32nd Carolina Beach Music Awards Weekend Is Coming!
Cecilia F. Patterson
Cecilia’s “Paw-Paw” was the pastor at Oak Hill Baptist Church, which was out in the country, about 15 miles from her home. At Oak Hill, her “Maw-Maw” played the piano and sang, her Mother played the organ and sang, and her Dad lead the choir. Her Paw-Paw also sang with a group called “The Palmetto Quartet”! From this, she was exposed to music and beautiful harmonies three times a week, in addition to what she heard at home. She sang “His Name is Jesus” for her church at age 4. She began taking piano at age 8 and continued until she graduated from Lancaster High School back in 1977.
In 1973 and 1974, Cecilia played the piano and sang with a gospel group called “The Southernaires”. They traveled to Nashville on two occasions to record two albums. The engineer from Mission Records, where they cut the two albums, sponsored the group to sing on stage at The Grand Old Opry where they opened for the Oak Ridge Boys, who were then a gospel group before they began recording country hits. This was such a phenomenal experience!
In 2014, she married Robert “Bob” Jeffrey, Jr. They formed a gospel band, called “For His Glory”. “For His Glory” won the award for best vocal performance with the song “Down On My Knees” in 2015 at the State Annual Singing Convention in Benson, NC.
In 2017, they decided to form a soul, R&B, blues band and named it “Soul Escape”. The group played at Decker’z, Patio’s, Karma and many other venues in North and South Carolina. When Bob was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2018, they eventually had to stop Soul Escape. Bob asked Cecilia to promise that after he passed, she would continue working in the music world. He passed in August of 2020.
Since 2025 Cecilia has been performing as a solo artist with performances at the Carolina Beach Music Awards, Deckerz Bar and Grill, Patio’s Tiki Bar, Lancaster Grove Assisted Living and Private Events.
