Shirley Childress Saxton is a professional American Sign Language interpreter who joined the African American a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock in 1980. Saxton, who learned to sign from her deaf parents, holds a bachelor’s degree in deaf education and is a certified member of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. When Johnson is not on tour with Sweet Honey in the Rock she teaches sign language classes and conducts workshops on interpreting music.