Margie Joseph

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I was born into a gifted musical family in Gautier, Mississippi, a quiet little town on the beautiful Gulf Coast. If you blinked driving through it – well, guess what? Ya’ll missed Gautier.
My family was gloriously abundant with church singers, church musicians, preachers and evangelists. Each one affirmed that little Margie would be, too. Singing was in my blood from the day I was born, or as it is stated biblically, “before the foundation of the world.” I was ordained to sing and Mama made sure that I was active in both church and school choirs starting at the tender age of four. Not that I didn’t want to, I just felt something edifying and spiritually intriguing about worshiping and learning about God.
Church and school proved to be a blossoming flowerbed for me, nurturing and perfecting my talent as well as my need academically. I often pondered what it would be like to live away from Gautier. We were not poor -- we had enough -- and Mama said “what God provided was always enough.” I knew that a girl needed a “good job” to make it out of the “just enough” situation (don’t think we used the word “career” back then). When I was accepted to Dillard University in New Orleans to study Speech and Drama, I was ecstatic. Look out big world, here comes Margie Joseph – and, I was anxious to begin working toward my heart felt goals and desire.
New Orleans was a wonderfully thrilling town – so much history and rich heritage filled with interesting residents. If you wanted good music, by all means, New Orleans was the town to find it. Gospel, Blues, Jazz, Zydeco, Cajun, you name it -- “Nawlens” had it. I heard the beckoning of performing calling, but zealously completed my four years at Dillard to acquire my Bachelor of Arts Degree. My life changed. I met New Orleans legendary radio and television personality, Larry McKinley.
Larry had heard about me from my colleagues and requested that I audition for him. He really liked what he heard and arranged for me to perform with the late great jazz artist Cannonball Adderly. Then on to Muscle Shoals to cut my first two recordings produced by the famous Willie T (Turbington) and George Davis, with the Okeh label, a Columbia’s subsidiary.
After cutting the two singles on Okeh, a third was picked up by Stax Records and issued on the subsidiary Volt label. I was contracted as a full-fledged artist! My third Volt 45, “Your Sweet Lovin’” took me into the Billboard R&B chart for the very first time. Oh, you could have knocked me over with a feather! (Grandmother was not too elated).
I had made New Orleans my home and I was booked to appear on many shows, opening for famous stars like Lou Rawls, Barry White, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, the O’Jays, and Fats Domino, Al Green and many more. You can imagine how honored I was to share the Stax Muscle Shoals studios with such luminaries as Aretha Franklin, Clarence Carter, Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Issac Hayes using the famous Bar-kays band. I discovered that I had a talent for song writing, a natural progression from having penned stories and sermonettes at a very early age and later recorded a few of them.
After three years with Stax, I was approached by Atlantic Records, where then president, Jerry Wexler and noted producer, Arif Mardin, masterminded my first three albums for the company. My sessions with Mardin were undertaken in New York, and this was the first time I’d ever recorded away from the South. Each album I recorded was a specific project, with “Sweet Surrender” my second Atlantic set, yielding the top ten R&B hit version of Paul McCartney’s “My Love.” I was overwhelmed when a call from Paul to Arif, stated how much he liked my rendition.
For my next solo album -- “Margie” -- I shifted to Atlantic’s new Cotillion subsidiary, with president, Henry Allen. My life grew more interesting, enriched with creative musical endeavors. I was asked to go to California to work with legendary Lamont Dozier, formerly of Motown’s hit-writing Holland-Dozier team. That label move would prove to be only temporary, and I returned to Atlantic label with a former Motowner, the late great Johnny Bristol.
Life was good. I was singing and performing. But for whatever reasons, I decided that I had enough of label-to-label moves. So, with some young girl unrealistic expectations and accompanying disillusionment, I bowed out of recording and performing for a while. I pursued a variety of careers in education and finally resting in Human Services. My humanitarian attribute was always there dormant beneath the starry eyed young woman.
In 1982, I returned to recording, and enjoyed one of the biggest successes of my career, “Knockout” for the short-lived HCRC label. “Knockout” stayed on the R&B charts for a full six months. I returned to Cotillion to work with legendary producer, Narada Michael Walden. Life as usual has its twists and turns, and Margie Joseph turned away from recording again, and was back to the 9-5 career in human services.
All my life I have known Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I look forward with diligence to continue with the help of the Holy Spirit, building a ministry that will exalt the Lord God and help others get to know Him and His many attributes as their Lord and Savior. It all ties together with who I am and what I live for. I love God and His people, and where the need is, I want to allow Him to show up in me. I remain very active in the Gospel ministry of song and word and look forward to God taking me higher.
As I embark upon my first gospel CD endeavor it allows me to demonstrate how my life is enhanced in the music I sing. Real music doesn't need to be classified. It should just edify the soul and spirit of the listener. Songs should always be about love for Christ and mankind. My music is a language of love. I love music and I will always sing for Jesus for Jesus is Love!