ABOUT BRYAN WILSON MINISTRIES
MISSION STATEMENT
Taking the gospel through word, song and educational workshops to churches, prisons, schools and other public forums around the world. 1) Through preaching and public speaking, Bryan Wilson will deliver Bible-inspired messages. 2) Through concerts and other singing platforms, Bryan Wilson will give uplifting concerts consisting of faith-based music. 3) Drawing on his extensive scholastic education and years of singing in churches across the country, Bryan Wilson will offer free or low-cost lectures and workshops on sacred music performance and various aspects of creating and sustaining a musical ministry.
VISION STATEMENT
Our long-range goal is to plant churches with a Bapolstogic (combination of Baptist, Apostolic and Church of God in Christ) doctrine throughout the United States of America. We also plan to establish community-based educational groups througout the United States to provide music lessons to disadvantaged children and give them a positive creative outlet.
DESCRIPTION:
Bryan Wilson Ministries is a Bapastogic organization (A Pentecostal blend of Baptist, Apostolic and Church of God in Christ/COGIC Christian liturgies). We’re an energetic, inspirational, and determined ministry focused on uplifting people’s spirits, elevating their aspirations and encouraging their dreams.
BOARD MEMBERS
- Bryan Wilson – Founder/Chairman
- Bill Carpenter – Vice Chair
- Sheila Wilson - Secretary
- Aaron Wilson - Treasurer
- Carla Reed - Advisor
- Robert Shanklin – Advisor
BRYAN WILSON BIOGRAPHY
Bryan Wilson has often been confused with Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. Excited reporters would call out of nowhere and start asking him about “Good Vibrations” or “I Get Around” once, a producer from MSNBC was on the phone with him for five minutes before he realized this was a different surfer dude. “I found it hilarious,” Wilson says. “Why would that Brian Wilson be in South Carolina where I was living at the time?” While Brian Wilson is a legend in pop music, Bryan Wilson has been a star on the gospel circuit since he was twelve years old.
In 1994, Bryan burst on the music scene with a soulful, melismatic rendition of “His Eye is on the Sparrow” with the Mississippi Children’s Choir that made him an overnight gospel sensation. What followed was Dove and Stellar award nominations, two solo CDS and tours with a who’s who of gospel artists such as John P. Kee, Albertina Walker and Bryan’s mentor, the late James Moore. After a voice change and time off for college at Princeton University, Bryan is now ready for A Second Coming - his first CD release since 1999 and it’s a departure.
Wilson’s childhood music was traditional, old school gospel. “I had no choice in what I sang.” he laughs. “They basically handed me some songs and said do you like this one or that one?” So, not only is the new project an exciting blend of faith and urban rhythms; but it’s the first time Wilson had a hand in writing, co-producing and arranging all of the songs. “My manager had asked some known songwriters to submit songs for the project and nothing came through,” Wilson recalls. “So, I just started writing what the Lord placed on my heart and this is the result.”
Wilson was born November 3, 1983 in Danville, IL, the middle child of his mother Sheila’s three sons. She and her family sang in a family gospel group called the Davis Singers. Wilson was only about six when he first began singing with them. “My grandfather was the major influence in my life up to that time,” Wilson says. “He told me to keep on singing and to carry on the family tradition. The first time I ever sang a solo was at my grandfather’s funeral. It was kind of ironic that it was he who started me singing, and that my solo happened to be at his funeral. ” Aside, from his family, Wilson grew up on the vocal licks of the Pace Sisters and the Clark Sisters.
“I used to sing to the grass,” Wilson recalls. “I’d be out in the yard playing and pretending that each blade of grass was a member of my audience.” His next-door neighbor Carol Parker often over heard him singing and thought that he was good. She sent a tape of him singing “His Eye is on the Sparrow” to Jerry Mannery at Malaco Records. He liked it and featured Wilson’s rendition on a Mississippi Children’s Choir project with the same arrangement that Sheila had taught him. Wilson’s high notes and vocal gymnastics sealed the song’s fate and essentially sold the CD, A New Creation. The album reached #39 on Billboard’s gospel chart and has since sold over 100,000 units. Soon gospel announcers had nicknamed Wilson the “Boy Sparrow.”
Wilson’s instant success led Malaco Records to offer him his own recording deal. Among the heavy-hitter producers crafting Bryan’s debut were gospel legend Walter Hawkins, Kirk Franklin and John P. Kee. Sticking with a dramatic hymn as the radio single, “Blessed Assurance,” took the cd Bryan’s Songs to #21 on Billboard’s gospel chart in 1996. His 1999 Growing Up CD was recorded during the period when puberty set in and his voice changed. It would be the beginning of an emotional low point in Wilson’s life. “I can remember times when my voice was changing, I would go places to sing and they would want me to sing `His Eyes on the Sparrow,’ but I just could not hit the notes,” Wilson says. “A lot of the times crowds were very displeased because they wanted to hear the little boy with the high voice. I went through a period almost where I couldn’t sing, and it was depressing, because I felt like, now God, you blessed me with this voice and you blessed me to do all these things, but now I feel like He was just taking it away from me. Then, there came a time when I didn’t even want to sing. I was just real hurt, I felt like my career was just coming to an end. I had to re-train my voice and learn how to sing all over again.”
After high school, Wilson moved to Orangeburg, South Carolina to attend Claflin University. After graduating with a B.A. in theology, he spent a year working towards a master’s of divinity degree from Princeton University. At that point, Wilson began to concentrate on his music again. So, he and his manager co-founded Bryan’s Songs Records/CE Music with distribution through Central South Distribution in Nashville.
They brought in Wilson’s childhood friend, Kris “Doc Sizzle” Bell, to produce it. Drawing from his own life experiences, Wilson wrote or co-wrote poignant songs covering everything from a soured romance on “Smile” or his absentee dad on “Still, My Father” to a bad day at work on “Just Do Something.” Recorded in his hometown of Danville, family and close friends showed up to work on the project, which has a smooth, contemporary urban feel without the slickness of some pop music. “It has a really raw sound,” Wilson says. “The way the vocals are mixed is especially raw, but I like it. It’s a little different but I think people will like it. However, all technical music aside, my main mission for these songs is to encourage and save souls for Christ. The title of the CD talks about my second coming as an artist; but the bigger picture is these songs lead us to a discussion of the second coming of Jesus Christ.”
The CD received stellar reviews and put Wilson back on the musical map with TV appearances on BET and TBN among others. As a teenager, he had begun to formulate a style of music he termed Baplostogic. “I was raised with a lot of musical flavors,” he laughs. “On Sunday morning we went to the Baptist church and then Sunday night we went to the Apostolic church. My grandmother was a seventh day holiness keeper, so I put everything I learned from all of those denominations into my musical style which is Baptist, Apostolic, and Church of God in Christ (COGIC) thus Bapolstogic.” Wilson tested the waters with this new musical style when he licensed his song “If You’re Talking About Jesus” for Time Life Music’s wildly successful, Shouting Down The Aisles, compilation CD that was featured in a $2 million TV advertising campaign. “The sound is old school gospel with South Carolina Low Country, New Orleans Jazz band and Caribbean vibes,” says Wilson. “However, I wrap all of that in a modern groove that I believe will appeal to people of all ages and ethnic groups.” He’s currently hard at work, writing and arranging songs for the forthcoming CD, Bapolstogic 101, that is due for release in spring 2011. In the meantime, Wilson’s urban-inspirational groove “Everybody Clap Your Hands” is getting national airplay on gospel and R&B stations and further laying the foundation for his second coming. |
BRYAN WILSON DISCOGRAPHY AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
A Second Coming - Expanded Deluxe Edition (CE Music/Bryan's Songs 2010)
Bapolstogic 101 (CE Music/Bryan's songs) Bryan Wilson Producer.
A Second Coming (CE Music/Bryan’s Songs Records 2008) Various Producers.
Growing Up (Malaco Records 1999) Produced by Jerry Mannery.
Bryan’s Songs (Malaco Records 1996) Produced by John P. Kee and Walter Hawkins.
CD GUEST APPEARANCES
If You’re Talking About Jesus, Shoutin’ Down the Aisles (TimeLife/Sony 2009)
The Savior Has Come, Love’s Holiday: A Gospel Christmas (TimeLife/Sony 2007) Still, My Father, Stellar Awards Hits 2007 (Light Records 2007)
Uncloudy Day, Uncloudy Days (Artemis Gospel 2005)
It Was You, Contemporary Gospel Volume 2 (St. Clair 2000)
Behold His Face, It Ain’t Over Till (God Says It’s Over) (Malaco 1997)
Yahweh, Live at Jackson State University (Malaco 1995)
His Eye is on the Sparrow, A New Creation (Malaco 1994)
CITATIONS/AWARD NOMINATIONS
Dove and Stellar Award Nominations for “Blessed Assurance” (1996)
Bryan Wilson Day in Akron, Ohio (1997)
NATIONAL TELEVISION APPEARANCES
“Next Generation,” Gospel Music Channel (GMC –2008)
“Video Gospel,” Black Entertainment Television (BET – 2008)
“Love’s Holiday,” Black Entertainment Television Jazz (BETJ -2007).
“Praise the Lord,” Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN -2006).
“The Gospel of Music with Jeffmajors” (TV One -2005).
“Bobby Jones Gospel,” Black Entertainment Television (BET -1996).
“Say Yes with Candi Staton,” Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN -2000).
“Babbie’s Place,” Daystar Network (DSTN-2000).
“I Gospel,” The Inspirational Network (INSP –2005/2006).
“Stellar Awards” (syndicated-1995)
"100 Huntley Street," Crossroads Communications (2010)
"Encounter with Peter Youngren," Grace TV (2010)
"Bobby Jones Gospel," Black Entertainment Television (BET - 2010)
"Bobby Jones' Next Generation," Gospel Music Channel (GMC - 2009) |
