After rough year, music label ready to unleash new

crop of songs

Nekia T. Woodard of Chicago Heights listens to a recording of herself with Will Wilson, of Pathway Record in Park Forest. Pathway Records which had its beginning in Richton Park and moved to Chicago is returning to the South Suburbs.

William Wilson slowly staggers across his garage floor with the haggard grace of a worn prizefighter.

It’s a sun-baked Tuesday afternoon and the longtime disc jockey turned music producer has not slept in days. He carefully eases himself into a leather office chair in the back corner of the room and promptly returns his attention to the computer monitors on a desk in front of him that stream layers of audio sound beds before his sagging eyes.

Long nights are becoming increasingly commonplace for Wilson, president and chief executive of the Pathway Label Group. Since there’s no rest for the weary, he accordingly plunges back into his work without a hint of fatigue.

It is here, amid the jumbled backdrop of lawn utensils and holiday decorations, where Wilson hones his craft - mixing, mastering, recording, producing and re-mixing music. And it is from this ordinary garage turned recording studio where Pathway, an independent record label that specializes in a unique blend of gospel-house music, is poised to launch a massive push that will see it release 60 songs in the coming months.

"This is monumental," Wilson said. "This has never been done as far as I know. We’re taking ourselves out of the box this year."

For the burgeoning record label, it is an exhaustive project that is six years in the making. At least 30 songs will be newly produced material, while the rest will be previously unreleased records and mixes that Pathway has yet to put on the market.

While it will fly under the banner of gospel music, Wilson assures it will be anything but the norm.

"You won’t hear anything traditional from us," he said. "When you say you’re Christian, people box you into a general realm. But when you’re making good positive music, you just put it out there and let people judge it for themselves."

Pathway is the labor of love of two former house DJs, Wilson and co-founder Albert Holmes. An on-air personality at Inspiration 1390 WGRB-AM who has worked the turntables for nearly 30 years, Holmes envisioned a haven for local artists when he dreamed up the idea for the label six years ago. Frustrated at seeing Chicago talent migrating to different cities to find success, he set out to establish the first major Chicago-based record label since Chess Records.

While Pathway is Holmes’ brainchild, it is Wilson’s baby. His tireless efforts have kept the label afloat through what has been a rough-and-tumble year. In 2009, Pathway was at its height as one of Richton Park’s top businesses with a steady stable of artists operating out of a five-room state-of-the-art studio.

In April, however, things soured for the label when it left its Richton Park facility and relocated to a South Loop studio. Sound issues there forced Pathway to leave the new site after just a two-month stint and move back to the south suburbs, operating out of Wilson’s Park Forest house.

Along the way, several artists fell by the wayside, either voluntarily or they were released from their contracts, and Pathway was left to do some soul searching. Changes were made, but through all the upheaval the essential ingredient endured: the music.

"I’m learning a lot," Wilson said. "I’m learning that a small beginning is a good beginning. Before I just jumped out and did it. Now I’m not doing that anymore. I’m learning to strategize and develop a plan."

One of the label’s hurdles will be to expand its base and develop new gospel-house consumers. House music is a disco-induced, funk-infused style of dance music that originated in Chicago in the mid-1980s. It’s a genre that still endears a considerable following. Gospel house is relatively unchartered territory.

"There’s a niche for gospel music, and there’s a small niche for gospel-house and it’s growing," Wilson said. "But it’s going to take people like us for it to keep growing and gaining momentum."

Another obstacle will be to find traction in a marketplace as congested and unforgiving as Chicago’s musical landscape.

So as the beat goes on for Pathway, nothing is certain, but possibilities remain endless. Through it all, Wilson and company persist in building the label into a household name.

"Pathway’s my baby," Wilson said. "Pathway is my life, and it’s everything I’m focused on. This is what I love. I came to Pathway from ministry, and I’m running it like a ministry. It’s still about meeting people, touching people and helping people reach their dreams. It’s about love, peace and positivity. It’s still the same thing that ministry is about, but now it’s just through music."

Chicago, IL – Ten days after being admitted to a local Chicago Hospital, Albertina Walker, hailed as the “Queen of Gospel”, and founder of the Caravans is still here and is proving to be a fighter.

On Tuesday afternoon, September 7^th, Queen Albertina had a surgical procedure for a tracheostomy and doctors say it was a success. 

What is a tracheostomy?

A tracheostomy is a surgically created opening in the neck leading directly to the trachea (the breathing tube). It is maintained open with a hollow tube called a tracheostomy tube.

Why is a tracheostomy performed?

A tracheostomy is usually done for one of three reasons: (1) to bypass an obstructed upper airway (an object obstructing the upper airway will prevent oxygen from the mouth to reach the lungs); (2) to clean and remove secretions from the airway; and (3) to more easily, and usually more safely, deliver oxygen to the lungs.

She is now resting comfortably, and is no longer on a ventilator as doctors are now hoping for the best.

Word has it, the next step will be recovery which could take several months or less.

In the meantime, she remains in the I.C.U. at a local Chicago hospital and will remain there for several more days.

Family members and close friends are all being kept abreast of her health status as well as her close friends including Evg. Shirley Caesar, Inez Andrews, Deloris Washington, Dorothy Norwood, Pam Morris, Rev. Jessie Jackson and Dr. Bobby Jones, who contacted us today by e-mail and shared that he was one of the first celebrities to visit Queen Albertina after she was hospitalized and who was also the guest host of her scholarship dinner held on Monday night, August 30, 2010.

Additionally, and to clear up a few rumors, she is NOT and has not been in a coma since being admitted to the hospital, and she has NOT returned home since being admitted to the hospital on Sunday, August 29^th.

Meanwhile, she continues to listen to back to back hits of her own music, playing softly in the background.

PLEASE KEEP The Queen of Gospel “Albertina Walker” In your prayers! Sources tell Gospel Synergy Magazine that Albertina Walker, who on August 29, 2010 celebrated her 81st Birthday, was admitted to the hospital. The cause has yet to be determined, But she has been told to get much rest.  Please Keep her in your prayers.

ABOUT ALBERTINA WALKER:

In the early 1950s Walker founded her own Gospel music group The Caravans, enlisting fellow singers from The Robert Anderson Singers (Ora Lee Hopkins, Elyse Yancey and Nellie Grace Daniels). The Caravans’ membership has included: James Cleveland, Bessie Griffin, Shirley Caesar, Dorothy Norwood, Inez Andrews, Loleatta Holloway, Cassietta George, and Delores Washington. Her discovery of these artists resulted in the nickname “Star Maker”. Walker retired The Caravans in the late 1960s, performing as a solo artist.

In the mid 1970s, Walker signed with Savoy Records then Benson Records, Word Records, A&M Records, and other record companies, recording a series of solo projects, many of them with big church choirs including The Evangelical Choir, The Cathedral of Love Choir, The Metro Mass choir, and her own church choir – The West Point Choir. Albertina recorded her first solo project Put A Little Love In Your Heart in 1975. She also recorded several projects together with Reverend James Cleveland. To date, she has recorded over 60 albums, including gold selling hits “Please Be Patient With Me”, “I Can Go To God In Prayer”, “The Best Is Yet To Come”, “Impossible Dream”, and “Joy Will Come”.Albertina still enjoys an active recording career, often lending her talents to the projects of other artists in addition to her own. These albums have yielded multiple Gold records and Grammy nominations.

Walker has sung for United States presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and South Africa’s president, Nelson Mandela.

Walker recorded a reunion album with her group The Caravans entitled Paved the Way, which was released by Malaco Records on September 5, 2006. Performers included Walker, Dorothy Norwood, Inez Andrews, and Delores Washington. The album was dubbed by Billboard magazine as one of the most memorable releases of 2006 and entered the Billboard charts in the top ten and remained in the top forty for sixteen weeks.Paved the Way was recently nominated for a Grammy, Dove, Soul Train Music Award and two Stellar Awards.