Veteran Gospel Music Singer Willa Mae Dorsey Has Passed
The Gospel music family has lost another trailblazer. Willa Mae Dorsey died January 5th in Portland after a series of strokes. Dorsey, who is a distant cousin of the great Thomas Dorse, had a career that lasted 56 years. She recorded five albums and was Grammy nominated.
In an interview in 2002 in The Oregonian, 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 in 2002. “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.” Source
I love this part of the article where she explained to Lawrence Welk’s musical director why she only sang Gospel and patriotic songs:
“I don’t want to lose my anointing with God. So I have to stay on the straight and narrow,” she told George Cates, Welk’s musical director. “We’re trying to make a star out of you,” he replied, “and you’re trying to reach souls.”
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