The gospel according to Harlem
All-conquering New York choir manager reveals their love of Ireland
Allen Bailey had the idea to form the Harlem Gospel Choir amidst the celebrations for Martin Luther King Day in January 1986. They’ve been bringing their harmonious brand of joy to the world ever since.
Anna, his wife and choir manager, reckons that ‘many hundreds’ of members have passed through their ranks. They’ve performed with everyone from U2 to Andre Rieu. Three combinations of the choir are in New York or on tour at any one time. The choir you will see on their upcoming Irish tour is, like the other two, under the tutelage of Bailey as Anna explains.
‘One is based in New York and doesn’t tour, as all the members have commitments in the city or feel they don’t want to go on the road any more,’ she says.
‘The touring group that will be coming to Ireland is from New York. We usually tour with nine singers and two musicians on stage.’
Australian-born Anna met and married Bailey over 20 years ago and has been the choir’s manager for most of the intervening years. She says that when they began touring the world they would encounter few choirs performing commercially as they do. There has been a marked change in that situation.
‘I don’t remember there being any gospel choirs in Ireland or Britain, although maybe there were. Now, they seem to be everywhere.
‘There have been instances where they have just directly copied our approach. When something is successful, you always get that.
‘When we announce a tour now, we get enquiries from different local gospel choirs asking can they open for us at different shows, which is nice, but I don’t remember that happening before 2001.’
That year was significant for the choir. It was the year they first came to perform in Ireland, and the circumstances around that are forever embedded in her memory.
‘We were to begin touring Ireland and Britain in September 2001, then 9/11 happened,’ she says.
‘We were supposed to perform at the Olympia with The Chieftains – they had a big anniversary concert planned. A lot of the artists who were meant to perform with them were American and cancelled. Allen said: “Well, we’re not cancelling.”
‘The Chieftains themselves cancelled, so we told the promoters we’ll take the date. I remember being in the lobby of the venue on the day of the show and hearing all this banging on the walls and windows and I asked what was wrong and someone working in the theatre told me that it was people who couldn’t get tickets banging on the doors and windows of the box office, but the show was sold out. We heard that and decided to put on two shows.’
As well as a return to the Olympia on the tour, they will perform at the Cork Opera House; the scene, she says, of one of their most memorable gigs.
‘It was during the city’s Jazz Festival one year, it was a soldout show,’ she says. ‘When the choir walked on stage the audience screamed like it was a heartthrob teen band. The concert proceeded at that level of enthusiasm.
‘That is a wonderful memory that has stayed with us.’
The Harlem Gospel Choir play the Theatre Royal, Waterford on Wednesday and the Olympia on Thursday. See harlem gospel choir. com for more tour details.
‘When the choir walked on stage the audience screamed like it was a teen band’