Great Gospel Entertainers Who Influenced the Lyrics

He was the composer of such gospel lyrics as "There Will Be Peace in the Valley"and "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" as well as over 400 other songs in his career.

The son of a baptist minister, he was a former blues entertainer and a musical composer. When he first played his style and brand of gospel entertainment music, most people consider his type of music to be too bold and thought it to be "the devil's music.

So, being the smart man that he was, he borrowed a whole whopping $5.oo (I guess that's alot of money for the times) and then sent out 500 copies of his song

"If You See My Savior" to different churches throughout the country.

It took 3 years before he got his first offer, but he persevered.

Earlier on, the contemporary churches failed to see the positive influence that a great gospel entertainer's music such as Dorsey's style could have on people.

They also did not see the blessings and encouragements that his brand of gospel music could bring to its listeners and influence them to draw nearer to God.

Dorsey later founded The National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses in 1932. This organization is still in existence today.

Dorsey paved the way for many great gospel entertainers such as Mahalia Jackson, Clara Ward, James Cleveland, Edna Gallmon Cook, Brother Joe May, Andrea Crouch, The Might Clouds of Joy, The Dixie Hummingbirds and Sister Rosetta Thorpe, just to name a few.

Here are a few classic pictures with some great biography on a few of the great gospel entertainers.

Mahalia Jackson (Queen of Gospel Music)

James Cleveland (Leader and Pioneer)

His influence was on such great gospel entertainment groups as the "jubilee singing groups".

This style of music was composed of mostly male singers (but soon broadened to include female gospel artists.)

The songs were usually sung unaccompanied by music, (this is known as "acapella style") in four part harmonies.

The harmonies mix melodies, playful syncopations, and religious themes into what is now coined as "gospel jubilee singing".

One of the most famous of these great gospel entertainment groups would be the "Fisk Jubilee Singers", started in the 1870's in Nashville, Tennessee by George L. White.

He named the group, in a gesture of hope and encouragement, after a Bible reference to the "Year of Jubilee", in the book of "Leviticus", in which the Hebrew law required that all slaves be set free.

The gospel songs that the jubilee singers usually sung were Negro Spirituals. This brand of gospel music then evolved into the harder gospel singing groups which had more of an emotionally charged background.

Speaking of Emotionally Charged Backgrounds, here are Other famous gospel entertainers and quartet jubilee singers:

The Spirit of Memphis (Memphis, Tennessee-1920's)

The Soul Stirrers(Trinity, Texas-1926)

The Famous Bluejay Singers (Birmingham, Alabama-1932)

The Golden Gate Quartet (Norfolk, Virgina 1934)

The Zion Travelers (Los Angeles, California-1944)

To find out more on some of these gospel groups that I've metioned, you may like to try this site, it has a great list of information on these artists.

www.npr.org/template/story

praise-and-worship.com To worship God is to express our love and awe of who He is. True worship requires total commitment of our body, mind and spirit. It’s about exalting, adoring and acknowledging the God of the Bible.

Here are some photos of some of the great gospel entertainers. (I tried to keep the photos in the right timelines for my site).

The Dixie Humming Birds, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, The Soul Stirrers, The Davis Sisters, The Harmonettes, The Sensational Nightengales just to name a few.

The Dixie HummingBirds

The Mighty Clouds of Joy

Making way from the quartets to the Mass choirs and chorues of today, gospel music entertainment has gained popularity.

Some of the Choirs and Mass Choir Entertainment Groups would be Franklin Williams and The Mississippi Mass Choir of 1988, Milton Brunson and the Thompson Community Choir in the 80"s, John P. Kee and New Life Community Choir of the 90"s, Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Choir and Donald Lawerence and the Tri-City Singers.

More of an urban style of contemporary gospel entertainment groups would be BeBe and CeCe Winans and Take 6. Gospel music also comes in other forms.

Check out this site: www.doublemelodies.com, the melodies are comprised of Maylaysian musical sounds.

To remind you once again, Soulful Gospel Music will always have an effect on your personal life, so keep "music" in your life and always be about Praising the Lord.

For even more info. on today's hot topics of news, articles and other great things to know, in the day and life of Christians, please visit with my friends at Christian Wallpaper - Share your faith with family and friends with a Christian wallpaper displayed on your desktop.

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