The Soul Stirrers were an American gospel music group, whose career spans over eighty years. The group was a pioneer in the development of the quartet style of gospel, and a major influence on soul, doo wop, and Motown, some of the secular music that owed much to gospel.
Peacock Records was an American record label, started in 1949 by Don Robey in Houston, Texas, United States.
The Dixie Hummingbirds are an influential American gospel music group, spanning more than 80 years from the jubilee quartet style of the 1920s, through the "hard gospel" quartet style of gospel's golden age in the 1940s and 1950s, to the eclectic pop-tinged songs of today. The Hummingbirds inspired a number of imitators, such as Jackie Wilson and James Brown, who adapted the shouting style and enthusiastic showmanship of hard gospel to secular themes to help create soul music in the 1960s.
Paul Owens was one of the foremost artists in African American gospel music, performing with The Dixie Hummingbirds, the Swan Silvertones and the Sensational Nightingales. Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, he started as a soloist with the Israelite Gospel Singers, the Baystate Gospel Singers and the Evangelist Singers, then joined a group known as the Nightingales before moving to the Hummingbirds in 1948. Paired with Ira Tucker, they adopted a daring style, which they called "trickeration", in which they would mix melisma with intricate harmonies, sharing the lead while often improvising phrases.
Clara Mae Ward was an American gospel singer who achieved great artistic and commercial success during the 1940s and 1950s, as leader of The Famous Ward Singers. A gifted singer and arranger, Ward adopted the lead-switching style, previously used primarily by male gospel quartets, creating opportunities for spontaneous improvization and vamping by each member of the group, while giving virtuoso singers such as Marion Williams the opportunity to perform the lead vocal in songs such as "Surely, God Is Able", "How I Got Over" and "Packin' Up".
The Swan Silvertones are an American gospel music group that first achieved popularity in the 1940s and 1950s under the leadership of Claude Jeter. Jeter formed the group in 1938 as the "Four Harmony Kings" while he was working as a coal miner in West Virginia, United States. After moving to Knoxville, Tennessee and obtaining their own radio show, the group changed its name to the Silvertone Singers in order to avoid confusion with another ensemble known as the "Four Kings of Harmony." They added the name Swan shortly thereafter, since Swan Bakeries sponsored their show. Their wide exposure through radio brought them a contract in 1946 with King Records.
The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi was an American post-war gospel quartet. They started with lead singer Archie Brownlee, their single "Our Father" reached number ten on the Billboard R&B charts in early 1951. Then the screams of their new lead singer Big Henry Johnson captivated audiences all over the world. Jimmy was the heart of the group and the longest standing member. It was one of the first gospel records to do so.
Willmer M. "Little Axe" Broadnax was an American hard gospel quartet singer during the golden age of traditional black gospel. His most common nickname was "Little Axe," due to both his small stature and his brother William "Big Axe" Broadnax, who was a popular baritone.
The Mighty Clouds of Joy were an American traditional gospel music quartet.
"Proud Mary" is a song by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival written by John Fogerty. It was released as a single in January 1969 by Fantasy Records and on the band's second studio album, Bayou Country. The song became a major hit in the United States, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1969, the first of five singles to peak at No. 2 for the group.
"Sinner Man" or "Sinnerman" is an African American traditional spiritual song that has been recorded by a number of performers and has been incorporated in many other media and arts. The lyrics describe a sinner attempting to hide from divine justice on Judgment Day. It was recorded in the 1950s by Les Baxter, the Swan Silvertones, the Weavers and others, before Nina Simone recorded an extended version in 1965.
Malaco Records is an American independent record label based in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, that has been the home of various major blues and gospel acts, such as Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Bland, Mel Waiters, Z. Z. Hill, Denise LaSalle, Latimore, Dorothy Moore, Little Milton, Shirley Brown, Tyrone Davis, Marvin Sease, and the Mississippi Mass Choir. It has received an historic marker issued by the Mississippi Blues Commission to commemorate its important place on the Mississippi Blues Trail.
Jerry Zolten is an American writer, advocator for, and producer of American roots music. A Professor at Penn State University, he is best known as the author of a book tracing the 90 year career of the African-American Dixie Hummingbirds gospel group and their influence on both sacred and secular music. He also writes about and is a noted expert on the history of American stand-up comedy. Zolten is also known for numerous articles and album liner notes on blues, country, and gospel music as well as collaborations on musical projects with Robert Crumb and Harvey Pekar. His more recent writings and musical releases include "The Beatles as Recording Artists" in The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles, biographical and musicological entries on Paramount recording artists for The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records 1917–1927, and Chimpin' the Blues with Robert Crumb and Jerry Zolten, an audio collection of conversation and rare blues and blues-related recordings from the early 20th Century. In 2017 he co-produced and narrated the public radio program Time to Lay It Down: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War. Zolten appears in the documentary film Ballad of the Dreadnought, produced by the Martin Guitar Company telling the story of their flagship D model guitars. He is also a co-producer and appears in the documentary film How They Got Over: Gospel Quartets and the Road to Rock and Roll
Jackie Verdell was an American gospel singer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
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?.
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.
James Bodie Davis was an American gospel music singer and a founder of The Dixie Hummingbirds, one of the longest-lasting and most influential groups in gospel music.
Rev. Julius "June" Cheeks was an American gospel singer, who enjoyed the majority of his success with The Sensational Nightingales.
The Angelic Gospel Singers were an American gospel group from Philadelphia founded and led by Margaret Wells Allison. The group continued through Allison's death in 2008; the group was called "the longest consistently selling female gospel group in African American history" by the Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music.
The Pilgrim Jubilees, also known as The Pilgrim Jubilee Singers, are an American traditional black gospel music group originally from the cities of Jackson, Mississippi and Chicago, Illinois, where they were established by Elgie Graham and Willie Johnson, in 1934. The group have released 25 albums with six record labels Nashboro Records, Peacock Records, Savoy Records, Malaco Records, MCA Records, and Benson Records. Five of those albums charted on the Billboard magazine charts.
