Mr. Sipp - McComb

The similarities between blues and gospel music are embodied by Castro Coleman, born in McComb in 1976, who garnered multiple awards in both fields. A child prodigy inspired by B.B. King, Coleman began touring with a family gospel group at age eight, and as a teen formed the True Believers. In 2012 Coleman debuted in blues as “Mr. Sipp the Mississippi Blues Child,” and after winning the International Blues Challenge in 2014 began touring internationally.

Castro “Mr. Sipp” Coleman was born in McComb on August 25, 1976, and was raised in nearby Gradyville. At six he picked up the guitar and was soon playing at both St. Joseph the Church of the Living God and the St. Mark Spiritual Church. He joined his parents Johnelle and Vera’s gospel group, the Star Lights, and by eight Coleman was the guitarist in his aunt’s touring group, Grace Cain and the Mellonettes. In high school Coleman played in the gospel group Vive, and his group the True Believers, founded in 1995, achieved national attention. He also achieved acclaim as a guitarist for the legendary Williams Brothers and as the leader of Castro Coleman and Highly Favored, who debuted on Jackson’s Malaco Records in 2006.

Although Coleman was inspired as a child by B.B. King and other blues artists, his decision to pursue blues as Mr. Sipp, short for Mister Mississippi, was sudden—in 2012 he learned of a regional blues challenge hosted by the Vicksburg Blues Society, and within a week wrote his first four blues songs. He won and was a finalist at the International Blues Challenge in 2013; the following year he won both the band competition and the Gibson Guitar Award for best band guitarist. Coleman attributed his quick success in the blues as due to the music’s similarities with gospel and his long established abilities performing in church and in professional gospel groups.

His subsequent recordings on Jackson’s Malaco Records and touring career resulted in many
accolades. The Mississippi Blues Child garnered Coleman a Blues Music Award in 2016 for Best New Artist Album, and in 2018 he received a Living Blues Award for Knock a Hole In It in the Best Blues Album in the Contemporary Blues category. He’s been the recipient of multiple Jackson Music Awards for both blues and gospel, was given Bobby Rush Entertainer of the Year Award in 2014 by the Jus’ Blues Foundation. In 2024 Coleman was nominated for a GRAMMY for The Soul Side of Sipp in the Best Traditional Blues Album category, and was a participant on a GRAMMY-winning blues album, Basie Swings the Blues, by the Count Basie Orchestra.

In addition to touring widely across North America, Coleman played throughout Europe, South America and Asia. He appeared in the James Brown biopic Get On Up, playing Brown’s guitarist Les Buie; in the film Texas Red he was cast as a blues singer; and he portrayed B.B. King in the CMT network’s series Sun Records. In 2017 he revamped his group the True Believers, recorded as the Chosen 4 together with fellow blues/southern soul artists LJ Echols, Vick Allen and Stevie J Blues.

[ BACK TO TOP ]