A celebrated Wilmington performer and storyteller, who charmed audiences for decades, dies

Madafo Lloyd Wilson, a storyteller, musician and actor who charmed Wilmington audiences for decades, died Sunday at the age of 76.

Wilson suffered a traumatic head injury on Sept. 6, according to Rhonda Bellamy, president and CEO of the Arts Council of Wilmington and New Hanover County. He did not regain consciousness. 

"Madafo made it his lifelong mission to keep African culture alive through his storytelling and music," said Wilmington filmmaker and friend Francine De Coursey. "And he did it so well. "

"He was talented, he was a visionary, he had community in his heart," said Joyce Grear, a fellow storyteller and friend since high school. "He delighted in sharing history and stories with young people."

Wilson compiled a repertoire of hundreds of traditional African and African-American folk tales, which he performed with gusto in a gentle baritone voice. Often, he would accompany himself with drums and other percussion instruments.

He presented his multimedia shows at schools and libraries across the United States and in parts of Europe and Africa.

He also produced, hosted and co-starred in "A Season's Griot," the first and so far only nationally syndicated radio program for Kwanzaa. Wilson created "A Season's Griot" for a quarter century at Wilmington public radio station WHQR. Though no new episodes have been made since 2017, reruns are played every year on WHQR and other stations nationwide, according to Mary Bradley, WHQR development director.

"He was a warm, loving, beautiful storyteller," Bradley said. "He'd walk into a room and it just lit up."

Lloyd Wilson Jr. was born April 13, 1947, the son of Lloyd Wilson Sr. and Lila May Wilson. He grew up in Taylor Homes on Wilmington's Northside and graduated from Williston Senior High School in 1965. Honorably discharged after four years in the U.S. Army, he returned to Wilmington around 1980 and began a career as a percussionist, voice performer and mentor. For many years, he worked with youngsters at the Community Arts Center in downtown Wilmington, and also worked at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and appeared in several local film productions, notably "The Inkwell."

Along the way he added the name Madafo, which means "friend" in the Twi dialects of Ghana.

As a percussionist, he backed such Wilmington musicians as late flamenco guitarist William "Paco" Strickland and late folksinger and storyteller John Golden.

Wilson was active in community theater, including performances by Wilmington's historically Black theater troupe, the Willis Richardson Players, and in the 1990s with the since-disbanded Tapestry Theatre Co. Grear recalled how Wilson spearheaded a children's theater production of "The Wiz" at the Arts Center in the 1980s, a show that was eventually presented at Thalian Hall.

One of Wilson's students was Wilmington native Ty Robinson, who cited Wilson as a mentor and went on to perform in a Broadway tour of "The Lion King."

"He was as fine a man as ever walked the Earth," said DeCoursey, "a teacher and peaceful warrior for justice. His very presence was powerful, yet quietly elegant. Madafo was a man among men, a king among kings, a role model of what a truly good man could be."

For many years, Wilson headed a mentoring program through New Hanover High School. Grear recalled how former students would walk up to him, years later, to thank him for his advice and example.

His survivors include two daughters, Kenyetta Graham and Kimbertly McRae, and four grandchildren.

An "Ingathering for Madafo" memorial will be held 2 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Cameron Art Museum, 3201 S. 17th St.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Madafo Lloyd Wilson Fund, to be administered by the Arts Council of Wilmington and New Hanover County, to benefit artists of color who continue his work in the community. The arts council is located at 221 N. Front St., Suite 101, Wilmington, N.C. 28401.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Madafo Lloyd Wilson, a celebrated Wilmington NC performer, dies at 76