Clara Mae Ward, one of the most outstanding soloists and conductors in gospel history, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 21, 1924, to George Ward, a handcrafter and ironworker from Anderson County, South Carolina, and Gertrude Mae Murphy Ward, a pianist and singer also … Read MoreClara Mae Ward (1924-1973)
Eustace A. Dixon II, 20th century author and environmental health advocate, was born at home in Brooklyn, New York on July 9, 1934. He was the youngest child of Eustace A. Dixon, a native of Jamaica and Beulah Talbot, a native of Bermuda. Dixon graduated … Read MoreEustace Augustus Dixon II (1934-2000)
Dorothy Love Coates was an American gospel singer, songwriter, and composer. She was born Dorothy McGriff on January 30, 1928, in Birmingham, Alabama. Her minister father, Lillar McGriff, moved to the North when Coates was six, and her parents soon divorced. Thereafter, Lillar McGriff raised … Read MoreDorothy Love Coates (1928-2002)
Guitarist, pianist, arranger, singer, and lyricist Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born Rosetta Nubin on March 20, 1915, in Cotton Plant, Arkansas to Pentecostal Pastor Willis B. Atkins from Arkadelphia and Katie Bell Harper Nubin, a musician and pastor from Princeton, Arkansas. At three Tharpe’s mother … Read MoreRosetta Atkins [Sister Rosetta] Tharpe (1915-1973)
Dinah Washington, legendary singer and ‘Queen of the Blues,’ was born Ruth Lee Jones on August 29, 1924. Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama she moved with her family to Chicago as a young child. Music was in Washington’s family, her mother was a pianist in St. … Read MoreDinah Washington (Ruth Lee Jones), (1924-1963)
Rhythm and blues (R&B), jazz, and blues singer Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins on January 25, 1938 in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles to Dorothy Hawkins, who at the time was sixteen years old and unmarried. James received her first professional training as … Read MoreEtta James (1938-2012)
In 1950, Ethel Waters was the first black American performer to star in her own regular television show, Beulah, but it was the 1961 role in the “Good Night, Sweet Blues” episode of the television series Route 66 that earned her an Emmy award. She … Read MoreEthel Waters (1896-1977)
Quintessential gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, often called the “Queen of Gospel,” was born on October 26, 1911, to an impoverished family in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her father, John A. Jackson, Sr., was a dockworker and barber who later became a Baptist minister. Her mother, Charity … Read MoreMahalia Jackson (1911-1972)
Thomas Dorsey, known widely as the “Father of Gospel Music,” was a pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and lyricist. He was born Thomas Andrew Dorsey on July 1, 1899, in Villa Rica, Georgia, to Thomas Madison Dorsey, a revivalist preacher, a graduate of Atlanta Bible College … Read MoreThomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993)
A gospel singer and arranger, Sallie Martin was born near Atlanta, Georgia. In her early twenties she began singing in a church choir in Cleveland, and, by 1929, had moved to Chicago and joined a chorus directed by Thomas Dorsey, later known as the Father … Read MoreSallie Martin (1895-1988)
