Gospel
Richmond, Virginia
Photo: Pat Jarrett
Widely celebrated as the “First Family of Gospel Music” in Richmond, Virginia, The Legendary Ingramettes have been blowing the roof off performance stages for nearly six decades. The Ingramettes were formed by Evangelist “Mama” Maggie Ingram (born July 4, 1930) on Mulholland’s Plantation in Coffee County, Georgia, where she worked the cotton and tobacco fields with her parents. Maggie began playing the piano and singing at an early age, and developed a great love for the church and gospel music. In 1961, Maggie moved herself and her five children to Richmond and created Maggie Ingram and the Ingramettes, a family singing group that became one of the most beloved groups in Richmond’s storied gospel tradition.
Maggie passed away in 2015 at the age of 84, but the group has continued to soar. The Legendary Ingramattes are now led by Maggie’s oldest daughter, Almeta Ingram-Miller, a powerful singer in her own right, joined by Maggie’s granddaughter, Cheryl Maroney-Yancey, and daughter-in-law, Carrie Jackson. Backed by their rock-solid house-shaking rhythm section, the Ingramettes continue to bring the electric energy and spirit of a Sunday morning service to the stage, enthralling audiences at such prestigious venues and festivals as the Kennedy Center, National Folk Festival, Floydfest, Strawberry Music Festival, and countless others across the United States. Last fall, the group also completed a triumphant U.S. Department of State-hosted performance tour in Serbia and Bulgaria.
Their CD, Maggie Ingram and the Ingramettes: Live in Richmond, received the Independent Music Awards fan’s choice award for Gospel Album of the Year in 2012, and their much-anticipated new release, Take A Look in the Book, will be released in Winter 2019.