sing. I was blessed to be called from Mississippi to Los Angeles, California, to one of the mega churches to serve as a music minister for 10 years.

Following that, Brandy and my son, Ray J, wanted a music career. So, I started working with them, trying to hone their talents and shape their ambitions. They would always come to choir practices because I was working with choirs and teaching people music. I've worked with some people who are pretty famous today. I've been involved with music one way or another all of my life.

My album – ‘Bout It (Atlantic) - came to me because I always wanted to do an album that a person could go in a record store, buy and enjoy. I’ve done personal albums and sold them out of my car when I would go to conventions and workshops. But this album is kind of different; it allowed me to produce some quality songs, get quality producers, and get a project everybody could really get into and listen.

CH: Now you had some interesting selections in there, including remakes like Stevie Wonder’s Have A Talk With God and Rev. Al Green’s Put A Little Love In Your Heart. How did you select your songs?

NW: I got signed with Atlantic Christian Music, who's going through a lot of changes right now. But when I first got involved with Demetrius Stewart and Barry Landers, they got together with me and talked about songs I could do well. We talked about where my heart was and what God was opening up for me to do. We decided we were going to work with Cedric Caldwell. We have similar background; Cedric Caldwell, Victor Caldwell and I worked together to record the whole album in Nashville. Of course, Brandy came along and sang a song on the album. Ray J came, my daddy came and did the hymn with me, then we had the incredible Williams Brothers join in on a song. Then we took all the songs we were going to do and we let Billy Preston put his touch on them and there you have it. That’s how the record was done - all done in Nashville in one studio. The sound is consistent; you don’t have different sounds from across the country. We were very proud of what we did, took our time and made it really mean something to us. And so you’ll find when you listen to this collection of songs that these songs come from a very honest place. I believe that what comes from the heart reaches the heart.

CH: How would you characterize the sound and spirit of your new album – “Bout It?

WN: Well, you got a little old school in there you know because that’s where I came from; there’s no pretence about it. The album and what it’s about; you know it’s about the things that I believe in. I believe in family, in community and in God. And those are things that go together to make up the contemporary gospel genre that maybe some people might put me in. Their songs that come from me; I always wanted to sing with Stevie Wonder. I got a chance to cover one of his songs, Have a Talk with God, and then I put my own flavour to it. So you have a kind of old school guide that’s got that church feel in my music. I can sing any kind of music; I studied music and have a music degree. I can sing in different languages and things like that. But I’m not far away you know, I ‘m not one of those classical stiff guys. I don't just sing; I ‘sang’. That’s the way I do it when I sing. It comes from the heart and it comes from a very good cultural leg, a very good ethnic leg. So I’m in the genre of those guys like Al Green, all those guys because I sing soul. I’m a soulful singer.

CH: When I first heard the album it did strike me to have that kinda Al Greene feel to it. How has your family responded to your album and to your new zeal for ministry as an artist, from the children to the wife?

WN: We are a very supportive family and so they support me just like I support them. It’s good for me to hear Brandy or Ray J say to me, "Dad, that was good music." You know a lot of children feel their parents know everything and they don’t need encouraging. But that helps me when they tell me I did good. I’m looking for feedback when I do my songs and I wanna hear that I did well. I represent all that they are and when they sing they represent all that I am. My wife is the one that holds everything together. She’s the final word on whether we can do business because she’s the businesswoman. It works because we all encourage one another and do our best and that makes the family unit stronger.

CH: In a market place with so many good gospel albums today, what were you hoping to achieve with the release of this album and how did you want it to impact believers and none believers, alike?

WN: Well, for believers I wanted this collection to be a statement of what God can do at any given moment in your life. I think my moment has come; I've been in ministry and still ministering to people. But, this way was a release of all the years of mellowing; you know…..staying like fine wine at its finest time. Then, at the right time, it is ready to come forth and I think the believers are going to feel that way. As for the non-believers, it’s going to really minister to them because it’s not pretence. I‘m not some ripe reverend guy trying to be something he’s not. I’m real with what I do. And it comes from a real place.

By: Christopher Heron - Feedback