Dinah Washington was an American singer and pianist, one of the most popular black female recording artists of the 1950s. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a wide variety of styles including blues, R&B, and traditional pop music, and gave herself the title of "Queen of the Blues". She was a 1986 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
Mahalia Jackson was an American gospel singer, widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. With a career spanning 40 years, Jackson was integral to the development and spread of gospel blues in black churches throughout the U.S. During a time when racial segregation was pervasive in American society, she met considerable and unexpected success in a recording career, selling an estimated 22 million records and performing in front of integrated and secular audiences in concert halls around the world.
Thomas Andrew Dorsey was an American musician, composer, and Christian evangelist influential in the development of early blues and 20th-century gospel music. He penned 3,000 songs, a third of them gospel, including "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" and "Peace in the Valley". Recordings of these sold millions of copies in both gospel and secular markets in the 20th century.
Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger who Rolling Stone described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include "The Ghetto", "This Christmas", "Someday We'll All Be Free", and "Little Ghetto Boy". Hathaway is also renowned for his renditions of "A Song for You", "For All We Know", and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", along with "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", two of many collaborations with Roberta Flack. He has been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame and won one Grammy Award from four nominations. Hathaway was also posthumously honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Dutch director David Kleijwegt made a documentary called Mister Soul – A Story About Donny Hathaway, which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 28, 2020.
Priscilla Marie Winans Love, known professionally as CeCe Winans, is an American gospel singer. Winans has garnered 15 Grammy Awards, the most for a female gospel singer; 31 GMA Dove Awards, 17 Stellar Awards, 7 NAACP Image Awards, along with many other awards and honors to her credit including being one of the inaugural inductees into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame. Winans is considered one of the greatest gospel artists of all time, and is the most-awarded and best-selling gospel act of all time.
Sallie Martin was an American gospel singer referred to as the "Mother of Gospel" for her efforts to popularize the songs of Thomas A. Dorsey and her influence on other artists.
Roberta Evelyn Martin was an American gospel composer, singer, pianist, arranger and choral organizer, helped launch the careers of many other gospel artists through her group, The Roberta Martin Singers.
Willie Mae Ford Smith was an American musician and Christian evangelist instrumental in the development and spread of gospel music in the United States. She grew up singing with her family, joining a quartet with her sisters. Later she became acquainted with Thomas A. Dorsey, the "Father of Gospel Music", when he co-founded the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses in 1932. Smith started the St. Louis chapter and became the director of the national organization's Soloist's Bureau, training up and coming singers in the gospel blues style. She became known for her nurturing temperament, leading to her commonly being called "Mother Smith" by those within her musical circle. For a decade she traveled ceaselessly tutoring, singing, and preaching in churches and at revivals. Her appearances were renowned for being intensely moving spiritual experiences.
Tramaine Aunzola Richardson, known professionally as Tramaine Hawkins, is an American award-winning Gospel singer whose career spans over five decades. Since beginning her career in 1966, Hawkins has won two Grammy Awards, two Doves, and 19 Stellar Awards.
Anthony Heilbut is an American writer, and a Grammy Award winning record producer of gospel music. He is noted for his biography of Thomas Mann, and is also a two-time recipient of the Grand Prix du Disque.
Albertina Walker was an American gospel singer, songwriter, actress, and humanitarian.
Traditional black gospel is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding African American Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music. It is a form of Christian music and a subgenre of black gospel music.
The Roberta Martin Singers were an American gospel group based in the United States.
Eugene Smith was an American gospel singer and composer.
Tina Louise Thomas is a former Miss Pennsylvania (1973) and Miss America scholarship pageant national talent winner and 4th runner-up (1974), as well as being a musician and writer. Thomas was baptized Christina Hatzithomas in her father's Greek Orthodox church..
Josephine Armstead, also known as "Joshie" Jo Armstead, is an American soul singer and songwriter. Armstead began her career singing backing vocals for blues musician Bobby "Blue" Bland before becoming an Ikette in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in the early 1960s. She also had some success as a solo singer, her biggest hit being "A Stone Good Lover" in 1968. As a songwriter, Armstead teamed up with Ashford & Simpson. The trio wrote hits for various artists, including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Tina Britt, Ronnie Milsap, and Syl Johnson. In the 1970s, Armstead appeared in the Broadway musicals Don't Play Us Cheap and Seesaw.
Zella Jackson Price is an American gospel singer whose career has spanned 50 years. She performed with many St. Louis–based entertainers and earned national recognition, performing in her own show at Carnegie Hall in 1985. She was one of the pioneer black announcers on St. Louis radio and was the feature of a documentary about her life created by Chicago TV channel 28. She sang in several movies, including Say Amen, Somebody (1982), a documentary about Willie Mae Ford Smith' life, and the HBO mini-series Angels in America.
Jessie Smith was an American R&B vocalist. She began her career singing with musician Benny Sharp, recording as Little Miss Jessie, and became best known as one of the original Ikettes in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. She later sang backing vocals for various artists, including Dr. John, Paul Williams, Al Kooper, José Feliciano, and Leon Ware.
Lucy Smith Collier, also known as "Little Lucy" Smith, was a gospel singer, pianist, organist, and composer. She led the female gospel group, The Little Lucy Smith Singers, and was a vocalist and accompanist for the Roberta Martin Singers. The granddaughter of Holiness preacher Elder Lucy Smith, she began playing organ at the All Nations Pentecostal Church at age twelve. Among her more well-known compositions are "Oh My Lord, What a Time", "What a Blessing in Jesus," and "He's my Light," which became a hit for the Roberta Martin Singers.
Say Amen, Somebody is a 1982 documentary film directed by George Nierenberg about the history and significance of gospel music as told through the lives and trials of its singers. Included are Thomas A. Dorsey, considered the "Father of Gospel Music", and "Mother" Willie Mae Ford Smith, an associate of Dorsey's who trained gospel singers for decades. Ford and three singing acts – Delois Barrett Campbell and the Barrett Sisters, Zella Jackson Price, and the O'Neal Twins, Edgar and Edward, backed by a choir – provide music throughout.
