To reach more people with her music, Caesar signed with a secular record label called Roadshow Records in 1977 and released the debut album entitled "First Lady". The producer of the album titled the album "First Lady" because Caesar was the first female to ever record on the label. The album contained songs with strong gospel lyrics, but many within the gospel community felt that the music itself was "too worldly," and many gospel DJ's refused to play it on their radio station. One song, however, "Faded Rose", later became a Caesar classic. Overall, the album sold poorly, but the "First Lady" title caught on within the gospel industry, and concert announcers, DJ's and gospel promoters everywhere started introducing her as "The First Lady of Gospel Music", a title that has been associated with her ever since. The second and final album she recorded for Roadshow was "From the Heart" in 1978; it was poorly received for the same reason. Caesar searched for a gospel label and finally decided to sign with Word Records in 1980 and went on to win several more Grammy Awards during the next several years and beyond. She stayed with Word records for many years and recorded some of the biggest hits of her career such as "God's Got It All in Control", "Hold My Mule" (which later went viral as a Thanksgiving-related Internet meme under the title "You Name It"), "He's Working It Out for You", "Jesus, I Love Calling Your Name" and "You're Next in Line for a Miracle".