? ?
>> It's been said that singing
is like praying twice.
? Up and down the road ?
And when Milwaukee's Gospel
singers get together,
there's plenty of both.
? Up and down the road ?
>> There's an array of Gospel
singers here in the city
of Milwaukee, not only here
but Racine, Waukegan.
We start the service off,
and there's only two or three,
or three or four sitting around,
and then all of a sudden
you look around, the church
is packed, and it's like, wow!
Everybody,
everybody that we associate
with, they love gospel singing.
? ?
>> Ella Ray sings in a group
called the Queens of Harmony.
? Wake up ?
? And testify ?
They're seven women who've
been singing Gospel quartet
for almost 50 years.
>> The group got started
'cause my husband sang
with the Masonic Wonders.
We decided there was enough
wives to start a group
of our own.
? I thank you, Lord ?
>> I have been with the group
for 32 years.
>> Twenty-nine years.
>> I've been a member
for about 34 years.
>> There's nothing else
that suits me,
that gives me joy,
gives me excitement.
? ?
>> The power of their music
has taken these women
all over Wisconsin,
and all over the world.
? ?
>> Taken me places I never
thought we'd be able to go,
never thought I would go.
I had a nice time in
Washington, DC.
We were there
for, what, 14 days?
And we sang every day,
twice a day.
A couple years after that,
we was swished off to Japan.
And that was, oh my God,
that was an experience.
Oh, Jesus.
? I thank you ?
? For the good times ?
? And I thank you ?
>> But the ladies say it's
where the music takes others
that matters most.
>> Sometimes a song can really
touch a person's heart
to the point where they're just
like, okay, this is really
what I needed in my life.
? Yeah ?
You get this feeling of,
you know, fulfillment,
because you're reaching out
to somebody,
and they're responding to you,
you know, in a spiritual sense.
? I wasn't fit to live ?
>> It gives me goose bumps,
not just when I sing,
but when I hear somebody else
sing the words of songs,
the melodies.
I do it because it makes me
feel good.
It makes me live good.
It makes me want to change
some things that I've done
in the past and make me want to
do them a different way.
? I just want to thank you ?
>> And Gospel Music
has done something else.
It's brought these women
closer together.
>> My children call the other
members of the group 'auntie'.
>> We all have a lot in common.
First of all, all of us,
we love God,
and then we love each other.
>> And the future?
>> At this age,
what else is there to do?
There's nothing else.
The music never changes
and we never change.
We're just
the Queens of Harmony.
? I thank you, Lord ?
? Yeah, I thank you ?
? For the good times ?