Willie Mae Ford (1904 – 1994), also known as Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith, was a gospel singer based in St. Louis, Missouri who was one of th early associates of Thomas A. Dorsey and an innovator in gospel style, introducing the "song and sermonette" style that other singers, such as Shirley Caesar and Edna Gallmon Cooke made popular.

Born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, she moved to Memphis, Tennessee as a child. She was raised in the Baptist church and began singing with her sisters in a family group known as "The Ford Sisters" after the family moved to St. Louis. The group, and Willie Mae in particular, achieved wider fame after an appearance at the 1922 National Baptist Convention.

She married in 1929 and, shortly after that, began traveling in musical revivals. Dorsey heard her in [[1931] and asked to help him found the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, his organization devoted to spreading gospel music by training singers, choirs and composers. Smith became the principal singing teacher for the NCGCC as head of its Soloists' Bureau in 1936. Among her students were Brother Joe May , who gave her the affectionate name "Mother". Teaming with Roberta Martin, Smith demonstrated how to make even familiar hymns such as "Jesus Loves Me" into deeper personal statements by slurs, note bending and other personalized adornments.

Smith was also a major figure within the Baptist Church as the Director of its Education Department of the National Baptist Convention before she became a member of a Pentecostal denomination. She considered herself a preacher and imbued her singing and sermonettes with an evangelical fervor. She was noted for her finesse, control and subtlety, but could also, like her protégé Brother Joe May, belt out hymns.

As generous as she was in teaching othrs, she also developed a fine sensitivity to slights from others who did not appreciate her firm sincerity or thought she could be cheated. She also developed a rivalry with Sallie Martin that lasted for as long as they lived; the movie Say Amen, Somebody!, filmed when both of them were in their seventies, showed that the fires had only gone down, not out.

Further reading

• Boyer, Horace Clarence,How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel Elliott and Clark, 1995, ISBN 0252068777.

• Heilbut, Tony, The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times Limelight Editions, 1997, ISBN 0879100346.