Today we’d like to introduce you to James C. Birdsong Jr.
James, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born on May 16th, 1980, in Richmond, CA, a city in the Bay Area north from Oakland and across San Francisco Bay from San Francisco. My father, the late Rev. James C. Birdsong, Sr. was a respected minister, singer, and local activist for Civil Rights and the disabled, and my mother, Belinda Germany-Birdsong. I am a member of the world-renowned famed Birdsong family with a strong, blessed legacy in ministry and entertainment. My cousins consist of R&B legend Cindy Birdsong, a member of the 1960 R&B groups, Patti LaBelle & the Bluebells and the Supremes, former four-time NBA All-Star pro basketball player Otis Birdsong and Grammy Award winner, the late Edwin Birdsong, who died on January 21st, 2019 at 77-years-old in Los Angeles, CA. He was a 1970s era funk era recording artist, songwriter, producer, organist, and keyboardist that collaborated with legendary artists such as Billy Preston, Roy Ayers, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, a close family friend of ours.
Later in his career, Edwin’s songs were sampled by today’s top-selling artists such as Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Dalf Punk, and many others. He won a GRAMMY® Award in 2008 for his participation on Kanye West’s Billboard chart single, Stronger. The single contains a sample of Edwin’s song, Cola Bottle Baby from 1979. My great uncle, the late Rev. Sidney Birdsong, Sr., who was Edwin’s father, served as the pastor of the historic Solid Rock Baptist Church in Los Angeles from 1959 until his death in 1976. There are a lot of preachers, singers, and musicians in my family. Now, you have yours truly continuing the legacy while building a mine at the same time. I am a gospel vocalist, songwriter, national published author, motivational speaker, and advocate for today’s youth.
I am a recipient of the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor of distinction from Marquis Who’s Who Publications in Berkeley Heights, NJ, a multiple listee in Marquis Who’s Who in America, a recipient of the Marquis Who’s Who Top Artist Award, a nominee for the 2020 4th Annual Gulf Coast Gospel Music Awards for Kingdom Influencer of the Year, an inductee on the Wall of Tolerance at the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, AL, the recipient of 36 proclamations and resolutions from mayors to members of the United States Congress, a recipient of the Black Essence Awards in Gospel Music and much more.
I am being honored with the Shining Star Award at the 2020 5th Annual Shining Star Awards Gala by Preach the Word Worldwide Network TV in Roswell, GA and will be the recipient of the Congressional Record by the United States House of Representatives once the session resumes at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. I am an alumnus of the Fairfield High School Class of 1998 in Fairfield, CA and received a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Education at Beulah Heights University in Atlanta, GA. By this October, I earned a Graduate Certificate of Marketing at the University of Phoenix in Phoenix, AZ. I have been blessed in this journey as a professional in the gospel music industry and entertainment arena with a strong support system throughout the United States and abroad.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I am truly blessed to share my story across the United States and abroad on numerous television, radio, and print media outlets. When I was 3 years old, I struggled to speak. My parents become aware of the problem at approximately 13 months old. I was diagnosed with a speech impediment and fine motor delays resulting in a developmental disability. One day, the doctors told my parents, “Mr. and Mrs. Birdsong, your son is going to have to communicate in American Sign Language.” Since my father was a well-known public figure in Richmond, he and my mother never experienced this situation. They were establishing themselves as leaders. My father already had popularity among the local elected officials, churches, organizations, the school district, businesses and the West County Times, our local newspaper.
As a person was raised in the church and a believer of God, a miracle came my way. The late Elder Robert Lee Crawford and his wife, the late Mother Betty Crawford, who migrated from Joliet, IL, came to my hometown. Elder Crawford was a revivalist in Richmond. He eventually served as the pastor of Now Faith Church of God in Christ at the corner of Nevin Avenue and 2nd Street. It was a small storefront church in Richmond. He eventually became our pastor for a year until his death in 1984. Elder Crawford was an old school, Pentecostal preacher in the Church of God in Christ who stood on holiness. His wife was my mother’s close friend and mentor. She transitioned in 2008 at 74-years-old. After her husband’s death, Mother Crawford continued to remain close to me and my parents into the 1990s. I remember the pastors and noted figures in my hometown. They were good people that stood on integrity. When Elder Crawford conducted this particular revival, God revealed my condition to him.
One day, Elder Crawford approached my mother and said, “Sister Birdsong, if you receive Jesus Christ into your life and be filled with the Holy Ghost, then God will heal your son to speak.” Those were his exact words. Elder Crawford gave my mother divine instructions from God what she needed to do. Remember, this happened in the early 1980s. We had church services at our two-story, five-bedroom Victorian house on Maine Avenue and Harbour Way South. Our house was a gathering place. If you came over to visit us, the living and dining room reminds you of a mansion interior. All of my childhood friends thought the Birdsongs were an upscale family living like if we were rich. For the record, we were not millionaires. As a child, my parents were the owners of 1984 Lincoln Town Car sedan and a 1982 Oldsmobile Delta 88 couple. We had so many people visiting us from family members to local dignitaries due to my father being a public figure in Richmond. One day at our house, Elder and Mother Crawford, along with our neighbors and the members of Now Faith Church of God in Christ, gathered at our house. I cannot remember everything on this particular day.
I was only 3 years old. I do remember someone picking up and placing me on the coffee table while the people gathered around praying. My mother did not see what occurred since she was praying and seeking God. Then all of the suddenly, the Holy Spirit came upon me and I spoke in tongues. This was my first time speaking. I was healed from the condition. As soon as that transpired, I would be upstairs in my room preaching to stuff animals every night as my parents listened by the doorway before dinner. I attended public schools from 3 years old to high school as a special education student. I had to take speech language therapy for a short period to improve my verbal communication skills. I was blessed with loving, supportive teachers that encouraged and motivated me to strive for success. They observed greatness and potential in me whereas I did not identify at first.
Along the way, I had my shares of being bullied and teased by certain peers in school. There were friends and classmates who watched out for me. I did not allow negative obstacles to hold me back from achieving my dreams. By the 1990s, there was a major change in my home environment. There were changes in my neighborhood and surrounding areas due to shootings, murders, and gang activity in Richmond. It was similar to what occurred in Compton and South Central Los Angeles at the time. Gangsta rap music was on the rise during the 1990s. My parent’s marriage was falling apart and eventually divorced in 1995.
On June 10th, 1997, my father suddenly died a week before I was scheduled to visit him for Father’s Day. He was 58 years old. I was living in Fairfield, CA with my mother at the time. I was 17 years old and taking finals for the last week in the 11th grade at Fairfield High School when my father died. I shared my journey and being an overcomer in my memoirs, The Best is Yet to Come: A Testimony of One Young Man’s Redemption. I understand and can relate to today’s youth of this generation today, especially those of us who were raised in the inner city. Now, the global community have taken notice.
Please tell us about Birdsong Association of Broadcasting & Arts.
Birdsong Association of Broadcasting & Arts, Inc. is a new 501c3 nonprofit organization in Atlanta, GA. Established in 2019, the organization provides scholarships, organize fundraisers, host Sing Out Loud! An Evening of Gospel Music, our annual gospel concert and pre-concert VIP awards gala, workshops, productions, and programs. Proceeds of these events will help today’s African American youth in metro Atlanta, Los Angeles and throughout the United States attend college at HBCUs (Historical Black Colleges and Universities), provide mentorship opportunities and careers in performing arts and broadcasting. The organization will guide today’s youth to become successful artists, songwriters, producers, engineers, record label executives, actors, and actresses, playwriters, educators, media personalities and entrepreneurs.
There are plans for a second operation in Los Angeles, CA to be establish this fall. Our third operations will be established next year in New York City. The administration consists of the President, Secretary and ten board members. Our board members are professionals in the gospel and secular music industry, the entertainment arena, media broadcasting, education, religious affairs, corporate spectrum, and community advocacy. The organization will begin our operations this fall with our official website to launch in the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, readers can follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/birdsongassociationbroadcastingarts. As a member of the gospel music industry, I plan to launch a record label for aspiring artists to record and perform on the national stage. There are plans for me to record albums and do concerts in the near future.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I am blessed with individuals who supported me through the years. Along with my parents, I have a supportive family. They are my biggest fans and supporters. I do want to acknowledge three of my childhood cousins. We have been on this journey together all of our lives. I want to publicly recognize my beautiful cousins, Seyyida Westbrook, Makeba and Princess Fields. They would always visit us at our house, and I did the same. We would always see each other every day. We lived not too far from each other. I am very proud of them, and they have been blessed with beautiful children. Our family no longer resides in Richmond. They live in other cities of the Bay Area. I love my younger cousins so much, and they loved me. Another person I want to acknowledge is my God mother, Luzan Graham. She still lives in my old neighborhood.
As a matter of fact, my God mother is the only one there. Everybody else moved away to other cities and states. Her daughter, Kitara Wilson, is my God sister. She is nine years older than me and established herself as a gifted, talented writer. She and her husband, Jahid and their two children, reside here in the Carolinas. I am grateful to God for Alice Claiborne, my former home economics teacher at Fairfield High School. She is truly an inspiration to the students and the youth of Solano County. Her daughter, Kinya graduated high school alongside me in 1998. She is doing extremely fine in Los Angeles as a member of the entertainment industry. When I was growing up in Richmond, I developed a close bond and still to this day with the retired teachers and staff at Nystrom Elementary School. They are my sixth grade teacher, Donna Grove, Victoria Cordier, Linda Reimann and her husband, Oji Blackson, Cassandra Madden and her husband, Lloyd, Baby Raff, Wanda Dyer, Dorothy Reeves, Pauline Alexander and her daughter, Sandra and Darlene Jones, who was my principal. I will never forget the memory of the late Audrey Henry, the late Ann Bolden, the late Audrey Holden, the late Beatrice Walker, the late Zettie Gooden, the late Hazel Dunn and the late Rosemary Moses.
They were part of the Nystrom family. Mrs. Dunn was my baby sister and close family friend to me and my parents. Mrs. Gooden was another close family friend. I cannot forget about Mrs. Moses. I considered her The Queen of Nystrom and a woman with class and style. I also appreciate Seretha Jefferson, a longtime retired educator in Fairfield, CA, that organized the well-attended Booker T. Washington Revisited Student Conference for African American youth throughout Northern California during the 1990s at Solano Community College. I was first introduced to Seretha by Mrs. Claiborne as a senior at Fairfield High School. From that first meeting, I became actively involved with the conference as a planning committee member, workshop facilitator and emcee. The late Mayor George Livingston became the first elected African American mayor in Richmond. He was a friend to my father.
Mayor Livingston along with my father, the late Dr. William Jenkins, Jr., the late Dr. Julius Caesar Robinson, the late Councilmember Richard Griffin, the late Councilmember Lonnie Washington, Jr., the late Rev. J.L. and Mother Ida Mae Johnson, the late Dr. Betty Hendricks, the late Bishop George and Mother Verley Ayers and many of the iconic pastors, city council members, singers, entrepreneurs, and community activists were the legends and icons in Richmond. For the gospel music industry and entertainment arena, I appreciate the support of my entire family nationwide and abroad. There are too many to mention for this interview. However, I will only mention a few individuals. Vivian Varner, an Atlanta based gospel recording artist, songwriter and choir director was my vocal instructor during the late 2000s. She is the sweetest person you can ever meet. Sandi Sam is a veteran radio personality and hosted the Sandi Sam Show in Atlanta, GA. Kendal Richardson of Dallas, TX, is another of my closest friends and industry colleagues. This young man have a powerful testimony.
My big brother in the industry, Andre Gates of Atlanta, GA, is one of the board members of Birdsong Association of Broadcasting & Arts, Inc. He serves as the manager of two of gospel music’s biggest names, Dorothy Norwood, and Dottie Peoples, who already knew about me before I met them. Tiffany Coleman-McGee of Jackson, MS, is another of my board members. She is known throughout the gospel music industry as Miz Tiffany. She is the first female solo gospel hip hop artist to be nominated for a Stellar Award. Longtime vocalist and founding member of the two-time GRAMMY® Award nominated Mississippi Mass Choir, Lillian Lilly of Brookhaven, MS have been very supportive me through the years and national gospel recording artist, Rev. Calvin Bernard Rhone of Los Angeles, CA. He wrote hit songs for the late Rev. James Cleveland, Tramaine Hawkins, the late Daryl Coley and others. He is another longtime family friend of mine. Jay Francis Springs of Decatur, GA, a veteran radio personality at WAOK 1380 AM in Atlanta, GA, serves as a board member of Birdsong Association of Broadcasting & Arts, Inc. I want to also acknowledge Larry Young and Jonathan Simmons, two veteran radio personalities in Atlanta, GA. WAOK 1380 AM received a Stellar Award in 2017.
Television and radio personality, Nikki Rich of the Nikki Rich Show in Los Angeles, CA, is another supporter of mine. She was featured in Voyage LA. My longtime friend and colleague, actress Dréa Lewis was featured in Voyage ATL. We go way back when the gospel choir she founded, G.I.F.T.E.D. at Georgia Institute of Technology, approached me to collaborate with them in their annual Gospel Explosion in 2008. I recently learned about the transition of Dr. Cynthia Harris, a longtime instructor, mentor, and Civil Rights activist in Portland, OR. She served as the principal of Nystrom Elementary School from 2004 to 2006. Dr. Harris was another supporter of mine. Her legacy still lives on. There are two mothers in the church whom I loved, admired and respect so much from the Bay Area. I have known them since I was 16 years old. I am referring to none other than Mother Johnnie Hubbard, the widow of the late District Elder Dr. Jerry Hubbard, the founding pastor Emmanuel Temple Apostolic Church and Mother Hattie Strong of Vallejo, CA. Another one in that group, the late Mother Lillian Chitmon, lived in Vallejo. CA. I missed her so much. She would always say, “Baby, please mail me photos of you with these famous gospel artists.”
Doris Matthews of Vallejo, CA is very supportive of me. She attended my first book signing for the Birdsong family in Compton, CA. It was held in 2017. Her children, Sherrie, Pierre, Celena, Tinika and her daughter-in-law, Charlotte, are my fans and supporters. The Elbeck family of Sacramento, CA have been supportive of me since my high school years. I attended high school with a young lady named Kimberlee and her husband, Preston. These are my close friends for almost 25 years. Her father, the late Alfred Elbeck was a man after God’s own heart and loved his family. I admired his business and leadership skills.
I cannot forget about our very own Deane Bonner, former President of the Cobb County NAACP in Marietta, GA. She and her husband, Jesse Bonner, are a positive influence in Cobb County and made significant contributions to the community. There are more names than the individuals I am sharing with the public. Each of them had a major impact in my life through love, prayers and believe in me when I felt like giving up. If I did not mention your name for this interview, you know who you are. I do appreciate you so much.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jamescbirdsongjr.net
- Email: info@jamescbirdsongjr.jet
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/jamescbirdsongjr
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/jamescbirdsongjr
- Twitter: www.twtter.com/TheRealJBOnline
Image Credit:
Professional Photos – Emily Heath Photography
James C. Birdsong, Jr. Speaking Photo – Brittany K. Jackson, SASS Media Group
Fairfield High School Class of 1998 Commencement – Fairfield High School
Cobb County Government – Commissioner Lisa Cupid and James C. Birdsong, Jr.
Birdsong Association of Broadcasting & Arts Logo – Birdsong Association of Broadcasting & Arts
Albert T. Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award – James C. Birdsong, Jr.
James C. Birdsong, Jr., Belinda Germany-Birdsong and Dr. Bobby Jones of BET’s Bobby Jones Gospel – James C. Birdsong, Jr.
Gulf Coast Gospel Music Award Official Nomination – Gulf Coast Gospel Music Awards
James C. Birdsong, Jr. Baby Portrait Photo – JCPenney’s Photo Studio
The Best is Yet To Come: A Testimony of One Young Man’s Redemption Book Flyer – T&J Publishers
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