Where Are They Now?

It was 1978 when Vendon, Sylvester (Sly), Russell (Preach), James (Howard) Brown, and myself formed “The Sons of God” under the leadership of Barnett “Brother B” Williams. I’ll never forget our first rehearsal, truly a big mess. None of us (and I mean) none of us could hold a note. We rehearsed for months before our debut at our home church, The Household of God Bibleway Church in Lynwood, Ca. We practiced two songs everyday.

Then it finally arrived, our debut during the 9 am worship service. I’ll never forget our names being called and the members cheering us on with “Amen!” “Sing, babies!” “Alright!” We stood at the microphones with shaking knees. The music started, we opened our mouths, and did our dance routines. Our first songs were “Cast All Your Cares (An Original)” and the Clark Sisters, “Is My Living In Vain”. Wow, what a rush! I sang soprano with Russell, James (Alto), Vendon and Sylvester (Tenors). We had no idea what to expect. The church received us well and after church our pastor took us out for pancakes.

We rehearsed every day of the week after school and after 6 months of rehearsing, we jelled together into one voice. Bro. B was hard on us in rehearsals. We were just little kids who wanted to play outside. But for him, he was a perfectionist and didn’t accept just anything. He believed in giving our best for God in everything we did and anything less was unacceptable.

We sang all over the city of Los Angeles with other groups like: The Spiritualettes, O’Neal Twins, Clara Ward Singers, Keith Pringle, The Bailey Family, and so many others. Every Saturday and Sunday we traveled somewhere to sing in this big long silver 8 door station wagon with tinted windows that we called “The Silver Bullet”. Believe it or not, we had a driver. We really enjoyed singing every week.

My mother Brenda and Aunt Betty were our managers. They were just as hard as Bro B. Combing our hair before singing, selecting our wardrobes with these huge bow ties, making sure our shirts were tucked into our pants, and we had on clean socks, T-shirts, and underwear. We’re boys, we could less about all of that stuff just let us sing.

I remember one concert we did at New Congregational Baptist Church on Vermont and Imperial (I wonder if that church is still there). We drove into the parking lot and all these girls ran to the silver bullet as if we were celebrities. We got out of the car went into the church to change our clothes and the concert started. For me it was like being in another world when I started sing. As a matter of fact I still do it sometimes, close my eyes and sing like I’m the only one in the building. When the concert concluded, we changed our clothes and when we walked out of the church to get into the silver bullet, people were asking us for autographs, pulling on our clothes, and stuff. And yes, we soaked it all up too! When we got to my cousin’s house we were so energized that we couldn’t sleep, so we started singing and wrote our first song together, “The Love Song”. Bro B loved it when we shared it with him at rehearsal the next day.

We never made an 8-track, 45, album, or cassette of our own material but we did sing background on other projects.

We entered a talent contest at the Maverick Flats on Crenshaw. First place prize was a recording contract with a record producer out of Boston, Maurice Starr. We won the talent show and made an appointment to meet with Mr. Starr. During that meeting he explained that he was looking for another Jackson 5 group. My mother, aunt, and Bro B weren’t having it. They explained to him that our boys is a gospel group and will not be an R&B group. The fellas and I wanted to have a quick meeting to discuss it without Mr. Starr to try and convince our parent managers to let it happen. Needless to say, we lost the argument. They decline and Mr. Starr continued his search and found New Edition. I was angry at them for not letting us take advantage of the opportunity. But after watching VH1’s Behind the Scene on New Edition, I’m glad we didn’t jump on that opportunity.

We continued singing gospel music and enjoyed every minute. We turned the corner and wrote a gospel rap song entitled “God Save America”. The first time we performed this song in church they looked at us like we were crazy because of our dance routine, “The Gigolo”. Our pastor did not like it as well as some of the members. So we never did that song in a church service again but we did sing it at youth rallies and park concerts.

In 1982, I left the group to move back to Texas with my mother and siblings. It was hard because I didn’t want to leave the group. We weren’t just a singing group, we are family. We did everything together. When you saw one, you also saw the others. If you fought one, you fought all of us. We fought each other but that was longed live because when we got in rehearsal, we were family again. Inseparable is a good word to describe it. They continued until Bro B disappeared. I returned for the summer in 1983 and started singing with the group again. This time James Howard Brown was playing the organ for us. We tried everything we could to keep the group going but with no leadership it fell apart and we started being teenage boys.

Today, I’m a husband with a beautiful wife and kids and grandson. I pastor First Goodwill Church that I love and enjoy minister at each week. I oftentimes wonder how things would have turned out but I’m glad how my life has become. I won’t trade it for anything.

My cousin Vendon is married with kids and is a minister of music at a church in Palmdale, Ca. He, along with two partners, has a record producing company named 3 Kings. Their first R&B CD has been released, “The Soulmance” and the material is great. Look for it in stores nearest you. I’m proud of him.

James Howard Brown is a beast on the keyboards. I have not seen nor spoke to him in years but the last I heard He was playing at a church in Denver, Colorado. I’m sure rocking the house.

Sylvester “Sly” Williams is married and lives in Rialto, Ca. He started a record label company producing rap artist but not sure how that’s going.

Russell “Preach” Williams lives in Long Beach, Ca with his wife and kids. I have not seen him in over 10 years.

Vendon and I talk on a regular basis. We, also, do our best to support one another’s efforts. We talk about the group thinking of good times and we miss the fellas dearly.

Life moves on after the show and praise God for where I am now in life. I’m having a blast!
This is my version of Behind the Scenes – The Sons of God – Where are they now?