Glenolden resident Frank Bey has been wowing listeners for decades with beautiful, soulful blues that come from memories of growing up in rural Georgia at a time when African-Americans did not have even the most basic human rights, writes Dan Geringer for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“My mother was a gospel singer in the black Welcome Baptist Church, but we weren’t ever allowed to walk across the yard to the white church,” Bey recalled.

When Bey left Georgia for Philadelphia at 17, he had already been singing rhythm-and-blues for years. He joined the band Prophecy and later the Moorish Vanguard band in the 1970s. When that fell apart, Bey quit music for nearly two decades to run his own construction firm, restaurant, and bar before his friend and fellow musician Frank Austin reignited his love for music.

“I was in the kitchen cooking dinner,” said Bey, “when Frank calls me out and tells the crowd, ‘What the heck is this guy doing in the kitchen? He ought to be out here singing.’ I was in my apron, holding a spatula, and we did the Lou Rawls song ‘Lady Love.’”

Read more about Bey’s life in the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.