Family, friends, and the gospel community are preparing to bid Tessie Hill farewell this week. The gospel great died Sunday night, July 28, 2019.
In the 1960s, the Detroit singer was often a featured vocalist with the Original Church of God in Christ Radio Choir. The church was pastored by her husband, the late Rev. Lonnie Hill. In the 1970s, she continued recording as a solo artist signed to the HOB and Peacock labels. Among her standout recordings was “Great Things” from her self-titled vinyl LP. Lady Hill’s latest recording, Stepping Out, was released in 2015.
Over the weekend, Pastor Shirley Caesar took to Facebook to express condolences, remembering Lady Hill as a powerhouse.
“What could I say about the late great Tessie Hill, better known to many others as ‘Mama Tessie’? Well, I can tell you that I met her many years ago when I was singing with the Caravans. [She was] one of the ‘singingest’ women that you’d ever want to hear. Late last year, 2018, she came to our church in Raleigh, NC…and when that woman started singing in our morning worship, I had to sit my little self down. That woman had such a powerful and an anointed voice! And I want you to know that we will forever be thankful and grateful that God blessed her to come and to be such a wonderful blessing to all mankind. Those that knew her, those that sat under her singing ministry, we will forever remember Tessie Hill.”
Arrangements for Tessie Hill are as follows:
Viewing
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Noon – 8 PM
Swanson Funeral Home
14751 W. McNichols
Detroit, MI
Homegoing Service
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
10:30 AM – Family Hour
11:00 AM – Service
Citadel of Praise
20280 Lyndon Street
Detroit, MI
Repast
Charles J. Edison
24444 W. 7 Mile Road
Detroit, MI
This video posted to Facebook by Jacqueline Brinkley on October 29, 2017, shows Hill singing at the Mount Calvary Word of Faith Holy Church, where Pastor Caesar serves as senior pastor.
Tessie Hill Photo Credit | Detroit Public Library Digital Collections – shorturl.at/uxyEX
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
GMF is sad to report the passing of Bishop Andrew J. Ford, II. Ford died Friday, July 19, in New Jersey.
Bishop Ford was the presiding prelate of Next Generation Fellowship Ministries, Inc. and pastor of Philadelphia’s Ford Memorial Temple Baptist Church, the latter founded (as Highway Christian Church of Christ) and pastored by his father Bishop Andrew J. Ford, Sr. until his death in 1993. Bishop Ford was also a gospel music industry notable who is credited with propelling several artists’ careers. His social media bio reads in part:
[Bishop Ford] is also the founder and executive producer of Sweet Rain Record Company, where he discovered, launched the careers of, and produced some of America’s gospel notable artists such as Pastor Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Crusade Choir, The Reverend Ernest Davis, Jr. and Wilmington Chester Mass Choir featuring Rev. Daryl Coley, Southeast Inspirational Choir of Houston, introducing Yolanda Adams, and many others. During his tenure in the recording industry, he was considered ‘The Renaissance Man’ of gospel music, because of his unique ability in recording live choir recordings. His production company was affectionately known as ‘The Choir Boys.’ He has also trained and produced his ‘How Sweet the Sound’ and ‘TV One / Sony Choir Competition’ award-winning church choir, The Anointed Voices of Ford Memorial Temple.
GMF extends condolences and prayers to Bishop Ford’s immediate and extended family, church family, and host of friends.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
Alice Houston of the Clara Ward Singers informed GMF’s Libra Boyd this morning that the Clara Ward Singers’ Agnes Jackson passed Sunday, May 12. GMF extends deepest condolences.
Jackson joined the legendary group in the late 1960s and was the featured soloist on several of the Clara Ward Singers’ songs including “Up Above My Head,” “It Is Well With My Soul,” “The Lord’s Prayer,” “His Eye Is On The Sparrow,” and “I Believe.”
Jackson was 87.
Homegoing information is as follows:
Visitation
Monday, May 20, 2019 10 – 11 AM Reliable Funeral Home 3958 Washington Blvd St. Louis, MO 63108
Funeral Service
Monday, May 20, 2019 11 AM Reliable Funeral Home 3958 Washington Blvd St. Louis, MO 63108
Watch Lady Agnes Jackson with the Clara Ward Singers on The Flip Wilson Show (1971) here. She is featured on “His Eye Is On The Sparrow.”
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
GMF recently learned of the passing of Luther Jennings, original member of the Jackson Southernaires. We extend our sympathy and prayers to Jennings’ family and friends.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
Aretha Franklin died today at the age of 76, after a bout with pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer. The sadness I feel is indescribable.
I find it impossible to overstate the Queen of Soul’s influence in the world of music. Lady Aretha performed both the sacred and secular with unparalleled vocality and mastery. Rolling Stone declared her to be the greatest singer of all time. Millions around the globe and I completely agree. In fact, my absolute favorite performances will always the ones during which she accompanied herself at the piano. Her musicianship was virtuosic; however, it was often overshadowed by her other-worldly vocal talent. You’d best believe that both were God-given gifts. Although Lady Aretha was accepted to the Juilliard School to study classical piano in 1997, she had exhibited prodigious piano-playing abilities that enlivened even her earliest recordings and live performances as a youth.
Amazing Grace LP cover
I last attended an Aretha Franklin concert just over two years ago. The sold-out show was simply amazing. The queen held court for two hours, serving one hit classic after another. From her gospel catalog, she pulled “Precious Memories,” inviting gospel greats Melvin and Doug Williams to join her onstage. The arrangement was from her 1972 album Amazing Grace, the biggest-selling album of her entire six-decade career. As the words, “Precious memories, how they linger / How they ever flood my soul” wafted through the Durham Performing Arts Center auditorium, I wondered if this might be my final live experience with Lady Aretha. It was a sobering thought; I wish it had been a fleeting one. She appeared to be well and she sounded superb; nevertheless, rumors were swirling, and had been for some time, about her health and impending retirement. Regrettably, I was right: I would never see her in person again.
Aretha Franklin has died. The sadness I feel is indescribable.
Media outlets all over the planet will say much in the coming days about her life, her upbringing and the guiding hand of her famous father Rev. C.L. Franklin, her storied career, and her iconic accomplishments which include multiple Grammys and one of the best-selling albums in gospel music. Accordingly, I’ve decided to repost a write-up that I first published here on GMF in 2012, reflecting on my first live Aretha concert experience.
Also tune in this Monday, August 20, as I dedicate the entire hour of “The Gospel Music Fever Show” to the memory and gospel music of Lady Aretha. The broadcast will air at 12 PM CT (1 ET) at kwaygospel.com.
The queen has died. The sadness I feel is indescribable. Yet, I am thankful for God’s gift to us known as Lady Aretha Louise Franklin. Rest with the ancestors, Queen…
Aretha Franklin: Pumping Out Soul and Preaching Up Gospel By Libra Boyd Gospel Music Fever
This story first appeared Feb. 10, 2012, on GMF.
Photo: The Herald-Sun | Bernard Thomas
Mostly everyone knows that Aretha Louise Franklin is the Queen of Soul. If not, at her insistence, they’d better recognize. I’m pretty confident that everyone at Durham Performing Arts Center is clear about it, but after the second half of last night’s ninety-minute show, some may think she’s solidified a spot among gospel’s royals, too.
Aretha’s fans see she makes no apologies for her relationship with Jesus Christ, and aficionados know her roots run deep in the church. So it was, Her Majesty took us on a ride through five decade’s worth of R&B and soul hits before sitting at the piano to play and sing “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” It was easily the most emotional performance of the night, with her instrumental intro and interlude underscoring the depth of her musicianship. And while the song itself isn’t gospel, its composer Paul Simon cites Rev. Claude Jeter’s line, “I’ll be your bridge over deep water if you trust in My name,” taken from the Swan Silvertones’ “Mary Don’t You Weep,” as his inspiration.
Maybe that’s why Aretha got to feeling churchy and wound up hurling a sermonette at the audience by the song’s end, testifying that the Lord’ll make a way. Of course, charismatic church folk know they can’t just “think about Jesus” without wanting to “dance all night.” By the time her hallelujahs infiltrated the rafters and penetrated the heavens, the orchestra had cued up music for a praise break.
From there, Aretha stepped back to center stage. Staying in her gospel vein (which incidentally brought her the biggest selling album of her career, Amazing Grace), she sang the worshipful “One Night with the King” before abruptly shifting gears to her 80’s R&B smash “Freeway of Love.” Determined to include God on that ride too, Aretha shouted “Good God Almighty” and recited the 23rd Psalm while her singers turned the corner on the vamp and changed lanes–first chanting “freeway” and then “higher,” before accelerating to an exclamatory “Jesus!”
The old school would call it straddling the fence. Somehow, however, the Queen has managed to maneuver the freeway of sacred and secular without being frowned upon by the same churchers who declare it to be disgraceful when other artists do so. Personally, I’m okay with the presence of gospel tunes in her concert repertoire. Considering the massive success of Amazing Grace though, I think she’d be just fine singing an entire gospel number and letting it stand alone. No fusion needed. Or let’s see, how can I phrase this lyrically? Ah yes, Let It Be.
All the same, there is a reason Aretha is the Queen. A darn good reason. And whether it’s pumping out soul or preaching up gospel, the living legend totally gets my R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
GMF joins countless others in extending condolences in the passing of Clarence Fountain. The co-founding member and lead singer of the Five Blind Boys of Alabama made his transition June 3, 2018, in Baton Rouge, LA, at the age of 88.
Fountain and the Blind Boys enjoyed success on the gospel highway and appeal with mainstream audiences, amassing a dedicated fanbase, numerous commendations, five Grammy Awards, and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award during the band’s seven-decade recording career. The legendary frontman last recorded with the group on the 2017 album, Almost Home, though he had not toured with them since 2007, due to health issues. The Blind Boys of Alabama remain active today with the last remaining leader from their classic lineup, Jimmy Carter.
The Gospel Music Fever Radio Show with Libra Boyd will celebrate Clarence Fountain’s life with music and tributes this Monday, June 11, at 12c/1e on KWAY digital broadcast. Meanwhile, read more here about the life and music career of Fountain.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
From left: Cleotha, Mavis, Yvonne, and Roebuck “Pops” Staples.
CHICAGO (AP) — Yvonne Staples, whose voice and business acumen powered the success of the Staple Singers, her family’s hit-making gospel group that topped the charts in the early 1970s with the song “I’ll Take You There,” has died. She was 80.
Staples died Tuesday at home in Chicago, according to Chicago funeral home Leak and Sons.
She performed with her sisters Mavis and Cleotha and their father, Pops, on hits such as “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There,” their first No. 1 hit. The family was also active in civil rights and performed at the request of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Yvonne Staples wasn’t as interested in singing as the rest of her family but stepped in when her brother, Pervis, left for military service, according to family friend Bill Carpenter, author of Uncloudy Day: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia. Yvonne Staples also helped her father with business tasks, Carpenter said.
“She was very no nonsense but at the same time had a heart of gold,” Carpenter said. “But when it came to business she was very strict. If this is what the contract said, this is what you better do.”
Staples was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with her family in 1999. The group also received a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys in 2005. Still, Staples wasn’t interested in the limelight, Carpenter said.
“She didn’t want to talk about her own singing,” Carpenter said. “She said ‘Mavis is the star. Mavis is the voice.’ She never cared about attention for herself.”
Yvonne Staples was Mavis Staples’ road manager until recent years, Carpenter said.
The family’s music career had its roots with Pops Staples, a manual laborer who strummed a $10 guitar while teaching his children gospel songs to keep them entertained in the evenings. They sang in church one Sunday morning in 1948, and three encores and a heavy church offering basket convinced Pops that music was in the family’s future — and the Staple Singers was born.
Two decades later, the group became an unlikely hit maker for the Stax label. The Staple Singers had a string of Top 40 hits with Stax in the late 1960s, earning them the nickname “God’s greatest hitmakers.”
The family also became active in the civil rights movement after hearing the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. deliver a sermon while they were on tour in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1962. They went on to perform at events at King’s request.
It was during that period that the family began recording protest songs, such as “Freedom Highway,” as well as gospel.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
Sadness saturated the gospel community last evening (March 13), following the Pilgrim Jubilees’ announcement that Clay Graham, the group’s lead singer, had passed. GMF extends its heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and fans of the quartet legend, as well as to elder brother Cleave and the Jubes.
A musical at the Prayer Center Baptist Church on 1432 W. 79th Street in Chicago will celebrate Graham’s life on Tuesday, March 20, at 7 PM. The homegoing service will take place at 11 AM on Wednesday, March 21, at St. John COGIC. The church is located at 7527 S. Cottage Grove Avenue.
The Gospel Music Fever Show with Libra Boyd will play several of the Jubes’ songs in memory of Graham during its show on Monday, March 19, at 12 PM CT (1 PM ET). Listen at www.kwaygospel.com.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
GMF joins others in expressing heartfelt sympathy in the passing of Conrad Miller. Miller died February 24.
“It was sudden,” Senior Pastor Alyn Waller told Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church congregants during this past weekend’s worship service, where the singer/songwriter was part of the praise team.
Miller was affectionately known to many as “The Distinguished Gentleman of Traditional Gospel Music.” Over his 20-plus year music career, the formally trained singer released projects entitled My Journey (2009) and Keep Pressing (2013), both produced by Steven Ford; and Thankful (2016), produced by Luther Wardlaw, Garland “Miche” Waller, and Earl Bynum.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
Bob Marovich from The Journal of Gospel Music contacted us Thursday (February 1) about the shocking and unexpected passing of Ronald Greer. Greer was an educator and the author of Only A Look: A Historical Look at the Career of Mrs. Roberta Martin and the Roberta Martin Singers of Chicago, Illinois (2015).
Read more at the Journal of Gospel Music, and please continue to keep Ron’s family, friends, and colleagues in prayer throughout this emotional time.
Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.
Family, friends, and the gospel community are preparing to bid Tessie Hill farewell this week. The gospel great died Sunday night, July 28, 2019.
