"Lady Soul" Aretha Franklin received her piano and vocal training in the church and went on to become the most successful gospel-based vocalist of our time. Photo courtesy of The Michigan Chronicle.
"Lady Soul" Aretha Franklin received her piano and vocal training in the church and went on to become the most successful gospel-based vocalist of our time. Photo courtesy of The Michigan Chronicle.
Today's nationally acclaimed Fred Hammond and Radical for Christ follows the path already traveled by many other history-making choirs from Detroit. In the 1950's thousands came to Detroit to hear Reverend James L. Lofton's Church of Our Prayer choir broadcast from their home in the Paradise Theater (now Orchestra Hall). Lofton's minister of music, the Reverend Charles A. Craig, later established his own church and formed one of the premier gospel choirs of the late 50's and early 60's, The Voices of Tabernacle, co-directed by the Reverend James Cleveland. Mattie Moss Clark was one of the directors of the first African American gospel choir to record in the region, The Southwest Michigan State Choir, and in the 70's, one of her proteges, Donald Vails, achieved recording success with his Choraleers. The Harold Smith Majestics and The St. James Adult Choir, both featuring the Reverend Charles H. Nicks, Jr. on organ, produced recordings that are gospel classics.
Smaller groups and soloists have also helped bring national attention
to Detroit. Some of the groups include The Meditation Singers, from which
Della Reese and Laura Lee emerged, The Rance Allen Group, The Winans Family,
The Clark Sisters, and Commissioned. Detroit's renowned gospel soloists
have included Aretha Franklin, and her father, the late Reverend C.L. Franklin,
who gained widespread fame through broadcasts from The New Bethel Baptist
Church, as well as revivals and recordings. Vanessa Bell Armstrong and
Vickie Winans are two who continue the Soloists tradition.
