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Marion Wesley Easterling (March 12, 1910 - December 10, 1989) was an American music composer in the genre of southern gospel who claimed he had written around 300 songs. [1] His compositions include "When I Wake Up To Sleep No More", "Lord Lead Me On", "Standing By The River", "Rainbow Of Love", and "When He Reached Down His Hand For Me". [1]
Marion Wesley Easterling was born in Chilton County, Alabama on March 12, 1910. [1] He attended the public schools in Chilton County and then attended various music schools including the Vaughan School of Music. [1] He also took correspondence courses from New York and Chicago to further his musical education. [1] His first song to become a hit was "Lord Lead Me On" written in 1937. [1] Other hit songs written by Easterling include "Standing By The River", "Rainbow Of Love", "When He Reached Down His Hand For Me", and "When I Wake Up To Sleep No More". [1] In 1938, Easterling was the youngest composer to sign a five-year contract with Stamps-Baxter Music Company. [1]
Easterling also brought gospel music through the media of radio to Chilton County. [1] He hosted a morning gospel show "America's Favorites" on WKLF radio station in Clanton, Alabama. [2] His first broadcast was on December 2, 1947 [1] and it became the nation's longest continuously running daily Gospel radio program. [2] In 1974 Easterling's composition "When I Wake Up To Sleep No More" as performed by The Inspirations was number one on the Singing News magazine's gospel charts for seven consecutive months. It held that position from April through October and then again for December. He was awarded the Broadcast Media Gospel Award in 1976. [1] On April 17, 1986, Easterling was recognized on the U.S. Senate floor in a tribute by Alabama Senator Jeremiah Denton. [3] Easterling died December 10, 1989, in a Birmingham, Alabama hospital and is buried in Martin Memorial Cemetery in Clanton, Alabama. [4]
Clanton is a city in Chilton County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Birmingham–Hoover–Cullman Combined Statistical Area. At the 2020 census, the population was 8,768. The city is the county seat of Chilton County. Clanton is near the site of the geographic center of the U.S. state of Alabama.
Albert Leornes Greene, known professionally as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including "Take Me to the River", "Tired of Being Alone", "I'm Still in Love with You", "Love and Happiness", and his signature song, "Let's Stay Together". After his girlfriend died by suicide, Green became an ordained pastor and turned to gospel music. He later returned to secular music.
Ruben Studdard is an American singer and actor. He rose to fame as the winner of the second season of American Idol and received a Grammy Award nomination in 2003 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his recording of "Superstar". In the years following Idol, Studdard has released seven studio albums, including his platinum-selling debut, Soulful, and the top-selling gospel follow-up, I Need an Angel. He is most well known for his recording career, which has produced hits including "Flying Without Wings", "Sorry 2004", and "Change Me", but he has also segued into television and stage work. Most notably, he starred as Fats Waller in a national tour revival of Ain't Misbehavin', which spawned a Grammy-nominated soundtrack.
Jake Hess was an American Grammy Award-winning southern gospel singer.
The Stamps-Baxter Music Company was an influential publishing company in the shape note Southern gospel music field. The company issued several paperback publications each year with cheap binding and printed on cheap paper. Thus, the older books are now in delicate condition. These songbooks were used in church singing events, called "conventions," as well as at other church events, although they did not take the place of regular hymnals. Among the country music and bluegrass "standards" that were first published by Stamps-Baxter are "Rank Strangers to Me", "Just a Little Talk with Jesus", "Precious Memories", "Farther Along", "If We Never Meet Again", "Victory in Jesus", and "I Won't Have to Cross Jordan Alone".
James Webre Blackwood was an American gospel singer and one of the founding members of legendary Southern gospel quartet The Blackwood Brothers. He is the only person in any field of music to have been nominated for a Grammy Award for 28 consecutive years. He received 31 nominations and won nine Grammy Awards.
Canzetta Maria "Candi" Staton is an American singer–songwriter, best known in the United States for her 1970 remake of Tammy Wynette's "Stand by Your Man" and her 1976 disco chart-topper "Young Hearts Run Free". In Europe, Staton's biggest selling record is the anthemic "You Got the Love" from 1986, released in collaboration with the Source. Staton was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame and is a four-time Grammy Award nominee.
The Fairfield Four is an American gospel group that has existed for over 100 years, starting as a trio in the Fairfield Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1921. They were designated as National Heritage Fellows in 1989 by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. The group won the 1998 Grammy for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album. As a quintet, they featured briefly in the 2000 movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
WMRK-FM is a radio station licensed to serve Shorter, Alabama, United States. Alexander Broadcasting Company is the licensee. The station is operated under a local marketing agreement by EMF Broadcasting (K-LOVE).
WXQW is a talk radio station licensed to Fairhope, Alabama, and serving the Mobile metropolitan area. The station is owned by Cumulus Media and the broadcast license is held by Cumulus Licensing LLC. The radio studios and offices are on Dauphin Street in Midtown Mobile.
WTXK is a sports-formatted radio station licensed to Pike Road, Alabama, United States and serving nearby Montgomery. The station, established in 1968, is currently owned and operated by Frontdoor Broadcasting, LLC as part of a duopoly with Contemporary Christian station WVRV. Both stations share studios on Carmichael Way in eastern Montgomery, while its transmitter facilities are located between Montgomery and Pike Road.
WNGL is a radio station licensed to serve Mobile, Alabama, United States. Since September 2009, the station has been owned by Fairhope-based Archangel Communications, Inc.
WMGY is a radio station licensed to serve Montgomery, Alabama, United States. The station, which began broadcasting in 1946, is owned by Terry L. Barber.
Elliott Brown Bannister III is an contemporary Christian music (CCM) producer and songwriter. Bannister released one album of his own, Talk to One Another, in 1981 on NewPax Records. It was reissued on the Reunion Records label five years later, featuring a newer recording of the album's final cut, "Create in Me a Clean Heart". The original NewPax version featured Ed DeGarmo on the Hammond B3 organ; the 1986 version featured Amy Grant and her then husband Gary Chapman on vocals. The 1986 version was released as a radio single and gained moderate airplay in some markets.
WJUS is a radio station licensed to serve Marion, Alabama, United States. The station is owned by Grace Baptist Temple Church of Selma, Alabama.
Grayson Russell is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series.
WERC-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Hoover, Alabama, and serving Greater Birmingham. It is owned by iHeartMedia and it simulcasts a talk radio format with sister station WERC 960 AM. The studios and offices are in Beacon Ridge Tower on First Avenue South in Birmingham, off Interstate 65.
Thomas McClary is an American musician, guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer best known as the founder and lead guitarist of The Commodores. McClary is widely credited with having created the signature sound of The Commodores' original music.
Alabama state elections in 2020 were held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Its primary elections were held on March 3, 2020, with runoffs taking place on July 31.
WKLF is a radio station licensed to serve the community of Clanton, Alabama. The station is owned by WKLF LLC. It airs a Southern gospel and oldies format.
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