ARTIST
DIRECTORY
Come celebrate and wish
Lee Williams a Happy Birthday and enjoy this
Appreciation Day with his family, friends
and fans!! Come enjoy a fun filled day of
live entertainment featuring national and
local artists; guest speakers; Roast &
Toast; raffle & prize drawings; presentations;
tributes; and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony.
Vendor Applications Available
Below
For
more than three decades, Lee Williams &
the Spiritual QC'S made music for little but
love-love of the Gospel message, memorable
melodies, sweet harmony and a beat that just
refused to let feet sit still.
And none of that has changed
one bit.
At the same time, almost everything else
surrounding this dynamic foursome in the last
six years could read like a great novel, if
it wasn't the honest-to-goodness truth. Hot
on the heels of Lee & the QC'S smash album,
Good Time, featuring the national, chart-topping
hit, "You Didn't Have To," comes
their eagerly anticipated MCG Records follow-up,
Right On Time, a riveting, 13-song testimony
of love and faith, running a gamut from solid,
rocking R&B/Gospel to heartfelt balladry
and powerful anthems. The quartet's exciting,
high-energy, R&B and rock-flavored Gospel
quartet sound continues to captivate listeners,
crossing all walks of life, ethnicity and
denomination.
On an album filled with hits-in-the-making,
several cuts in particular stand out for Lee.
The title cut of Right On Time-an instant
radio smash-rocks with joyous abandon. "We
think we've got to have something, and we
want it right now," says Lee. "I
think God wants to show us that He knows far
better than we do what we need and when. And
when we look back on all He's done for us,
we can see that his working in our lives is
on His time, not ours. And He's always right
on time."
"God So Loved" is a soul-stirring
ballad. "No matter what we do, or don't
do-should do or shouldn't-God still has mercy
on us and makes a way for us," Lee says.
"He shows his love to us every day, in
so many ways. And whenever I might lose touch
with that fact, I can be sure it's me who's
failing and falling short. Never Him."
"Nobody But You" puts a profound
message of God's omnipotence to an irresistible,
roof-rattling R&B groove. "No matter
what we do, or don't do-should do or shouldn't-God
still has mercy on us and makes a way for
us," Lee says. "He shows his love
to us every day, in so many ways. And whenever
I might lose touch with that fact, I can be
sure it's me who's failing and falling short.
Never Him."
"Jesus Made A Way" is a driving,
compelling profession of faith. "I've
had times-and I think a lot of people have-where
there was something I truly needed, but just
couldn't see where I would find the resources
it required," says Lee. "So you
go to bed and pray on it, and turn it over
to God, and when you wake up the next morning
either your phone rings, or you meet somebody,
or something develops through which that need
is met. Some way, somehow, He's worked it
out that somebody comes to your rescue. That's
no coincidence. That Jesus making a way."
Lee was born and raised in Tupelo, Mississippi-where
he still lives today-in a strong, church-going
household where making music was a regular
part of daily life. Lee had an uncle in a
quartet called the Gospel Stars that was popular
in and around Tupelo. When he was only seven,
Lee and his three older brothers formed their
own quartet, listening to and replicating
the songs they heard their elders singing.
The boys were talented and became frequent
guests at the Gospel Stars performances, becoming
known as the Gospel Star Juniors. It was that
same uncle who formed the first Spiritual
QC'S, which included Lee's brother Willie
on guitar. When that act disbanded in 1964,
Lee and Willie hung onto the name and assembled
new personnel to round out the group.
Lee and the QC'S built a strong local and
regional following, but chose to perform only
on weekends and holidays, maintaining their
family, church and community lives in Tupelo.
It wasn't until a self-produced cassette of
some of the group's songs made its way into
the hands of a Memphis, Tenn., radio announcer
in the early '90s that the QC'S world began
to change.
Lee and his partners were surprised to find
that not only had their tape been getting
some airplay in Memphis, but that listeners
were calling to request it and to find out
where it could be purchased. That response
led to release on a small local record label.
The group's popularity continued to grow
and by the mid-'90s nearly all the members'
free time was spent playing dates all over
the Southeast. A show in Birmingham, Alabama,
in 1996, was attended by a representative
of MCG Records, who took an immediate interest
in the Spiritual QC'S, and by that summer,
the foursome-Lee, Al Hollis, Leonard Shumpart
and Roger McKinney-were signed to the label
and at work on their first album, Love Will
Go All the Way.
"I was amazed, because I had never looked
at our music as a career," says the ever-modest
Lee. "I had been writing songs for 15-20
years before we even recorded anything. I
wasn't thinking about the music business.
I was just doing it because I loved it."
Almost as soon as the album hit the streets
and the airwaves, Lee & the QC'S soared
from a solid regional following in and around
their Mississippi home and the Southeastern
United States, to national renown almost overnight.
Still packing ever-larger venues across America,
and performing more than 200 dates a year,
the group ignites almost explosive excitement
and celebration.
"It was Gospel quartet music that played
a major role in the birth of R&B, soul
and rock'n'roll," says Lee. "They
all borrowed from us. We've cranked it up
considerably since the old days, but the heart
of our sound has been consistent for years.
If it sounds familiar…if
it makes you wanna get up and dance, or maybe
shed a tear here and there…well,
it ought to. This is where it all started."
Staying close to his roots, Lee still occasionally
revisits his truck-driving days. "Every
now and then, if the company needs an extra
driver, and I've got a couple of days off,
I'll take a drive," he says. "That's
a real get-away…a mind-relaxer
for me, and spending time in the truck stops
keeps in touch with the real world, not to
mention giving me good ideas for songs."
As the pride of Tupelo is embraced across
America and beyond, Lee works all the harder
to keep his eyes on the Giver of all great
gifts. "I never planned on any of this
recognition and success," says Lee. "I
was happy working Monday through Friday and
playing music around the area on weekends.
But when all this came about, I took it as
God telling me it was time to drop everything
else and go totally for Him, and that's what
I've done. I've tried not to let it affect
who I am, and if there have been any changes,
I hope they've been changes for the better.
I'm just doing my best to stay focused on
what He would have me do."
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