Castro Coleman, known as "Mr. Sipp," achieved acclaim as both a gospel and blues artist. A child prodigy from a family of gospel musicians, he first gained national attention with his group the True Believers and as guitarist for the Williams Brothers. Born in McComb on August 25, 1976, he grew up in nearby Gradyville, began playing guitar at six, and soon performed at St. Joseph the Church of the Living God and the St. Mark Spiritual Church. His parents, Johnell and Vera, had a gospel group called the Star Lights, and by eight he was guitarist in his aunt's group, Grace Cain and the Mellonettes, which toured across the South. In high school he played in the gospel group Vibe, and in 1995 he founded the True Believers, which became a leading gospel quartet. The group recorded for the Blackberry label, owned by the Williams Brothers, who hired Coleman to work with them. Castro Coleman and the Highly Favored debuted in 2006 and recorded multiple albums for Malaco Records. In 2012 he began a new path in the blues as "Mr. Sipp the Mississippi Blues Child," entering a blues contest in Vicksburg that led to placing in the finals at the International Blues Competition in Memphis in 2013 and winning the contest the following year. He quickly built a repertoire of original songs, toured across North America, Europe, and Asia, and recorded multiple blues albums for Malaco. As "Mr. Sipp" he received critical acclaim through the Blues Music Awards, Living Blues Awards, the Jus Blues Foundation, and the Jackson Music Awards, where he received both blues and gospel honors. He also appeared in the James Brown biopic "Get On Up!," played B.B. King in the TV series "Sun Records," and contributed an original song to the film "Texas Red." He continues to tour the world as a blues and gospel artist.