Continuing the Legacy with the Highway QCs

In 1945, a group of teenagers assembled at Chicago’s Highway Baptist Church with the intentions of forming a singing group. The group consisted of Sam Cooke, Creadell Copeland, and two pairs of brothers, Marvin and Charles Jones and Curtis and Lee Richardson. This would mark the beginnings of the Highway QCs. During the early years, the group would experience years of personnel changes. Sam Cooke’s decision to leave the group to join the Soul Stirrers would make way for the introduction of his replacement, Lou Rawls. Rawls would stay for two years and leave to join the Chosen Gospel Singers of Los Angeles. He would be replaced by Johnnie Taylor. In the interim, the QCs made their recording debut on the Vee Jay label in 1955. Shortly thereafter, Spencer Taylor (cousin of Johnnie) would become a member of the group and upon Johnnie Taylor’s departure to go and join the Soul Stirrers following the departure of Sam Cooke, Spencer Taylor would lead the Highway QCs for more than 5 decades.
The legacy of the Highway QCs is continued with the addition of Taylor’s sons, Spencer Taylor III and Lynn “Fuzzy” Taylor joining their father in the group. With no signs of slowing down, the Taylors have secured their mark on the future with the launch of an independent label and preparations for a new disc from the Highway QCs in the fall of 2014.