Ann Nesby’s SOULFUL GIFT FAITH IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT

by yvonne j. medley for the urban sentinel

Ann Nesby has excelled in her melodic career, living out the premise of “Faith it, until you make it,” she says. Her life is bench-pressed on the Word and the promises of God. Sporting a new body, a new look and an exercising regiment, Nesby, has successfully carved out a career that includes recording and performing music, acting on stage, and appearing in film. And once this world gets the upside of the COVID-19 global pandemic, she and her husband/manager, Timothy Lee, will get back to work, creating a television cooking show pilot. Forced into a newer, healthier lifestyle, Nesby once suffered a congestive heart failure scare, high blood pressure and she was standing at the door of diabetes. A self-professed foodie, her Louisiana family traits of Cajun and soulfood cooking remains stirred up in her lineage. “You know we celebrate with food.” But she’s developed healthier, easily prepped dishes that she assures are great tasting. It’s called Ms. Ann’s Soulful Casserole. “It’s from food that we grew up on—black eye peas, turkey, etc. There’s also a vegetarian meal,” Nesby said. “I developed that line when I was on tour with my children, and I wanted them to have a balanced meal.” She is focusing on populations in schools, hospitals, and prisons, adding that those who are incarcerated still deserve to be served quality, healthy foods, and not, “something just slopped on a plate.” Her dishes are not without cornbread, either! On the musical front, especially during the nation’s pandemic concerns, she and Lee wanted to stay productive and encouraging. So, her latest album, titled Make Me Better, is an extended edition on their recording label, It’s Time Child Records. Most of the album’s material is from the original 2003 release. It features productions and arrangements from Chucky Thompson (Mary J. Blige), jazz legend George Duke, Herb Middleton, The Basement Boys, and others. It also has four new bonus recordings. Nesby has sought to blend young contemporary artists with seasoned artists, too. The new album can be found on iTunes, Amazon, and other various outlets. Fans can inquire about purchasing a limited edition physical autographed copy from Nesby’s online store by clicking on https://www. annnesby.com/ . Due to the pandemic, Nesby had to cancel an array of performances, recording sessions, and speaking engagements that had been arranged long before the health crisis hit. But she’s now focusing on the Black Lives Matter outcry, a concern, though not new, that has journeyed, worldwide. That concern drew her to the 35th chapter within the Divisions of Psalms. Referring to the murder of George Floyd, Nesby highlighted and read a section of its 14th verse [KJV]. “…one that mourneth for his mother.” She added, “The 35th Psalm is a plea for judgment. It’s definitely a comment on how long oppression,” has been prevalent. “But this time, we’ve got to make it about change. We can’t just be saddened by it

…and wait for those who have been in charge to finally move.” “Use your gifts, as God intended, to make us all better. We’ve got to vote and be in prayer. And if you don’t know what your gift is. [It’s] something that you would do without money, and you’re good at it. You do it for passion [and positive productivity].” Nesby, 64, is a native of Joliet, Illinois. Not only did she grow up in a strong Christian home, reared by musically rooted parents, but also, she and her siblings were reared in a socially conscious and Civil Rights’ activist home. While Nesby was groomed to sing—she says, “from a chair,” because she was so young, and direct choirs (youth and adult)—as a teenager, she was active in prison ministry. Nesby answered the call to give her life to Christ around the age of five. The church elders embraced the toddler’s innate response to God but suggested (to her parents) that she wait until she had gotten a little older. At age nine, she made her second trip down the aisle to dedicate her life. The case was closed after that, and how she has chosen to live her life is discipleship history. Nesby’s fateful journey to singing with the Sounds of Blackness is just as mouth-watering as her savory cooking and her bountiful voice. In 1969, when the African-American presence and cultural flavor was scarce, the group, under another name, was founded by Russell Knighton at Macalester College in St. Paul Minnesota. In 1971, musical director Gary Dennis Hines, who also had a background in AfricanAmerican History, took leadership. In the late-1970s, Nesby’s younger sister, Shirley Marie Graham, had gone to college in Minneapolis, studying to become a physician. She joined the group, and later, decided to make Minneapolis her home. Still living in Illinois, a mother of three, and mending from the demise of an abuse marriage to a pastor, Nesby was preparing to make a new start in Atlanta—which happens to be her home, today. But before she made her move, her mother asked, “Why don’t you come with me to visit your sister?” It was during a Thanksgiving Holiday, and Nesby agreed. “You know how you have your plans and God has His plans,” she laughed. During that visit, at her sister’s invitation, she attended one of the group’s rehearsals. Hines, promptly called her up on the stage and asked her to sing something, a Capella. “I sang, Give Us This Day. It was one of my favorites.” Unbeknownst to her, she had just auditioned for the ensemble. Hines invited her to join their production, The Night Before Christmas. She accepted. Her mom volunteered to take the kids back to Illinois, get them back in school and care for them, while she was on tour. Later, Nesby discovered that her mother, sister, and Hines had conspired behind her back. “What a blessing,” she said. There was more. Hines said, “I just want you to know that it [the production] goes up in two weeks.” Nesby was ready. Prior to operating her gift at home, often participating in the James Cleveland Workshop of America, which, she says was, “the greatest breeding ground for young artists and musicians—especially church leaders and directors,” and networking in the industry—she had just finished an Off-Broadway run, performing in Donald Lawrence’s production of Sing Hallelujah. “Lawrence is one of the greatest and most prolific songwriters and music mentors of our time.” The Grammy-award-winning Sounds of Blackness performed often in the Twin City area, contributing to the Minneapolis Sound. In Nesby’s orb, were the likes of Prince, music producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and others. The music-producer pair, wanting to give their artist, Janet Jackson, a welcomed break from a studio recording session, decided to catch a local Sounds of Blackness performance. Reportedly, shortly after, Jackson said to Jimmy Jam [James Harris, III], ‘You’ve got to sign them.” The group, enjoying the success of its first release, Optimistic, included Nesby’s daughter, Jamecia Bennett; and granddaughter, Paris Bennett; and featured the classic hit, I Believe. And it attracted a new admirer. Luther Vandross saw them on television. Next, he arranged to have them on his tour. “He was looking for a choir element for his The Power of Love tour.” Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis signed her to a solo contract after, they asked her to sing on a ghost track. When she sang it straight through without retakes, Harris asked, “Have you ever recorded before?” “I said, ‘no.’ But I grew up in church—in a choir—that on any given Sunday, anybody could just sing you under a bench.” The deal was made. The famed producers schooled Nesby and others in their employ, to not only sing, but to write. And to write for already-established artists. They taught her that there is power, longevity, and family financial legacy in publishing. “Write your heart,” she said, they advised her. Write about life experiences. It’s relatable. These days, she’s also writing poetry. Writing for Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight, witnessing their warmth and work ethic was priceless. Decades later, having Al Green not only produce, but also perform a duet on her hit song, Put it on Paper, was mind boggling, she expressed. The latter took place in Philadelphia’s Gamble and Huff ’s legendary recording studio. “All that history was in the room,” she said then trailed off into the fondness of that memory. Nesby has worked with the likes of Tyler Perry, LaShun Pace, Sting, and others.

Over the years, the Sounds of Blackness has been the springboard to many vocal artists. Alexander O’Neal and Cynthia Johnson (of 1979’s Funkytown), to name just two. Artist and songwriter Lionel Richie, whose mother was the principal of an elementary school that Nesby once attended, and, who is, reportedly, in the midst of a Disney development deal, also gave her meaty music-business advice, early on. He let her know, how and why, it took time, hard work and wellthought-out perseverance, long before the money would start flowing in. Today, happily married with a blended family that lovingly encompasses Lee’s two children, Nesby generously shares her trials and challenges. Even about the Sounds of Blackness, she jokes, “Think about working with 55 people on one contract [and] trying to feed your family.” Still, she shouts, especially to women, “Don’t’ give up. There’s still room for success.” Nesby was 40 years old, heartbroken, and trying to figure things out when God positioned her to record her first solo project. “It’s never too late.” About the quandary of mixing Christian music with secular music, she shared that her first live concert experience was when her father took her to see James Brown. “Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud,” Nesby reminisced. Then she got serious. “We’re commissioned, first, as Christians to go onto the highways and into the hedges to compel men to sow seed, and to allow God to give the increase. What’s your offering? Are you a blessing to the Kingdom? Are you a blessing to your community? Are you sharing something that’s going to make those around you better? Even when you write about Love—you can’t write about love without writing about God. Because He is love.” While, “God’s grace is always amazing and sufficient,” Nesby said, then chuckled about how sometimes, “you want to hear a love song when you’re in that bed that’s undefiled. C’mon, naw! You wanna hear Luther Vandross.” But, “if you’re writing an R&B ballad about love, [and] you get so explicit that your kids can’t hear it then you have to govern yourself at that point.” Nesby advises a familiar biblical instruction, “We have to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.”

18Ann Nesby’s