Three Greenwood students sang at B.B. King’s funeral last Saturday. The locals selected, Kayla Brown, Kurtina Coates and Ana Riser, are members of the B.B. King All-Stars Choir, directed by Greenwood resident Dr. Cheryl Weiss.
During one of their performances, Associated Press photographer Rogelio V. Solis snapped a picture featuring the singers, which has been in many publications worldwide, including The Greenwood Commonwealth.
In addition to their singing talent, all three are honor roll students at their respective schools.
Brown recently graduated from sixth grade at St. Francis of Assisi School, where she sang in her school choir and was this year’s Miss St. Francis of Assisi. She will enter seventh grade at Pillow Academy this fall.
Coates, a Greenwood Middle School eighth-grader, plays saxophone in her school band. She is an entering freshman at Greenwood High School and will be a Bulldog cheerleader in the fall.
Riser is entering seventh grade at Pillow Academy and recently was featured in a piano recital presented by her teacher Ann Walker.
The trio of singers performed “Precious Lord” and “Peace to the World” at King’s funeral. They also recently sang with the B.B. King All-Stars Choir for the B.B. King Homecoming Festival, the Little Walter Festival in Alexandria, Louisiana, the March of Dimes Telethon on WABG and for the national Race and Diversity Conference at Delta State University.
Auditions for the B.B. King All-Stars Choir will be held in the fall. For more information, call Weiss at 219-0008.
