My City November 2022

MYMUSIC

Gwen Pennyman-Hemphill Flint’s First Lady of Jazz

BY PETER HINTERMAN PHOTOGRAPHY BY KATY KILDEE

T he club was hoppin’ – the Casablanca in Flint on Industrial Ave. was “the place” to find and experience new singing talent in the ‘70s, especially on open mic night. A singer had just left the stage to raucous applause and waiting in the wings backstage, a teenage girl was about to give her first performance.This would be her third attempt; each previous time she had turned back at the last minute, unsure she could do it.The room was packed. What would they think? Would she be good enough? She was introduced and taking that first step onto the stage, she knew there was no turning back this time.There she stood, looking out into a sea of faces staring back at her. When the music started, she shut her eyes. She had to – it was the only way. Her song choice that night was “Dr. Feelgood” by Aretha Franklin, and she belted it out with as much soul as she could muster. Her voice was powerful and she hit all the right notes. She opened her eyes to thunderous applause and a stage covered in money! That teenager grew up to live her life on stage, singing all over the state of Michigan both solo and with recording artists such as The Williams Brothers,The Canton Spirituals,

Willie Clayton,The Delfonics and others. Her career led to collaborations with Carvin Winans and a backup stint with Michael McDonald.The singer is Gwen Penny man-Hemphill and she is Flint’s First Lady of Jazz. “I was so scared that first night,” Pennyman-Hemphill re members. “I had flutters in my stomach, just rolling.The only way I could do it was to shut my eyes. When I was done, I was so shocked at what I just did that I forgot to pick up the money the crowd had thrown onto the stage,” she laughed. “Some friends gathered it all up for me.” Pennyman-Hemphill still has a flutter in her stomach every now and then but after a lifetime of performing, singing on stage has gotten to be old hat. “I used to be so shy. I never knew what to say on stage,” she smiles. “Now, I like to tell a story or two before the song to get the audience into it. I feel like singing and performing is something I was born to do.” For Pennyman-Hemphill growing up, music was unavoid able – it was quite literally in her blood. Her mother, Lucille Briggs, sang with the gospel group The Mighty Bank Sisters with other family members (as she got older, Gwen would be asked to stand in for an aunt here and there) and her cousin,

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