Rev. Stefanie Minatee on Jubilation, “Still Standing” and Uncle Lawrence Roberts

by Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

Rev. Stefanie Minatee remembers being six years old and sitting in the First Baptist Church of Nutley, New Jersey during a live recording session featuring the church choir.

Her mother, Pearl Minatee, was a member of the choir and brought Stefanie along for the session.

It wasn’t just any live recording, however.

The day was Thursday, September 19, 1963. America was still shaken by the events of four days earlier, when a bomb planted by racists in Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church took the lives of four young girls. No doubt the tragedy was not far from the minds of Pearl and her fellow members of the Angelic Choir as they prepared for the recording, under the direction of Rev. Lawrence Roberts. The lead vocalist was James Cleveland.

The September 19 session produced one of the most momentous albums in gospel music history, Peace Be Still.  The album is still popular some 47 years later.

“Mother is an original member of the Angelic Choir,” Rev. Minatee told TBGB. “She was a member of a choir called the Voices of Faith that Rev. Roberts had before he started pastoring at First Baptist. The Voices of Faith was a community choir in Newark. When Rev. Roberts got the pastorate at First Baptist of Nutley, he took the Voices of Faith with him and they became the Angelic Choir.”

Pearl was present on the many Angelic Choir albums recorded throughout the 1960s.

“I remember vividly just sitting there as a little girl during those recording sessions with James Cleveland,” Minatee reflected.  “Oh yes, most of my years I spent at Nutley, I listened to whoever was in town, whoever Uncle Lawrence was producing for Savoy at that time, as well.”

Uncle Lawrence?

“Rev. Lawrence Roberts was my pastor for over thirty years,” Minatee explained. “He was like a surrogate father to me in the ministry. We are not blood related, but we might as well have been, that’s how close we were. Many of the Angelic Choir members were surrogate parents to me as I grew up in the First Baptist Church of Nutley. But he became ‘Uncle Lawrence’ to me because he nurtured me, watched me grow, and helped me develop into what I am doing now.”

What Minatee is doing now is multi-faceted. She’s associate minister at the Community Baptist Church in Englewood, NJ and a vocal music teacher in the Plainfield, NJ public school district. “This September will be my 28th year of teaching,” Minatee said.

She’s also the founder and leader of Jubilation, a choir whose The Launch Out Project (Habakkuk Records) earned a Stellar nomination in 2009. The group also backed Queen Latifah on the title track of the various artists compilation, Oh Happy Day: All-Star Music Celebration (EMI Gospel/Vector Recordings).  That project garnered a Grammy Award last year.

Minatee explained how Jubilation became involved in Oh Happy Day.

“Queen Latifah has roots at First Baptist Church of Nutley. She and her mother were members of the church under Rev. Roberts’ pastorage. Rev. Roberts did the funeral when Queen’s brother [Lancelot, Jr.] passed away, and she and her mother joined the church. When they joined, I was directing the adult choir. Rita Owens, Queen’s mother, became a member of my choir. At that time, I didn’t even know who Queen Latifah was. She was just getting started in her career. We became friends all those years ago.

“When I started Jubilation, Rita auditioned and joined the choir. So when they asked Queen to be on [Oh Happy Day], she asked me what songs she should do and if we would back her up. So that’s how we got on Oh Happy Day.

“Queen Latifah flew us out to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony and it was just awesome. A month before that, we sang at the Super Bowl with her, so it’s been an incredible year for Jubilation.”

Jubilation is currently working on a new CD with an anticipated release date of January 2011.

“I’m still contemplating what the title of the CD will be,” Minatee said.  “Most of these songs [on the CD] will be traditional, some contemporary, but mostly praise and worship themes so people can put the CD on before they go to church, or if they don’t go to church that day, it will usher them right into worship.

“It will be like a church service. I’m doing more exhorting between songs, I’m doing much more preaching on this CD, similar to what you would hear Rev. Roberts do on his recordings.”

She continued. “Rev. Lawrence Roberts is still alive in me and what I do. He coined the phrase, ‘Gospel music should never be used to entertain, but to enlighten.’ He said gospel music was good news for bad times, and I want the people to feel the presence of God in our music.”

“Still Standing” is the first single from the new project.

“I heard ‘Still Standing’ at last year’s National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses in Las Vegas,” Minatee said. “I was so floored by the song that I asked the composer, A. Jeffrey LaValley, who is a gospel music icon, if it had been recorded yet, and he said no. I asked his permission for Jubilation to record the song because it has a tremendous message. It’s timely, for right now. Everybody can relate to it. Jeff allowed us to record it, and everybody who has heard it loves it.”

On the recording, Minatee makes “Still Standing” her personal testimony. “Last summer, my blood sugar was 400 and the doctor wanted to put me on insulin. I could not fathom having to take a needle every day, so I prayed and asked God to help me. I also changed my eating habits. I drank, and still drink, nothing but water. I got rid of sweets, I got rid of beef, I got rid of fried foods and to this date, I’ve lost 70 pounds. My blood sugar has dropped 250 points.

“’Still Standing’ is a living testimony because the doctor said that I could have gone into a sugar coma, I really should have been out of here. But because of the grace of God and because of changing my eating habits, I’m still standing.”