Inez Andrews

Inez Andrews passed away on December 19, 2012 in her South chicago home, at the age of 83. Born in Birmingham, AL, Andrews sang with Albertina Walker and the Caravans, as well as with Dorothy Love Coates and the Original Gospel Harmonettes and was renown

Inez Andrews

Gospel legend Jessy Dixon passed away at his Chicago home on Sept 26, 2011, at the age of 73. Dixon, born in Texax, came to prominence in Chicago, first as a session keyboardist for Chess Records, then later in front of the Chicago Community Choir, an of

Delois Barrett Campbell

Delois Barrett Campbell died August 2, 2011 in Chicago of complications from pneumonia. She was 85 and had been battling arthritis, cardiac problems and other ailments for years. Barrett Campbell began her career as a lead singer in the Roberta Martin S

Albertina Walker

Albertina Walker passed away on October 8th, 2010 at the age of 81, after an illness. Known as The Queen of Gospel, Albertina Walker grew up in the South side of Chicago, and began her gospel music career in her early 20s, joining notable gospel groups in

Little Lucy Smith Collier

Little Lucy Smith Collier on September 18th, 2010. Collier came from deeply religious roots as her grandmother, the Elder Lucy Smith, founded Chicago’s All Nations Pentecostal Church. Elder Smith was one of the nation’s most prominent black ministers a

Bishop Kenneth Herbert Moales

Bishop Kenneth Herbert Moales, Sr., founding pastor of the Prayer Tabernacle Church of Love (now the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit), Presiding Bishop of the Pentecostal Churches of Jesus Christ, Chaplain for the Joint College of African American Pentecosta

Walter Hawkins

passed away on July 11, 2010 at the age of 61 in his home in Ripon, California, after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer. Hawkins is one of the most beloved figures in contemporary Gospel Music. In a career that spans over thirty years, he has aut

Geraldine Gay Hambric

Geraldine Gay Hambric died on April 6th, 2010 in Chicago after an illness. As the last surviving member of the Famous Gay Sisters (Geraldine, Evelyn and Mildred Gay hit the charts in the 1950s and 1960s with hits including “God Will Take Care of You

Pastor Shawn M. Brown

Pastor Shawn M. Brown passed away on January 31, 2010. Shawn Brown was one of the original co-directors of the choir Youthful Praise, together with JJ Hairston. An avid and gifted songwriter, he penned “Awesome God” and several other hits. More recentl

Bishop Norman Wagner

Bishop Norman Wagner, former presiding prelate of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW), passed away on January 30, 2010. Wagner was one of the Kingdom’s most distinct voices as a world renowned teacher, preacher, and pastor of Calvary Ministries

Juan James (aka Enock)

Juan James (aka Enock) passed away on October 27, 2009 from a presumed heart attack, at the age of 35. Enock was one of the founding members of The Cross Movement, and was featured on the group’s first three albums, Heaven’s Mentality, House of Represent

E.B. Williams

Recording artist E.B. Williams (and mother of gospel aritst Ton3x), passed away on December 28, 2009. Williams was a national evangelist, recording artist, and assistant pastor of Truth Apostolic Community Church in San Diego, CA. Williams released her so

Chequita Lumzy

Chequita Lumzy Wiggins, lead singer of the female gospel quartet The Lumzy Sisters, passed on October 24, 2009 at age 50. The popular group made numerous appearances on gospel shows such as Singsation and Bobby Jones Gospel. Most notably, the quartet was

Wayman Tisdale

Bass guitarist and NBA veteran Wayman Tisdale passed on May 15, 2009 at the age of 44, after a two-year battle with bone cancer. Tisdale was a three-time All-American at Oklahoma, spent 12 seasons in the NBA, and was part of the gold medal winning 1984 US

(Harold) Eugene Smith

(Harold) Eugene Smith, one of the original Roberta Martin Singers, passed away on May 9th, 2009 in Chicago, at the age of 88. Smith joined the Roberta Martin Singers (then known as the Martin and Fry Singers) in 1933, and in 1949, began managing the fam

Rev. Timothy Wright

Gospel great and Godfather of Gospel, Rev. Timothy Wright passed away at the age of 61, on April 23, 2009 at the Bronx Veterans Hospital. . The Grammy-nominated Wright fought a courageous battle back to health from critical injuries he sustained in a ca

David Winans, Sr. (Pop Winans)

After initially suffering a heart attack and stroke in October 2008, David Winans, Sr. (Pop Winans), the patriarch of the musical dynasty, The Winans Family, passed away quietly in Nashville, TN on April 8th, 2009, with wife, Delores Winans at his bedsid

Shirley Joiner

Shirley Joiner, the last living member of BCS and co-founder of the Southeast Inspirational Choir, passed to glory on March 16th, 2009. Joiner, an adept musician , singer/songwriter and choir master first came to prominence as a member of the innovative g

Ethel Holloway

Legendary Chicago gospel vocalist Ethel Holloway passed away on January 27, 2009. A long-time member of the famed Jessy Dixon Singers, Holloway came into her own as a lead singer recording with Reverend Milton Brunson’s Thompson Community Singers. During

Rev. Claude Jeter

Rev. Claude Jeter, founder of The Swan Silvertones, passed away on January 6th, 2009, in the Bronx, at the age of 94. Born in 1914 in Birmingham, Alabama, Jeter reigned as on of Gospel’s stars in the 1940s through to the 1960s, his distinctive falsetto f

Tommy Ellison

Tommy Ellison of the Tommy Ellison & The Singing Stars passed away on Saturday January 3, 2009, after an illness. Born in Salley, SC, Ellison began by singing background for Madame Edna Gallmon Cooke’s, as a part of her group, The Five Singing Stars

Olivia McClurkin

After a nine-year battle with cancer, vocalist Olivia McClurkin (sister of Donnie McClurkin, and member of Zomba Gospel’s The McClurkin Project) went home to be with the Lord on Nov. 4th, 2008. She leaves behind a grandmother, mother, father, two brothers

Rosalyn Brunswick McDuffie

Rosalyn Brunswick McDuffie

Margaret Allison

Margaret Allison

Mike Cook (Mighty Clouds of Joy)

Rev. Lawrence C. Roberts

Rev. Lawrence C. Roberts

Chris Simpson

Chris Simpson passed away to Glory on June 28th, 2008, succumbing to injuries sustained after being hit by a careening car in Dallas on June 21, 2008. Simpson, a former member of Kirk Franklin & the Family (lead vocalist on “Jesus Is The Reason

Ira Tucker Sr.

Longtime Dixie Hummingbird member Ira Tucker Sr. passed away on June 24, 2008, at the age of 83. Tucker joined the world-famous quartet group in 1938 at the age of 13, and spent the next several decades singing bass wit

Dottie Rambo

Legendary Gospel singer and songwriter Dottie Rambo died on May 11, 2008, at the age of 74, after suffering injuries in a bus accident near Mount Vernon, Missouri, on her way to sing at a Mother’s Day event. Rambo wrote over 2,500 songs, including the cl

Dr. Robert E. Wooten

Dr. Robert E. Wooten, Sr. died on March 27, 2008 in Chicago. Famed musician, choir master and founder of the renowned Wooten Choral Ensemble (WCE), Wooten organized the WCE in 1949 at the Beth Eden Baptist Church located in the heart of Chicago’s Morgan P

Chalmers “Spanky” Alford

Chalmers “Spanky” Alford went home to glory on March 24, 2008. As an in-demand guitarist, Alford played for traditional Gospel quartet artists including The Mighty Clouds of Joy, The Gospel Keynotes, The Canton Spirituals and Evelyn Turrentine-Agee, as

Dillard Crume

Soul Stirrer Dillard Crume passed away on March 21, 2008 after a long illness. Producer, guitarist and lead singer of the legendary Soul Stirrers, Crume passed away after an extended illness. He was a member of several groups over his career, including

Junious “Bud” Norfleet

Junious “Bud” Norfleet, the last surviving member of The Norfleet Brothers, passed away in Chicago on March 25, 2008, after a long illness. The Norfleet Brothers, consisting of Arthur, Joseph, Junious, Peter and Nathaniel were organized in 1946 in Newber

Bill Moss sr

Gospel singer Bill Moss passed away on June 25th, 2007. Born in Selma, Alabama but a resident of Detroit for much of his career, he was sister of Dr. Mattie Moss Clark and father of contemporary Gospel’s J.Moss and Bill Moss Jr., he and his wife Essie fo

Edgar O’Neal

Edgar O’Neal, the surviving member of the famous O’Neal Twins, went home to glory on Jan 16, 2008 in his hometown of St. Louis, MO, after a brief illness. Edward O’Neal passed away several years previously. The O’Neal Twins recorded over twenty albums on

Edgar O’Neal

Edgar O’Neal

Willa Ward Royster

Willa Ward Royster

Gabriel Hardeman

Gabriel Hardeman

Benjamin Cone Jr.

Benjamin Cone Jr.

Emily Harris

Emily Harris

Bishop James Craig

Bishop James Craig

Dr. Maurice Culpepper

Dr. Maurice Culpepper