GOSPELflava.com Remembers....

Wayman Tisdale

Mon, 18 May 2009 10:30:07 -0700

Wayman Tisdale

(Harold) Eugene Smith

Sun, 10 May 2009 17:35:52 -0700

(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 famous group. Known for his "R&B" vocal stylings, he wrote songs such as "I Know the Lord Will Make a Way". Smith actively participated in reunion concerts up to the 1990's. He was the last surviving original member of the Roberta Martin Singers.

Rev. Timothy Wright

Thu, 21 May 2009 09:23:38 -0700

Rev. Timothy Wright

David Winans Sr. (Pop Winans)

Wed, 8 Apr 2009 17:29:31 -0700

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 bedside. Pop Winans, together with Delores (Mom Winans) recorded several albums, as well as some solo projects.

Shirley Joiner

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:47:41 -0700

Ethel Holloway

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:49:27 -0700

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 the 1980s, she had a string of chart toppers with The Tommies, including "He'll Make it Alright", "He's Keeping Me" and "If You Just Trust Him (He'll Bring You Out)". She recorded her hit, "I'm Yours Lord" with Rev. Clay Evans and the Fellowship Baptist Church Choir, which led to her solo project, I Love The Lord, on Jhun Moon's I AM record label.

Rev. Claude Jeter

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:01:30 -0800

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 fronting the Four Harmony Kings, who later were renamed The Swan Silvertones on their move from Kentucky to Nashville in 1942, releasing music on the King Records, Speciality Records and Vee-Jay Records labels. In later years, Jeter moved to a solo career (Shanachie Records in the early 1990s), after becoming a pastor in Harlem, NY in the late 1960s. He influenced artists such as Al Green, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield and Eddie Kendricks, along with a host of Gospel artists of the time. Jeter's improvised lyric on the 1959 hit "Oh Mary, Don't You Weep" was the inspiration for Paul Simon's hit, "Bridge Over Troubled Water". Simon later brought in Jeter to sing on his own projects.

Tommy Ellison

Mon, 5 Jan 2009 07:16:56 -0800

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. In 1959, Ellison formed his own group, The Five Singing Stars, later renamed to Tommy Ellison and the Five Singing Stars, gaining national reputation in the early 1970s on the Nashboro label, and moving to HOB and AIR Gospel later. He continued singing and ministering until recently.

Olivia McClurkin

Mon, 18 May 2009 10:32:12 -0700

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, fours sisters, three daughters and nine grandchildren.

Rosalyn Brunswick McDuffie

Sun, 3 Aug 2008 12:36:34 -0700

Rosalyn Brunswick McDuffie, one-half of the duo Lyric Sings, passed on July 26, 2008 after a battle with stomach cancer. McDuffie was 39 years old. McDuffie was once a background vocalist for Donnie McClurkin> and released a solo album titled Just Roz in 2001. She formed the Stellar-nominated duo Lyric Sings along with Rhonda McLemore, with the duo's Brand New Day releasing in 2006. McDuffie also served as first lady of Palace of Praise< in Houston, Texas. Her last recorded work is featured as a lead vocalist on the recent release Crossover from Pastor Gregg Patrick & The Bridge Choir.