Robin Williams Sr. talks the production Born To Sing The Gospel: The Marion Williams Story | Midday Break Room w/ Tiffany Bacon - 8.19.26

Robin Williams Sr. is a drummer who toured internationally behind his mother, Marion Williams, and other groups. He heads Ronaj Movie Productions and executive produced the 2023 documentary The Legendary Marion Williams, directed by Amber Monet. Robin presents the live multimedia stage production, “Born To Sing the Gospel: The Marion Williams Story”, at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Robin is the son of the late and great gospel singer, Marion Williams, and this production is coming to Philadelphia next month in September. The production beautifully blends live gospel performances with never-before-seen archival film from Amber Monet's highly anticipated upcoming documentary, The Legendary Marion Williams. Born to Sing the Gospel is written and directed by Karen Moore with Chabrelle Williams as Marion. It runs September 9th, 12th, and 27th at Cannonball, the largest hub of the 30th annual Philadelphia Fringe Festival. The production combines live performance with rare archival film drawn from the documentary. The opening falls eleven days after what would have been Williams’ 99th birthday on August 29. The closing performance lands on September 27 — the final day of the festival, the last Sunday of Gospel Music Heritage Month, and eleven months before her centennial. Williams was born in Miami in 1927 and began singing as a child in Sanctified churches. In 1947 she came to Philadelphia to join the Ward Singers and quickly became their lead voice, singing on “Surely God Is Able” — among the first gospel records to sell a million copies — and on “Packin’ Up.” She left in 1958 to co-found the Stars of Faith, starred in Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity from its 1961 premiere through a three-year European tour, and was among the first gospel singers to tour Africa under U.S. State Department sponsorship.