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.
Gospel music is a genre of Christian music. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is composed and performed for many purposes, including aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, and as an entertainment product for the marketplace. Gospel music usually has dominant vocals with Christian lyrics. Gospel music can be traced to the early 17th century.
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.
The 27th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1985, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, and were broadcast live in the United States by CBS. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1984.
James Edward Cleveland was an American gospel singer, musician, and composer. Known as the King of Gospel music, Cleveland was a driving force behind the creation of the modern gospel sound by incorporating traditional black gospel, soul, pop, and jazz in arrangements for mass choirs. Throughout his career, Cleveland appeared on hundreds of recordings and earned 4 Grammy Awards. He was the first gospel musician to earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1984. For his trailblazing accomplishments, he is regarded by many to be one of the greatest gospel singers that ever lived. He is best known for his gospel classics, "Lord, Help Me To Hold Out," "Peace Be Still," "I Don't Feel No Ways Tired", “Where Is Your Faith," "The Love Of God," "God Has Smiled On Me'" and his soul stirring rendition of Gladys Knight & The Pips "You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me."
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.
"Take My Hand, Precious Lord" is a gospel song. The lyrics were written by the Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey, who also adapted the melody.
Engelbert Humperdinck is an English pop singer. Humperdinck has been described as "one of the finest middle-of-the-road balladeers around". His singles "Release Me" and "The Last Waltz" both topped the UK music charts in 1967, and sold more than a million copies each. In North America, he also had chart successes with "After the Lovin'" (1976) and "This Moment in Time" (1979). Overall he has sold more than 140 million records worldwide.
"Peace in the Valley" is a 1937 song written by Thomas A. Dorsey, originally for Mahalia Jackson. The song became a hit in 1951 for Red Foley and the Sunshine Boys, reaching number seven on the Country & Western Best Seller chart. It was among the first gospel recordings to sell one million copies. Foley's version was a 2006 entry into the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.
Homecoming in Heaven is an album by American country music artist George Jones. It was released in 1962 on the United Artists record label.
This is an incomplete list of historical markers in Villa Rica., a town in the U.S. state of Georgia. This list shows a mix of Georgia state, Georgia Historical Society and private markers, and is missing a number of Villa Rica Historic Preservation Commission historic markers.
Chicago, Illinois is a major center for music in the midwestern United States where distinctive forms of blues, and house music, a genre of electronic dance music, were developed.
Chet Atkins Plays Back Home Hymns is the seventeenth studio album of instrumental gospel hymns by guitarist Chet Atkins.
"If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again" (1922) is a popular gospel song written by John Whitfield "Whit" Vaughan (1879–1945), as a tribute to his own mother, Clara Beady Burgess-Vaughan. The words are based on a text by James Rowe, an English settler living in Georgia during the early twentieth century. A 1934 recording of the song by Thomas A. Dorsey was selected in 2007 by the United States' National Recording Preservation Board for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
Peace in the Valley is an EP by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released in April 1957 on RCA Victor Records in mono with catalogue number EPA 4054. It reached number three on the short-lived Billboard EP chart, number three on the album chart and number 39 on the singles chart.
The Cissy Houston Collection is a gospel compilation album by American gospel/soul singer Cissy Houston, released on September 20, 2005. The album's tracks were produced by Jimmy Vivino, Joel Moss, along with Cissy Houston. Houston composed all the songs except for "Amazing Grace", "Go Where I Send Thee", and "The Lord Will Make a Way Somehow", which was composed by Reverend Thomas A. Dorsey.
Reverend A. W. Nix was an American preacher who recorded 54 sermons and gospel songs in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He is best remembered for his commercially successful sermon, "Black Diamond Express to Hell." Nix's recordings were reintroduced when he was credited as a major influence on Thomas A. Dorsey, the "father of gospel music." However, the minutes of the 1921 National Baptist Convention confirm that Nix's brother, William Nix, Jr., was actually the influence on Dorsey. Accordingly, nearly all of A.W.'s sermons have been reissued on Document Records and compilation albums.
Black gospel music or gospel music is a genre of African-American Christian music developed in the United States and used in various Christian churches, though primarily and originally in the Black Church. It is also a popular form of commercial music.
Elder Charles Beck was an American gospel musician and evangelist. A seminal figure in the formative years of modern African-American gospel music, he is responsible for an extensive recording discography, which included over 60 songs over the span of two decades. Beck's abilities as a pianist and trumpet player are praised as one of the best from the gospel genre. His work, both as an instrumentalist and live performer, however, was predominantly overshadowed by the career of Thomas A. Dorsey. Over time, nearly all of Beck's recordings have become more accessible through compilation albums.
Gospel is the eighth studio album by British singer-songwriter Mica Paris. It was released on December 4, 2020 by Warner subsidiary East West Records. Gospel is Paris' first album since Born Again (2009).
