{"id":231,"date":"2016-12-11T22:19:58","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T03:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/?p=231"},"modified":"2016-12-11T22:21:45","modified_gmt":"2016-12-12T03:21:45","slug":"joe-ligon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/joe-ligon\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Ligon (1936 &#8211; 2016)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The founder and lead vocalist of the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Joe Ligon, moved on to be with the Lord on December 11, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Ligon was born in Troy, Alabama on October 11th, 1936.<\/p>\n<p>At the age of 14, Ligon visited his uncle in California where he would enroll a local high school. Due to his ability of singing, he received the attention from other students including Johnny Martin, Richard Wallace, and Elmo Franklin, with whom he would eventually form a gospel quartet.\u00a0The group, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, was dicovered by a local DJ and sign with Peacock Record. They made their recorded debut in 1960 with &#8220;Steal Away to Jesus.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Mighty Clouds of Joy became the first gospel act ever to appear on &#8220;Soul Train.&#8221; \u00a0The legendary group has remained active to this day.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0fro15htcxU\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>OFFICIAL STATEMENT REGARDING THE DEATH OF WILLIE JOE LIGON<\/strong><br \/>\nWe are heartbroken to share the news that the World\u2019s Greatest Male Gospel Singer \u2013 Willie Joe Ligon, Founder and Lead Singer of the three time Grammy Award winning group \u2013 The Mighty Clouds of Joy of Los Angeles, California passed away today Sunday, December 11, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Joe was a loving Husband, Father, Grandfather, Brother, Cousin, Uncle, Mentor, and Friend to so many who loved him dearly.<\/p>\n<p>As much as Joe cherished his privacy, he always appreciated the expressions of good will from people around the world and from all walks of life.<\/p>\n<p>While we mourn the loss of a very good and humble man, we also celebrate his remarkable life as one of the most successful Artist in Gospel Music History and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.<\/p>\n<p>For those who may ask what they can do to honor Joe, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a stormy day think of Joe and get comfort in knowing that he is no longer in the storm.<br \/>\nAdditional information about the final arrangements will be released to the General Public pending Mr. Ligon\u2019s Family\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n<p>We kindly ask everyone to please respect the Family\u2019s privacy during this time of bereavement.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you!<\/p>\n<p>Best regards,<\/p>\n<p>Pastor Isaac Lindsey<br \/>\nManager<br \/>\nJoe Ligon &amp; The Mighty Clouds of Joy<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The founder and lead vocalist of the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Joe Ligon, moved on to be with the Lord on December 11, 2016. Ligon was born in Troy, Alabama on October 11th, 1936. At the age of 14, Ligon visited his uncle in California where he would enroll a local high school. Due to his ability of singing, he received the attention from other students including Johnny Martin, Richard Wallace, and Elmo Franklin, with whom he would eventually form a gospel quartet.\u00a0The group, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, was dicovered by a local DJ and sign with Peacock Record. They made their recorded debut in 1960 with &#8220;Steal Away &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/joe-ligon\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Joe Ligon (1936 &#8211; 2016)&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Joe Ligon (1936 - 2016)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/joe-ligon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joe Ligon (1936 - 2016)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The founder and lead vocalist of the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Joe Ligon, moved on to be with the Lord on December 11, 2016. Ligon was born in Troy, Alabama on October 11th, 1936. At the age of 14, Ligon visited his uncle in California where he would enroll a local high school. Due to his ability of singing, he received the attention from other students including Johnny Martin, Richard Wallace, and Elmo Franklin, with whom he would eventually form a gospel quartet.\u00a0The group, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, was dicovered by a local DJ and sign with Peacock Record. They made their recorded debut in 1960 with &#8220;Steal Away &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Joe Ligon (1936 &#8211; 2016)&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/joe-ligon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jaspella Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/jaspella.gospel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-12T03:19:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-12T03:21:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ligon_joe1200x630.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"site admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ligon_joe1200x630.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"site admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/joe-ligon\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/joe-ligon\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"site admin\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/ja\/#\/schema\/person\/291936fea4d1b466a495450179c08bd2\"},\"headline\":\"Joe Ligon (1936 &#8211; 2016)\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-12T03:19:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-12T03:21:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/joe-ligon\/\"},\"wordCount\":409,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/ja\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"general\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/joe-ligon\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/joe-ligon\/\",\"name\":\"Joe Ligon (1936 - 2016)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/ja\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-12T03:19:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-12T03:21:45+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/joe-ligon\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/joe-ligon\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/joe-ligon\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.jaspella.com\/blog\/ja\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Joe Ligon (1936 &#8211; 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