Category: Passings

Homegoing services are taking place this weekend for songwriter and musician Derrick Lee. Lee, widely recognized as the music director for BET’s Bobby Jones Gospel, passed February 19, 2022, after battling a period of health challenges.

The obituary:

Derrick Lee was born October 12, 1958 to Dr. Rev. Wesley Lee, Sr., and Adell Lee. If music is a birthright, Derrick was in the right place! He began playing piano and organ in the early years of his life following in the footsteps of his sister Earlene, and later became the Minister of Music at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey where his father was the founder and pastor. He founded the church’s premier choir, the W. L. Lee Choral Ensemble. Derrick continued to excel in music and in 1973 he attended the Arts High School, the nation’s first high school for the arts; he became the music director for the high school choir. He also received a proclamation from the city for being one of Newark’s “Most Outstanding Musicians.”

In 1976, Derrick attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. It was at this prominent HBCU where Derrick’s musical life began to transform. As a musical prodigy, Derrick would be recognized as one of the most outstanding musicians on the Fisk campus. He became the music director of the Black Mass Choir, leading them to win many choral competitions throughout the South. He joined the Fisk Jubilee Singers, where he traveled internationally singing Negro Spirituals, and concertized with many renowned personalities such as Lucille Ball, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Barbara Mandrell, among others. Derrick always sought out opportunities that would enhance his musical skills, and later in 1977, accepted an invitation for an exchange program at Fisk University to attend the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio for a year. His classical skills were an extraordinary demonstration of his musicianship as he played concertos, preludes, and other pieces by European composers like Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Liszt, and Mozart.

As Derrick’s music career expanded beyond the college doors, he started producing
music for many local artists, including recording his first project in Nashville with the 21st Century Singers entitled, “Triumphant.” He joined Mt. Pisgah United Methodist Church, and for over 30 years served as the music director for the Gospel Choir. As his skillful reputation grew throughout the city, Derrick developed relationships with producers and arrangers who hired him to play on recording sessions, such as Shannon Williams at Nashboro Records, Word Music, Onyx Records, Muscle Shoals Records, Savoy Records, and others. Derrick spent many years working with Sanchez Harley who produced recordings for many popular artists for over 20 years. These experiences led him to his introduction to Dr. Bobby Jones, a relationship that would evolve into a thriving career as a music director, producer, and songwriter. For over 35 years, Derrick would compose original music for the show, create electrifying arrangements of hymns and awe-inspiring accompaniments for the many Gospel artists that would grace the stages of BET’s Bobby Jones Gospel.

The prominence of Derrick’s arrangements led him to produce for such gospel greats as Albertina Walker, Shirley Caesar, Dorothy Norwood, Everett Drake, the Frierson Brothers, Rev. Angie Spivey, Beverly Crawford, Lawrence Thomison, Regina Belle, the Gospel Music Workshop of America, and so many more. His most notable arrangements would be heard with Dr. Bobby Jones and the New Life Singers, the Nashville Super Choir on recordings including Caught Up (1980), Soul Set Free (1982), Come Together (1983), Another Time (1985), and I’ll Never Forget (1990), Bring It To Jesus (1993), Just Churchin’ (1998). Derrick’s musical arrangements would take the nation by storm in the Gospel industry as Bobby Jones Gospel would always open with one of Derrick’s powerful arrangements or an original composition.

To know Derrick was to love him dearly. Many of his friends were often greeted with “names of endearment” other than their own! His quick wit often left you speechless during conversations, as he may wrap up the conversation with remarks of friendly sarcasm or a delightful rant of clever humor. There was no mistake if Derrick felt that you were not living up to his expectations! If he didn’t verbally express his disgust, his eyes spoke volumes and made many starkly aware that they had to make some major adjustments – quickly! Derrick did not accept mediocrity or minutiae, and everyone who had an opportunity to work with him knew that things just couldn’t be good, it had to be “Grand”!

He had a fond and special love for his family and friends from Newark, New Jersey, Nashville, Tennessee, and from all around the world. His life was large and his love was wide. He leaves to mourn his passing, his only living sister, Betty McHenry. Derrick’s parents and siblings, Dr. Rev. Wesley Lee, Sr. and Adell Lee; his brothers, Wesley Lee, Jr., General Lee, William (Twinkle) Lee, and sisters Beaula Lee McKinnon and Earlene Lee all preceded him in death. He will be fondly remembered by his nieces, Karen McKinnon, Jamie Horton, Almetra Lee, Quamara Lee; nephews Reginald Lee, Michael Lee, Vincent Lee, Paul Lee, Jerome Cherry, Michael Cherry, Ronnie Cherry, and James McKinnon; a host of cousins, great nieces, great nephews and devoted friends, Everett Drake, Linda Whitaker, and Eva Kirk. (Source: Lewis and Wright Funeral Directors site)

A musical tribute is set for Friday, March 4, at 7 PM. The Celebration of Life service is set for Saturday, March 5, at 11 AM. Both services will take place at Mt. Gilead Missionary Baptist Church in Hermitage, TN.

GMF extends condolences and prayers to family, friends, and colleague during this emotional time.

Michael Towns, a music industry executive with Kingdom Records and Urban Ideas, has passed away of bronchial complications at the age of 55.

“I met Mike through the Inroads program. I went on to work for First National Bank of Chicago and Mike became my intern in the late 1980s,” says Kingdom Records President, Joan Sullivan. “We’ve been dear friends ever since. In 2004, he became my right hand in managing Kingdom Records and in 2012, he became my partner in Urban Ideas. This is a totally unexpected loss and Mike will be very missed by our entire team who loved him as family.”

Sullivan recruited Towns as Director of Finance, Marketing and Strategy for Kingdom Records in 2004. The Chicago-based label is the home for the platinum-selling Shekinah Glory Ministry which is known for songs such as “Yes” and “Praise is What I Do.” Towns was an integral part of Kingdom’s operation, managing the budgets and marketing plans for projects that eventually grossed over $12 million in retail sales. In addition to Kingdom’s gospel catalogue, Towns also worked with its affiliated secular imprints Urban Creed, Chicago Creed, and Indie Chart Music. In 2012, Towns and Sullivan founded Urban Ideas, a boutique consulting practice specializing in entertainment and entrepreneurship coaching.

A Chicago native, Towns attended Harvard Business School and the University of Illinois at Chicago. He graduated from DePaul University with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Finance and Financial Management Services in 1988.  He went on to earn a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance and Strategy from The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business in 1992.  Early in his career, Towns held various financial positions with First National Bank of Chicago, National Equity Fund, Bee Manufacturing, and Salomon Smith Barney. Over the years, he’s been an instructor at Robert Morris College, Roosevelt University, and since 2015, an adjunct professor, at Columbia College in Chicago.

“The hardest thing to do is to find someone who understands a problem like it is their very own,” Towns once said. “Once you start believing in the power people have to change the world, everything becomes clear. My calling is a unique ability to see the beauty and excellence in people and processes. I think like both an artist and a researcher. I approach problems with both a rigorous analytical framework and a coloring book. I have honed my thinking and my practice combining what I learned in banking and in the entertainment business. Simply put, everyone has a story to tell. The question is what way best builds and engages an audience. Innovative thinker, outstanding writer, and presenter. Infectiously curious.”

Towns is survived by his wife, Joy; his mother, Pearlie Mae King; and a sister, Janie “Tiny” King.

– Press Release

The SRT ENTERTAINMENT family regrets to announce the passing of Dr. Norris Andrus Lipsey, professionally known as Stellar Award nominee gospel artist DK. DRU.
 
Every once in a while music creators converge in a studio and what is crafted is pure magic. Pure magic is the only way to describe the vocal collaboration featuring late great Stellar and Grammy-nominated Bishop Rance Allen, quartet legend Paul Porter of The Christianaires, veteran producer, songwriter, artist, Chris Byrd & True Victory, and DK. DRU on his debut single, “Man From Galilee.” The collaboration earned him his first appearance on the Top 30 Billboard Gospel National Airplay chart as well as his first Stellar Award nomination in the Traditional Duo/Chorus Group of the Year category.
 
The viewing was held on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022, at the New Horizon Church, 511 Courtland St., Maxton, NC 28364.
 
The funeral arrangements are as follows:
 
Saturday, February 5, 2022
New Zion MB Church
140 Pinecrest St.
Plantersville, MS 38862
1 pm
 
Please send love gifts to:
P.O. Box 744
Parkton, NC 28371
 
Please $Cash App any donations to $NorrisLipseyblessme
 
About DK. DRU
 
DK. DRU is the stage name for contemporary gospel artist Dr. Norris Andrus Lipsey. Born in Camden, MS, and raised in and around Tupelo MS, It was as a member of New Zion MB Church at a young age where he began to discover his singing and songwriting abilities. Norris joined the military, and while stationed in Germany truly began to develop his love for music, learning to play the drums and bass guitar. He also formed different singing groups and performed on many of the talent shows that were featured to the troops in Germany. After the military was completed, Norris discovered that his children also had a talent for singing and music and formed the group Norris Lipsey and the Faith Garden Singers. The group was together for over 13 years performing at churches, fairs, festivals, gospel showcases, and conferences all over the east coast – even performing at BET Soundstage and Atlanta Live. In pursuit of higher education, Norris obtained his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees. Throughout the years, Norris had labored in many areas such as merchandising, import/exports, insurance, sales, real-estate investing, multi-level marketing, music, preaching, substance abuse counseling, and mental health. Norris sought the Lord through prayer and fasting for direction. After years of waiting on God, God impressed upon Norris’ spirit to go back to the music. 

– From a press release

Andrea Marie Brown of the Chicago-based gospel act, The Brown Sisters of Chicago, passed away on September 30, 2021, of COVID-19. The group shot to fame in the gospel world with their self-titled 2009 debut album that featured, “Awesome God,” a Billboard Top 20 radio single. “We are saddened by the loss of Andrea `Lil Bit’ who was a beautiful person inside and out, and was an amazing musical talent,” says Joan Sullivan of Kingdom Records. 

The baby of a family with five daughters and a son, Brown was born August 21, 1968. Her mother, Alberta, was a school teacher and her father, Ben, was the pastor of The Pillar of Truth C.O.G.I.C. assembly in Chicago. Early on, the siblings launched a gospel group under the name of The Brown Singers. It consisted of the sisters Vanessa, Adrienne, Phyllis, Lavette, and Andrea. Their brother, Zachary, played in their band. They sang at church functions throughout the community.

Brown graduated from Curie Metropolitan High School, and later from Pittsburgh’s Robert Morris University in 1988. Over the years, she gave piano lessons and played keyboards at local churches such as The Corinthian Temple C.O.G.I.C./The Cathedral of Praise.

As The Brown Sisters of Chicago, their dynamic stage performances won them big-name fans such as gospel legend, Inez Andrews, who introduced them to a concert promoter who booked them throughout Europe. They went on to share bills with the likes of Mavis Staples, Bobby McFerrin, and Aretha Franklin. From 1994 to 1999, They also served as the house vocal group for the syndicated TV program, “Testify,” which filmed in Chicago.

After years of performing and releasing a custom album in Europe, their American debut, The Brown Sisters: Live in Chicago, was released by Kingdom Records in 2009. The radio single, “Awesome God,” peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Gospel Airplay chart. “The harmonies are impeccable…The passion and sincerity pouring from these songs uplift the spirit while feeding you a helping of encouragement and unretained hope,” a music critic wrote of the album in Worship Leader magazine. In 2010, they won Best Gospel Entertainer of the Year and Best Gospel Album of the Year awards at the Chicago Music Awards.

Brown was predeceased by her brother Zachary and her sister, Phyllis, who both passed away from cancer. Donations can be sent to Andrea’s parents Ben & Alberta Brown,  6533 North Avenue, Oak Park, IL 60302, or via CashApp ($AdrienneBrown).

The funeral will take place Saturday, October 16, 2021, at Greater Harvest Baptist Church, 5141 S. State Street, Chicago, IL 60609. The wake is 9:30 AM and the service is 10:30 AM.

– From a news release

GMF was saddened to learn about the passing of Pastor Cassandra Elliott, popular worship leader known by many as the “Purpose Pusher.” Pastor Cassandra transitioned June 27, 2021, after battling health challenges. Our condolences are with her husband Pastor Bryant Elliott and the entire family.

Excerpt from Pastor Cassandra’s site:

Pastor Cassandra Elliott, also known as the “Purpose Pusher” and the “Giant Slayer” is a walking example of the Five Fold Ministry. A native of New York City, Elliott began playing music at a young age; this passion unfolded into accepting the call as a Pastor of Worship, teaching the word of God, and becoming an innovator and mentor to many. She is a survivor of kidney disease and breast cancer and has used both of these testimonies as a vehicle to encourage others through the preached, taught, and imparting Word of God. In 2016, Elliott launched out into the world of Periscope launching “Morning Manna,” a time of real talk, inspiration, and coaching. Most recently Elliott launched out again into the arena of coaching with her debut of Elliott Consulting.

Pastor Cassandra was also the founder of The Gathering, a worship conference held yearly in North Carolina that drew hundreds.

Homegoing services for Madeline Thompson took place recently in Inglewood, CA. Lady Thompson, a longtime member of the Clara Ward Singers best known for her spirited rendition of “Traveling Shoes,” passed away May 22, 2021.

“Traveling Shoes: A Commemorative Cantata,” was the first of two celebrations for the singer on June 6. The next day’s four-hour Celebration of Life service included the reunion of the Clara Ward Singers, offering a musical salute with their hit “Surely, God Is Able” as well as “Sweeping Through the City,” borrowed from the Caravans’ catalog.

You can read more about Madeline Thompson at lasentinel.net. GMF continues to send up prayers for the Thompson family.

Pervis Staples, Co-Founder of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees, The Staple Singers, Passes Away at the Age of 85

Pervis Staples, a co-founding member of the legendary gospel group, The Staple Singers, passed away suddenly on May 6, 2021, at his home in Dolton, Illinois according to Adam Ayers, a member of Mavis Staples’ 525 Worldwide Music management team. He was 85 years old. Beginning in 1956 with “Uncloudy Day” on Chicago’s Vee Jay Record label and stretching into the early 1980s, the Staple Singers were one of the most influential acts in gospel, soul, and social protest music. Their signature songs such as “Uncloudy Day,” “Why Am I Treated So Bad,” “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There” are hailed as soul music masterpieces.

Pervis Staples was born November 18, 1935, in Drew, Mississippi. His family moved to Chicago for economic opportunities, and he was raised on the city’s Southside where his guitar-playing father, Roebuck “Pop” Staples, started teaching his children gospel songs to entertain them and occupy their time. Eventually, word spread throughout the Chicago church community about the singing family, and they cut their first recordings for a local label, United Records. However, it’s when they started recording for Vee Jay Records that they gained a national following with rootsy songs such as “So Soon,” “If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again,” “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” and “Uncloudy Day” – which has been reported to have sold a million copies.

The early Staples sound was constructed around Pop Staples’ lite tenor and his understated, blues-influenced guitar playing. Surrounding it, was his teenaged daughter, Mavis’ raspy contralto; his daughter, Cleotha’s soprano; and son Pervis’ warm tenor.  “Pervis’ childhood was filled with wonderful experiences,” Mavis Staples remembers. “He liked to think of this period of his life as setting the stage for all that he wanted to do in life. Some of Pervis’ best friends as a youngster included Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, and Jerry Butler. Pervis and the guys would stand under the lamp posts in the summertime singing doo-wop songs.”

Mavis’ unusually low voice on most of the songs led many to assume that was Pervis singing. “We’d trick ‘em,” Pervis told journalist Greg Kot in his Mavis Staples biography, I’ll Take You There (Scribner). “The audience would be looking for me to come up with the low part – this was for the people who heard the record but had never seen us before, I’d come up to the mike and switch over at the last second where Cleotha was, then Mavis would step up. That messed them up, but it woke up the crowd.”

After graduating from the Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, Pervis served in the U.S. Army where he served with the Field Evaluation Agency and was a member of the U.S. Army Choral Group. While he was away from the group, his sister, Yvonne, stepped in to sing. After he was honorably discharged, he returned to the group.

Pop Staples had routinely turned down offers for the group to record R&B music as he felt it was a conflict with his faith. Pervis witnessed friends such as Lou Rawls and Sam Cooke crossover and he kept nudging his father to expand the group’s repertoire. The compromise was message music after they signed with Riverside Records in 1961. The family became fast friends with folk artists like Bob Dylan on the festival circuit. Pervis and Dylan were close. In Kot’s book, Pervis recalled Dylan showing him the song, “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” at the President Hotel in 1962.  He lobbied Pop Staples to let the family record it. He did and it was done as a duet between Mavis and Pervis for the 1966 LP, This Little Light of Mine (Epic Records).  Although Mavis opened the song, Pervis led the bulk of it in a smooth, mellow, and commanding voice that was reminiscent of his father’s but uniquely his own. Another stand-out solo for Pervis was his lead on The Staple Singers’ remake of Hank Williams’ 1952 cut, “Be Careful of the Stones You Throw,” on their 1965 LP, Amen (Epic Records). Underneath a gentle southern-blues melody, Pervis recites the song in a pleasing tone as his sisters provide urgently earnest background vocals for the morality tale about a young girl who is killed saving the child of a woman who had gossiped about her.

Pervis’ last album with The Staple Singers was their first for Stax Records, Soul Folks in Action (Stax Records), in 1968. The album featured new songs such as “The Ghetto” and their interpretations of tunes like Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” and The Band’s “The Weight.” In Kot’s book, Steve Cropper, an iconic session musician at Stax Records, credited Pervis with helping him with production on the album. “If I had an idea, he would work with the girls and stretch the idea,” he said. “He would become the band leader, work with them over and over. Every idea wouldn’t work right away, so he’d work on it until they got it right.”

Pervis is also featured on duets with Carla Thomas on “I’m Trying” and “It’s Unbelievable How You Control My Soul” for the LP, Boy Meets Girl (Stax Records), in 1969. He also appeared on the all-star, “Soul-A-luja,” track that featured Stax artists such as Johnnie Taylor, William Bell, and Mavis Staples. It’s during this period that Pervis left the group to begin managing another Chicago act, The Hutchinson Sunbeams, who later became known as The Emotions.  He was involved with several business ventures, including Perv’s House, a successful nightclub that was one of the most popular nightlife spots on the south side in the 1970s. 

The Staple Singers were awarded the Rhythm & Blues Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 1992. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. They were also inducted into the Nashville-based Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2018. “Pervis was one of a kind- comical and downright fly,” Mavis Staples recalls.  “He would want to be remembered as an upright man, always willing to help and encourage others.  He was one of the good guys and will live on as a true Chicago legend.”  

Staples was preceded in death by his parents, Roebuck and Oceola; three sisters, Cynthia, Cleotha, and Yvonne.  He is survived by his sister, Mavis Staples. He also leaves six children: Gwen Staples, Reverly Staples, Perleta (George) Sanders, Pervis Roe Staples, Paris Staples, Eala Yvonne (Michael) Sams; seven grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. 

Pervis Staples’ funeral services will be held Monday, May 17, 2021, in the King’s Chapel at Leak & Son’s Funeral Homes, 7838 South Cottage Grove Avenue, Chicago, IL. The wake is 10 AM and the funeral is 11 AM.

– via press release

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (February 16, 2021) – GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame member, Carman, passed away Tuesday, February 16, 2021 at a Las Vegas, Nevada hospital, after fighting a series of complications resulting from surgery to repair a hiatal hernia. 

Carman Dominic Licciardello, known to fans worldwide as “Carman,” was 65.

Born January 19, 1956 in Trenton, New Jersey, Carman began his musical career playing drums in his mother’s band at the age of 15. Carman holds the world record for having the largest audience to see a single Christian artist. He set the record for the largest concert at Texas Stadium with more than 71,000 fans and led more than 80,000 fans in worship in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Among his many awards, Carman received the House of Hope of Humanitarian Award for his positive influence in the lives of American youth in 2006, other noted recipients of this award include Ronald & Nancy Reagan and Billy Graham. The Gospel Music Association honored Carman with induction into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2018. Billboard named Carman “Contemporary Christian Artist of the Year” in 1992 and 1995, and in 1993, his album, Addicted to Jesus, earned the distinction of Contemporary Christian Album of the Year. Carman was Grammy-nominated multiple times as the Best Pop Contemporary Gospel Artist. His recording, “A Long Time Ago in a Land Called Bethlehem” was nominated for “Album of the Year” by the Recording Academy in 1986.

In 1985, the release of his first #1 song, “The Champion,” solidified his place in music history and defined his soul-winning career as one of endurance, grit, dedication, and pure talent. Anyone who knew Carman knows that he counted only this as his greatest lifetime achievement – winning millions of souls to Christ.

Matt Felts, Carman’s manager, states, “When Carman resumed touring again a few years ago, he was concerned that no one would care that he was back. He was wrong. Every night fans packed out venues and his ministry was as powerful as it ever was. This world has lost a light in the darkness but today Carman saw first hand the fruit of his labors.

Carman was planning to embark on a 60-city tour later this month.

– From a press release