We invite you to listen to the Long Beach Southernairs discuss and demonstrate their music. Real Audio software required (free download)
The Long Beach Southernairs were founded in 1970 by Carl Knott, Steve Rush, Buford Shellman, and Arthur Mitchell. Shellman and Mitchell retired and returned to Texas four years ago, but Carl, from Hattiesburg, MS, and Steve from Starkville, MS, are still with the Southernairs, along with Lewis Washington, Rudolph Brown, M. L. Polk, Bruce Carter, Vernon Thomas, and Del Anderson. They all grew up singing in the church, inspired by traveling Black gospel quartets both those well-known and those lesser known yet no less loved and respected. In those days of hard economic times and the struggle for human rights in the south, they all came to California looking for a living and a better way of life. They found there way to Long Beach and to churches where others who made there way here found one another and the comfort of worshipping in familiar ways, especially music.
©Chris Lee, Nov. 1998
Every Thursday night, the Long Beach Southernairs rehearse their spiritually uplifting gospel music in the community room of St. Luke's Holy Baptist Church as they have for 27 years. They grew up singing rich harmonies and call-and-response style in the old southern African-American tradition.
In 1975, when the membership had grown to eleven, Prince Dixon, the late Gospel Caravan radio host on KPFK gave the Long Beach Southernairs the nickname "The Multitude." Among Black gospel quartets in Los Angeles, the Southernairs maintained a strong reputation for their musicality and spiritual mission, "to save souls for Christ through Gospel Music Ministry."
The Southernairs sing in prisons, convalescent homes, and have given concerts in churches and festivals in many states. They have been presented in Long Beach public events such as the Anaheim Street International Fair and Cultural Exposition and the West Long Beach Cultural Festival with the support of the PCA. They recorded many studio recorded LPs over the years, but on December 6, 1998 they made a new live concert recording with the current members for release on tape or CD.
By Terry Liu, PhD
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