the New Mighty Inspirations

The New Mighty Inspirations

Billy Ray Crumb, a founding member of The New Mighty Inspirations gospel group, was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1957. His music background included vocals for the group Gene and the Soul Gang, and later went on to join EMI recording group Special Delivery.

Billy Ray moved to the Detroit area in the early ‘80s, as a vocalist with Westbound Records artists C.J and Company, as well as a vocalist with Atlantic Records artists Eramus Hall, produced by George Clinton and the Parliament Funk All Stars bassist Bootsy Collins. In 1994 Billy Ray Crumb, William Tillery and John E. Anderson formed a group known as the Soulful Brothers, marking the early beginnings of what would become The New Mighty Inspirations. The group was recognized as doing contemporary concerts and quartet music. The Soulful Brothers recorded their first CD, entitled Try Jesus, under M&B Productions in Detroit, Michigan, and was produced by Marvin Williams, Mike Gatherwright, and Billy Ray Crumb executive producer. The New Mighty Inspirations went on to record a second CD called Breakthrough, recorded in 2005 under the production of T.M.I Ministries Production.

Billy Ray is executive producer, co-producer, a songwriter and arranger, and one of the vocalists of the group.

O'rrick Ewing was born in Lansing, Michigan and began his bass playing at the age of 11. His funk style was developed in the 70’s while performing in clubs in and around the mid-Michigan area. After an introduction to George Clinton, Orrick performed as a member of Parliament/Funkadelic. In the 80’s he joined a band from Columbus, Ohio called Crowd Pleasers, who had the R&B hit Freaky People on the Westbound Record Label. Crowd Pleasers also incorporated another musician by the name of Kenny (babyface) Edmonds on guitar.
Gibson Musical Instruments offered him his first endorsement deal through Steinberger Basses. They made a custom 5-string bass with a purple-sunburst finish (his custom color), that he still uses today, along with his mid-bass Spector 4-string with Piccolo bass strings.
It was not long after that the legendary Joe Ligon of the Mighty Clouds of Joy approached him. His success with the Clouds earned him a Grammy Nomination for the album It Was You, and was also part of the group when they were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. He has played many television shows, such as Good Morning America, David Letterman, Bobby Jones Gospel, and as a performer at The Stellar Awards. O'rrick has also played behind the likes of Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples, and Smokey Robinson, and for the first time in his career, O'rrick performed for a movie soundtrack, Evan Almighty on Tracy Edmond's song Never Gives Up as the bass player on the song.
Orrick joined The New Mighty Inspirations in 2007 as bassist, writer, arranger and co-producer.

James Morse, saxophonist/horns, was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Highland Park, Michigan where he began playing in bands at the early age of 13 years old. James took a musical performance break while raising a family, daughter Leah and son Darren. James came out of musical hiatus in 1987 to play with Motown producer, Jack Burningtree, Paul Marvin, and Power Train. For the past ten years, James has toured with the Bugs Beddow Band throughout the mid-west. The Bugs Beddow Band were recipients of the Detroit Music Awards in the category of Best R&B Band on four different occasions. James has done studio work adding horns to various local artists recordings over the years, as well as Bugs Beddow Band recordings.

Michael K. Day was born in Toledo, Ohio and has been a guitarist for 10 years. He received his Bachelor of Psychology from the University of Toledo in 2001. Michael has performed as a session player with Chris Boyd, and in the contemporary jazz gospel group Jason Carter and Voices ‘n Worship, along with other gospel projects in the Toledo and Detroit area. Michael joined The New Mighty Inspirations in 2006 as lead guitarist.

Anthony Holbert was born in Toledo, Ohio and graduated from Jesup Scott High School. His music career has included sessions as a vocalist in a number of Toledo based gospel groups including Gospel Highlite, and the Spiritual of Joy. In 2006 Anthony became a member of The New Mighty Inspirations and is a vocalist with the group.

Brenner Whitt, also known as MISTAWIT, was born August 23rd, 1971, in Detroit, Michigan. He is the lead trumpet player in Wayne State University’s Jazz Lab 2 Big Band, directed by jazz legend Ernest Rodgers. Brenner is also a poet and singer, and composed and produced two gospel hiphop albums, Ghetto Prophecy Thru MISTAWIT and Industrial Strength. Brenner is one of the newest members of the New Mighty Inspirations as its lead trumpeter

Joel Harrier: vocals

Eric Baer: horns

Thomas Page: percussionist

Eddie Taylor: keyboards

Chuck Brown: keyboards