Rev. Charles Kirby was born in 1928 in Rocky Ridge, “a real country place,” in Trigg County, Kentucky. His parents Olia and Mary Kirby were sharecroppers. “We made a dollar a day,” he recalls. As a youth, Kirby formed his first gospel quartet with his three brothers. In 1946, he moved to Louisville and joined the group The Sons of Zion, who were featured on radio station WGRC for years.
In 1955 Rev. Kirby set out to found a church after being called to the ministry. He started with just three members, two of whom were borrowed from Von Spiegel Baptist Church. This small group met briefly at the Quartet Union Hall at 420 South 7th Street. Then, in 1956, Rev. Kirby officially founded Southern Star Missionary Baptist Church, where he served as pastor for over fifty years.
Over the years, Rev. Kirby distinguished himself not only as a religious leader but as a leader in the civil rights movement in Louisville, serving as the president of the Kentucky Christian Leadership Conference and organizing countless demonstrations and boycotts. He also created the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Free Food Store, an innovative food distribution program that he ran out of his church.
Rev. Kirby became renowned for his singing and began recording gospel records in 1961 and continued into the 1980s. “Lord Come On” was recorded live at Southern Star for Cincinnati’s Vine Records for the LP of the same title, and Rev. Kirby is accompanied by the Southern Star Baptist Church Mass Choir of both “Lord You Been Good To Me” and “God Is Real,” which were released on DJS and JT Music, respectively.
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