Photo by Nicole Taylor
After decades in gospel music, Richmond native Billy Gaines, 66, may finally get his big break. It’s happening because he never gave up on his dream — or his side hustles. The Kathie Lee Gifford-produced oratorio “The Way,” which screens in theaters this month, features Gaines in his debut movie role as the prophet Moses. It may not have come to pass if Gaines hadn’t kept working odd jobs, where he made a fateful connection while his music career was on hold.
The role is the latest achievement in the singer’s life and career, which has been marked with overwhelming setbacks. Gaines moved to Nashville in the 1980s to pursue his musical dreams, along with his then wife, Sarah Gaines. They recorded a string of popular and critically acclaimed gospel albums before splitting in the 2000s. Sarah died of cancer in 2019. The year before, Gaines’ second wife, Christy, also died from the disease. “That was [the most] debilitating, gut-wrenching grief I had ever experienced, and it was protracted,” he says. “I cried every day.” The crying stopped, he says, when he transferred his grief to “a power higher than myself.”
We talked with Gaines, who still lives in Tennessee, about how faith has led his career, the story of a side gig that paid off and his plans for recording music again.
Richmond magazine: You’ve had other jobs while you’ve pursued your musical goals. Can you explain how a picture-hanging gig led to your first movie role?
Billy Gaines: I accepted a job for a company called Takl. Takl was like, an Uber of anything, if you can imagine that. I had become the No. 1 provider of the company, so the COO invited me to go and work for his wife — so he said. When I got there, I realized that actually it was for one of her clients. Oh, so I go into this brownstone … and I looked to my left, and there’s Kathie Lee Gifford sitting there. My jaw hits the floor in this condo that was nothing but a beautiful hardwood floor and a black baby grand piano set in the middle. OK, so within two minutes, I'm sitting up playing and singing, and Kathie Lee starts singing with me. That was Oct. 27, 2018. So Oct. 17, 2019, she contacts me and says … “I've been praying for you. And I believe God wants you to be back in music, and I have a role that I’d like to offer you.” So Oct. 25, 2019, I go into a place and audition for this role, Moses, and I finish, and she looks at me. She says, “You are Moses.”
RM: What led you to choose gospel music?
Gaines: When I was 16 years old, I ended up singing one song with this choir, and [it] really, really went over well. And I began to pray and ask God, “What do you want me to do with my life?” And, you know, I was planning on being a mechanical engineer, but he showed me that he wanted me to go to music. And that’s what I followed.
RM: Are you planning to record another album?
Gaines: This has been a banner year for me for recording and releasing songs. ... But it’s just been on other people’s projects. And it’s been a great experience for me. I just have to credit the Lord — people have spoken this to me, too. … “You haven’t done your best work, the best is yet to come.” And you know, it seemed kind of far-fetched. But now I’m certain that this exposure with this movie will give me the largest platform that I ever had in my life.
“The Way” screens at the Regal Cinemas Virginia Center, Short Pump and Westchester Commons locations on Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12.50.
