Cee Josephs - From Tragedy To Peace and Triumph

The versatile gospel singer/songwriter, nutrition guru, on how family life and Church taught her to sing, and how tragedy propelled her into the recording business.

Cee Josephs remembered at the age of 4, or 5 being on stage at a church concert, reciting poetry, with her father as the prompter. She could not remember the lines, so she started singing instead. At six years she was the youngest member of the choir, and in subsequent years, it seems she was always the youngest member of any choir or group that she sang with. And they were many. Her mother was a great soprano, and my father sang baritone and played the guitar.

When she was about 16 years old her pastor’s wife predicted that she would be great one day. Well ‘great’ is relative. She believes most of the things she has accomplished were done well.

But she still thinks there is so much more that God has in store (for her to do), and she has all of these God-given songs and ideas that she wants to share with the world.

There were fourteen in her family, including her parents, and everyone had his/her favorite genre of music. So she listened to everything. Most of her siblings were older than her. Oddly enough she seemed to be the only one that enjoyed listening to classical music for long periods of time. She found it so peaceful. Her parents noted that, and sent her to piano lessons. As a teenager, on Saturday nights, if there were no church social, Cee Josephs would curl up in the living room and listen to soul music of the ‘50s through the ‘70s.

Cee Josephs’ family was blessed growing up in the church, and every morning, and most evenings they would have worship, at which they would sing hymns. Cee knows just about every hymn. Most of her family sings well, and even the family dog would sing at worship. At church there was youth meetings and here you get the opportunity to sing, act, and recite poetry.

She met Bob Marley as a young girl. Cee Josephs went once to hear him perform at an uptown club.

Cee's sisters also knew The Jamaicans, who would hang out at their house at times. Strangely enough, her mother was the best friend of record producer Duke Reid’s wife, yet as a singer she never entertained the thought of going in the studio. she thought that the studio was considered evil. It was pretty much only secular music was being recorded at the time, and of course, they were Christians. She listened to every kind of music and artist. She drew inspiration from music, art and life. She sang songs of Sandi Patti, Anita Baker and Whitney Houston, before recording her own.

Cee Josephs was molded by two decades of classical voice training. In high school she won several medals and awards in the annual Jamaica Festival of Music competition. When she immigrated the US, she immediately began voice and piano lessons. One of her teachers, Despina Pestesi, thought she was promising in piano but observed that all she seems to want to do was sing. Her teacher did not want to take her money in vain, so she stopped piano, again, for the third time. As a soloist she sang with groups like The Roy Prescod Chorale, doing works as Mendelsohn’s ‘Elijah’, Shubert’s ‘Stabat Mater’, Gounod’s Messe Solonnelle', to name a few. As a paid soloist with The Flatbush-Tompkins Congregational Church in Brooklyn NY, she sang such works as Handel’s ‘Messiah’, Dubois ‘Seven Last Words of Christ’, With the choirs of the famed Riverside Church in NYC, and the historical Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn NY, as the soloist, she performed and recorded Paul Halley’s ‘Freedom Trilogy’ in the 1999 ‘Great Music At Plymouth’ concert series. This Caribbean gospel singer with locks may just surprise you with her classical voice.

After the tragic death and funeral (at which she sang) of a very close family friend, she was approached by her husband and invited to visit his studio. Up to this point she was singing covers, mostly Christian and Traditional. He encouraged her to start writing, and she found that her Christian upbringing (studying the bible and singing hymns) made it so much easier. Cee Jospehs first album,“Peace Within Me” was produced in 1997, by Junior Gentles, the same individual that invited her to his studio. She later learned that he was the founder of the group Home-T-4.

After the album was released she toured all over the US, Africa, Canada and the Caribbean, and sold it at concerts, church conventions and services. She shared the stage with Yolanda Adams, Direct Messengers, Wintley Phipps, and the American Hall of Fame inductee Joseph Niles, and popular local artists. she has her albums in Christian bookstores and in the Internet stores, amazon.com and CdBaby, as well as all the music download sites. she also gets radio airplay across the country, and in countries where she has performed.

The second album, “3 Way Calling You. God. Me” , is more rhythmic as she became more comfortable in writing The Word in contemporary form. The same is true for my third album, , “Ready To Walk". Her music also educates as it entertains, showing the benefits of having a good relationship with each other, living peaceably with each other under the grace of God. That is the goal of her music. It’s certainly not about making money. She could have gone the other route. Time is short, and she is lusting for more people to hear her messages, God’s messages in her music. She truly believes He wants her to do this.

Cee Joseph's Official Website