Our Founder
Frank
Williams, Sr.
As a small child, Frank began traveling and performing with his musically gifted family. He was so small; he would sometimes stand on a box so that those in the audience could see him. By the age of 12, he was a member of the Little Williams Brothers who became known as the Sensational Williams Brothers. But in 1964, Frank and his older brother, Huey Williams, joined the Jackson Southernaires who recorded for Duke/Peacock Records and the ABC/Dunhill labels.
In 1975, while Frank was attending Jackson State University, the Southernaires signed with Malaco Records based in Jackson, MS, becoming the first gospel group to record for that label.
By 1979, Frank advanced to the position of Executive Producer and Director of Gospel Promotion at Malaco. In that position he attracted talents such as The Original Soul Stirrers, The Sensational Nightingales, Willie Neal Johnson and the Gospel Keynotes, Louise Candy Davis, and the Rev. James Moore, to name a few. His inspired writing and music production made the label and Frank Williams among the most respected entities in the gospel music industry.
After several years of running from the perceived responsibilities associated with following the vision of forming a mass choir in his home state, in 1988 Frank answered the call and formed the Mississippi Mass Choir! The rest, as they say, is history.
On March 22, 1993, while traveling home to Mississippi after a soul stirring service with the Mississippi Mass choir, Franklin Delano
Williams, Sr., suffered a medical emergency and later died in Savannah, Georgia, following a lengthy illness.
He was preceded in death by his first wife, Dorothy Jean Williams. Frank is survived by his wife Katrina Belton-Williams and children, Theja Tamara, Jessica Louise and Frank,II along with his brothers, Melvin and Doug Williams (The Williams Brothers), Huey Williams (The Jackson Southernairs) and a host of other family and friends.
AsFrank was the Founder and Visionary behind the Mississippi Mass Choir, his legacy and mission to ‘serve God through song’ will live forever in the hearts of the choir members as well as his family and the world.