Long-time Asbury Park Jubilaires Member Dies in Louisiana

ASBURY PARK, NJ - Back when the city was still segregated and black people were forbidden from most of the oceanfront, a thriving musical scene was developing in the city's impoverished West Side. The Missionary Jubilaires was one of the better known all-male gospel groups,writes Charlie Horner in a 2012 article from "Echoes of the Past" magazine. Horner still is writing of that music scene and it is he who notified others that Rev. Randy Wilson, of the Missionary Jubilaires, died earlier this month at his home in Monroe, La.

The Missionary Jubilaires began in Asbury Park as a five-man group in the Spring of 1948 and continued singing for more than 30 years, even recording an album for the Locus label in the 1970s and two 45s for the Newark-based Richburgh label and its subsidiary New Day, Horner wrote.

He first met Miller in 2013 when the Missionary Jubilaires were honored at a Gospel Explosion program in Farmingdale, he said. At that time, Asbury Park's City Council proclaimed Sept 28, 2013 as Missionary Jubilaires Day in the city. A few years ago, Miller and his wife Joyce moved to Monroe where he died suddenly at home, possibly on Nov. 20, Horner said.

Horner said the history of the Missionary Jubilaires will be covered in his forthcoming book on Asbury Park's West Side musical legacy.

A Gospelfest performance in New York. Photograph by Diane Bondareff/Associated Press