Although being religious, Washington was entrenched in secular music, and worked with the likes of Boys II Men and such rappers as Method Man and the Wu Tang Clan, she recalls. “I was fine working with secular music, and I was trying to make it in mainstream because that’s where the money was.
I wanted to keep it separate, let my faith be my faith, and let my business be my business. I never, ever thought about a music label. “God had to pull me into gospel,” she admits. Kwami - The Tennessee Tribune Close Search for:ĭecades-spanning musical director of world-renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers Kwami Family, wife Susanna (Susie), sons, Paul E.“I literally fought for six months - I didn’t want to do it.” Nonetheless, Washington “finally gave up. Kwami, Musical Director, and Curb-Beaman Chair of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the globally recognized vocal ensemble at Fisk University, died on Saturday, September 10, 2022, in Nashville, TN. With a musical legacy that spans nearly three decades and includes the highest musical honors and accomplishments – receiving a GRAMMY award, directing international performances in the world’s most prestigious venues, earning a National Medal of the Arts, Americana Lifetime Achievement Legacy Award, being inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame – and personal accolades including a Doctoral and master’s degree, Dr. Kwami’s extraordinary life began in Ghana, West Africa where he was born in the small mountain town of Amedzofe. One of seven children and the eldest son of Theophilus Walter Kwami and Monica Rosaline Kwami, music was in his blood and a part of his heritage. Kwami learned theory and conducting, and to play piano and violin. His father inspired his understanding of self-discipline and dedication that followed him throughout his life.īetween rough-hewn duties on his family’s farm, garden, and coffee plantation during harvest season, he, unlike other peers, couldn’t go out to play on Sunday afternoons until he was done practicing piano.Īfter attending boarding school for high school, he studied music at Ghana’s National Academy of Music and stayed to teach after. Kwami and his bride would eventually welcome three beautiful children.ĭespite the legacy that he would go on to create, Fisk University was not on his radar until he met a missionary, and friend of his father, who recommended he continue his music education at the Nashville university.ĭr. Kwami took the suggestion to heart and applied to Fisk University in 1983. Generously, the missionary’s church provided him with a scholarship to attend.
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