WYNN-ING Legacy Community Celebration at Central Baptist Church

I'm thinking about dad. Well, Mary, it's going to be all right. I know. You love your daddy. So it's natural for you to miss your daddy, sweetie. Yeah. Just try to remember to lean on him. Wow. That looks pretty emotional right there. Yes. It's about to make me tear up. I know. Well, that's one way. Well, I'll keep you from crying. I'll keep you from crying. But if you start singing, we'll be feeling the joy, right? And so we've got Mary Wynn. You likely know her for her amazing gospel music. But you might not know, she's been shaping young voices throughout Metro Detroit classrooms for many, many years. You've got a lot going on, Mary, a celebration coming up, 30-year celebration where you're going to be helping out some students. Yes. Absolutely. This is my 30th year of teaching, and I've invited all of my students from the three schools that I've taught at, Henry Ford High School, Thompson K-8 International Academy, and Levy Middle School, and I'm bringing all of those students together to come and perform with me. That is going to be amazing. Yes. And you know what? I can almost hear people who went to those schools, and each time you say it, you left room for people to... Yeah! I would imagine throughout 30 years, you've found some very, very talented youth in our community. Absolutely. You know, planning this concert, I've been able to contact my former students ranging from 1990s all the way, of course, to the present. So you're talking ages 11 through mid-40s, and we've been sharing those memories, you know, our musicals that we've done in the past and different performances, and it's just amazing to just reminisce on those things. I can only imagine, and I want to hear some of that music that you're playing to sing. Absolutely. So how is it going to go down? Is it going to be people are all going to be singing together? How is this going to work? Okay, so I am also a solo artist, so I'm going to perform some of my original music with my group. Okay. I call them the Legacy Group. Okay. And then I'm going to perform with my student choir. So that'll be midway through the program, and then I'll end out with my original music as well. Okay. So it's just going to be a love fest. Absolutely. I'm excited for that. And tell me about this. You know, gospel music, obviously it speaks to the soul, it speaks about your faith. Why do you think you have so many young people who get involved in this, who are so talented at this as well? Well, in the school setting, my job is to expose them to various styles of music. So we've done classical, folk, inspirational, some popular gospel-type songs, but I want to expose them to various styles of music, you know, to give them an overall view of what music brings. And we just have an opportunity to showcase those styles of music at the concert as well. How often do you come across, like, a young kid who just has a voice that blows you away? Oh my God. You know, it almost seems like every year, but I'll say every few years, you have those blow-me-away moments. Really? Absolutely. And it's just wonderful to see a lot of them that have pursued music, and they are performing and just flourishing, and it just makes my heart so glad. I love it. Okay. Tell me real quick about this event. Where can people see it? When's it happening? What's going on? Yes. It is happening on Saturday, July 18th, 7 p.m., Central Baptist Church. We are asking everyone to sign up on Eventbrite to make sure they sign up there. But yes, next Saturday, 7 o'clock, doors open at 6. I love it. And you know what? I bet you that down the street, people are going to be hearing that music, and they're going to go, oh, I've got to go in there. I love it so much. Thank you very much, Ms. Wynn. I'm looking forward to that. I'm sure your students are as well, and it's going to be a wonderful celebration of music. Thank you so much. And you can learn more about it at our website, fox2detroit.com. Stick around. We've got more coming up next.