Brief History of Gospel Music

Gospel Music came into existence around the latter part of the nineteenth century, first becoming popular in the early 1920s. Unlike the Spiritual, whose origin was in the cotton fields and rural settings of the south, gospel songs came about in the urbanized cities of the north. Chicago is considered to be the birth place of Gospel Music; however, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Memphis, Tennessee were also influential in its conception. The term gospel was given to these songs because many of the texts are connected with the teachings of Jesus and the Christian Church. Gospel songs not only address the Christian doctrine of salvation by grace and the death and resurrection of Christ, but more often, they address common Christian life experiences. Early gospel had little resemblance to the traditional white sacred music. Instead, Gospel Music was basically the sacred counterpart of the city blues except in the lyrics. Many of the early gospel songs were also simply arrangements and adaptations of spirituals.

Gospel Music in its beginning was popular only with a small percentage of blacks. The larger Baptists and Methodist churches did not readily accept this music at first, mainly because of its similarities to blues. Eventually Gospel Music gained popularity, primarily through the efforts of one man – Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993). Dorsey is commonly known as the father of the gospel style. In fact, during the 1930s through 1940s, songs in this style were sometimes called "Dorseys." There term "gospel song" was not commonly used until much later and Dorsey is credited with being the first person to use this term. Dorsey was originally a blues performer and composer who later began composing gospel songs while still performed occasionally in the blues and vaudeville circuits. He joined the Pilgrim Baptist Church of Chicago in 1921. This same year the National Baptist Convention met at Pilgrim. While attending the convention, Dorsey heard the late A. W. Nix sing, "I Do, Don't You," a song composed by E. O. Excell. This song was written in the hymn style of Dr. Charles A. Tindley (1865-1933), a composer who greatly influenced Dorsey. However, Tindley's music did not become popular in black churches until after World War I. Dorsey was so impressed by what he heard at the convention that he made the decision to write church music that would inspire others in a similar way. His earlier songs were common revival and tabernacle songs, with little of the emotional feeling that his later songs possessed. His first popular gospel song, "If You See My Savior, Tell Him That You Saw Me," was composed in 1926. In 1932, after the death of his first wife and child, Dorsey wrote "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." This song, along with "Peace In the Valley," (made popular by Elvis Presley) is among the most popular of his more than four hundred gospel songs.

Dorsey played a major role in making Gospel Music popular. He accomplished this by peddling his songs from church to church in Chicago as well as through the Midwest and South. In the beginning he was only allowed to perform his songs at the completion of worship service. Dorsey also formed several touring singing groups and in 1931, along with Theodore Frye, he organized the world's first gospel chorus at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Chicago. Many of the musicians in these groups became prominent figures in the early development of Gospel Music. Among the musicians who were in these groups or in close association with Dorsey were Sallie Martin, Kenneth Morris, Roberta Martin, and Mahalia Jackson. Roberta Martin's contribution to the development of gospel was her distinctive piano style. Like Sallie Martin, she passed this tradition on through her students. During the mid 1930s a first came about when Dorsey promoted what he called a "battle of song," otherwise known as "cutting contests." This was a competition between the Martins – Roberta and Sallie. The unique thing about this first event is that it was the first time anyone had asked for an entrance fee for a sacred music concert.

Each decade brought along with it new milestones in the spread of gospel. In the late 1930s and 1940s, gospel was taken out of the church and into the secular world. In 1930, a gospel singer known as "Sister" Rosetta accomplished a first by singing in a show of Cab Calloway's at the Cotton Club. She later signed a recording contract with Decca Records and became the first gospel singer to record for a major commercial company. In the 1940s Gospel Music could be heard on the radio. One such broadcast was called the "Gospel Train." The fifties produced the first major all gospel concert in history when Joe Bostic produced the Negro Gospel and Religious Music Festival at Carnegie Hall. This concert featured Mahalia Jackson as soloist. During this decade gospel singers were also beginning to appear on television shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show. The fifties and sixties produced several professional groups who sung in places ranging from churches to concert halls. Among these groups were the Sallie Martin Singers, the Roberta Martin Singers, the Caravans, the Soul Stirrers, the Ward Singers, the Davis Sisters, the Gospel Harmonettes, the Dixie Humming Birds, the Staple Singers, the Pilgrim Travelers, and the Alex Braford Singers. Several blues and popular music artists sprang from these groups such as Dionne Warwick, Sam Cooke, Thelma Houston, Lou Rawls, and other. There were also those who began as gospel solo performers and later switched to popular music, such as Aretha Franklin. However, many gained notoriety while remaining faithful to the gospel genre. Among those are Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland (a protégé of Roberta Martin), and Shirley Caesar to name a few.

By the 1960s, Gospel Music had gained the respect of all America. It was in this decade that Mahalia Jackson was invited to sing at an inauguration party for President John F. Kennedy. Jackson, because of her universal appeal and publicity, perhaps more than any other single person, helped in bringing Gospel Music to the attention of the world.

Because of the increased popularity of Gospel Music, the 1970s produced what later came to be known as contemporary gospel. This decade introduced such gospel greats as Andraé Crouch, Edwin and Walter Hawkins, Dannibelle Hall, Billy Preston, Sarah Jordan Powell, and Jessie Dixon, to name a few. The nineties placed Gospel Music at an all time high. Through the means of the media and the recording industry, the popularity of gospel has more than escalated both nationally and internationally. The soulful gospel style has been a major influence in the sound of today's pop, jazz, and R & B mediums.

Time will only tell of the new heights in which gospel will reach with the coming of each new decade. And with the developments of the future, Gospel Music will continue to maintain its roots and live on. Whether it's contemporary gospel, or blues gospel, or 50s/60s gospel, or even jazz gospel, there will always be an underlying element that will enable the listener to sit back and say, "Hmm, that's it, that's gospel."
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Sincerely,

Dr. Jefferson