Evangelist Maggie Lee Ingram is unquestionably the “Gospel Queen” of Richmond, Virginia. Along with her family group, the Ingramettes, Maggie has delighted Richmond audiences for more than fifty years. Along the way, she has performed at such illustrious stages as the Kennedy Center and the National Folk Festival. In 2009 Maggie received the Virginia Heritage Award for a lifetime of excellence in the folk and traditional arts.
On this live CD, recorded at the Fifth Baptist Church in Richmond, Maggie Ingram and the Ingramettes celebrate her musical legacy and rock the house.
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The album, produced by Jon Lohman for Virginia Folklife Recordings, features classic Ingramette songs:
- Help is on the Way
- Wide River
- When Jesus Comes
- A Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.
- The Family Prayer
- Conferring of Honorary Doctorate Degree on Maggie Lee Ingram
- Standing on the Promises of God
- Praise Break
- Work Until I Die
Born July 4, 1930, on Mulholland’s Plantation in Coffee County, Georgia, Maggie Ingram worked in the cotton and tobacco fields with her parents. She began playing the piano and singing at an early age, developing a great love for the church and the ministry of the Gospel. Sister Maggie Ingram and the Ingramettes soon became a singing group sought after for appearances throughout Florida. Maggie moved her family to Richmond in 1961, where she worked in the home of Oliver W. Hill Sr., the prominent civil rights attorney who had represented the Virginia plaintiffs in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case. With her children, Maggie began a prison ministry, partnering with the Mt. Gilead Baptist Church in the 1970s. The Ingramettes have since become gospel icons in Richmond. In 2011 Maggie was awarded a doctor of music from Virginia Triumphant College and Seminary.
