SG History 101
SG History 101 - Tenors
It has long been realized that the basic vocal combination of a southern gospel group is a quartet, usually a male quartet (although there have been a number of fine quartets composed of both men and women) . Considering that four-part harmony and southern style gospel music have gone hand in hand over the years, we’ll begin a multi-part look at some of gospel music’s outstanding quartet performers through the years by the part of the quartet they were in.
Since the standard appearance for a gospel quartet on stage left to right is the first tenor, the second tenor (or lead) , the baritone, and the bass, we’ll start our series this month with a look at some of the finest and most noteworthy first tenors to grace gospel quartets through the years.
As most gospel music followers know, gospel quartets were the first true professional gospel singers, and at first they weren’t so much professional singers as they were sales tools of the publishers of songbooks, used by said publishers to demonstrate the quality of songs in the songbooks. As the singers traveled about and developed fan followings, and with the parallel development of the recording industry, the groups themselves became attractions, and their outstanding singers began to develop popularity of their own.
Denver Crumpler
So in time, gospel quartets would develop into professional singing units, and among the earliest first tenors to become well-known was a young man from Arkansas with a distinctive Irish tenor voice, Denver Crumpler. Starting in the late 1930s with the Stamps-Melody Boys Quartet and continuing with the Rangers Quartet, Crumpler became in time one of the most admired gospel tenors ever, with his renditions of songs like “I Have A Desire” and “My God Is Real” being a couple of the most famous songs associated with him.
Bobby Strickland
Crumpler’s ability on the guitar helped as well as his unforgettable voice helped make the Rangers probably the most popular male quartet of the World War II time period. Understandably, other quartets who were looking to become well-known took an interest in the brilliant tenor from Arkansas, none more so than Hovie Lister’s Statesmen, who’d already had great and popular tenors in Bobby Strickland and “Cat” Freeman, but Lister was convinced that with the addition of Crumpler, he would have the “perfect” quartet. Lister pursued Crumpler relentlessly, finally offering Denver a place to live in the Atlanta area if Crumpler would join his quartet.
Crumpler agreed to join the Statesmen in 1953, and along with Jake Hess, Doy Ott, and Jim “Big Chief” Wetherington, formed what many today still consider gospel music’s all-time best male quartet. With Crumpler, the Statesmen were stars of their own syndicated TV show sponsored by Nabisco, and set the standard by which nearly every other gospel quartet was (and has since been) measured. Unfortunately, Crumpler died tragically in 1957 at the young age of 44.
Still, Crumpler is fondly remembered by gospel music fans as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) tenors to ever sing in a quartet. He was probably the first “star” tenor in gospel music, but there would be many more to follow.
The two men Crumpler succeeded in the Statesmen were two other early quartet “stars”, Strickland with the Sand Mountain Quartet first and then with the Harmoneers and Statesmen Quartets, and finally with his own Crusaders Quartet, who was well on its’ way to becoming one of the leading quartets itself when Strickland was unfortunately killed in an automobile accident in 1953. He was only 33 at the time of his passing, and he was already a major name and talent in gospel music.
Claris “Cat” Freeman was from the same Sand Mountain, AL region that spawned Strickland and many other great gospel quartet singers, and he sang with many quartets in the 1940s and 1950s, including the Melody Masters (a GREAT quartet that had such great quartet names as Hess, Wetherington, Mosie Lister, and Wally Varner) , the Blackwood Brothers, and he both preceded and succeeded Crumpler with the Statesmen. He also sang with the Oak Ridge Quartet for a short time, and even sang baritone with the Revelaires Quartet in the 1950s, demonstrating his vocal range and versatility. He was always a popular singer with gospel music fans, and his sister Vestal would eventually become one of the most popular gospel singers ever when she married Howard Goodman and was featured with the Happy Goodman Family.
Wallace “Happy” Edwards was another of the early popular tenors in gospel quartet music, featured with the famous Harmoneers Quartet of the 1940s and 1950s (who recorded for RCA in the 1940s, showing how professional gospel quartet music had become in the eyes and ears of the music world) , and was probably the “star” of that quartet with his constantly “happy” disposition.
Other fine tenors of the early 1950s included Calvin Newton, who also sang with the Blackwood Brothers and Oak Ridge Quartet, and was probably best known for his fine work with the Sons of Song trio in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Another was Horace Parrish of the Rebels Quartet, an original member of that famous Florida quartet who was universally known and loved for his sincere and heartfelt style of singing. Still another was Bill Hefner of the Harvesters Quartet (formed from the remnants of the Crusaders Quartet) , who also charmed audiences with his singing and personality. His sense of humor made him a popular MC from the stage during Harvesters’ personal appearances. Hefner later went on to be a distinguished Congressman from his native North Carolina. And there was Fred Daniel, known for his distinctive voice and his leaping on stage, that was also quite popular with the Sunshine Boys in the 1940s and 1950s, and later with the Blue Ridge Quartet in the 1960s and 1970s.
Bill Shaw
The biggest rival to the Statesmen in overall popularity among gospel music fans was the Blackwood Brothers, who also achieved national recognition in the 1950s due to national TV appearances and their best-selling records for RCA. And from their beginnings with founding brother Roy, they were always blessed with great tenor singers. I mentioned Freeman and Newton at different times, and there was also Alden Toney (founding brother of the Toney Brothers Quartet) , Dan Huskey, and perhaps their best and best-known of all their tenors, E.L. “Bill” Shaw, a South Carolinian who came to the quartet in 1952 from the All-American Quartet (another excellent quartet from the period) . Shaw was a versatile singer who excelled on spirituals, but also had a classical sound that made him influential as a stylist in the quartet world (perhaps best illustrated on his 1965 rendering of “The Holy City” with the Blackwood Brothers) . He was with the Blackwood Brothers through their most popular period (1952-1973) , and was a defining element of their sound during all those years. Shaw is still with us, singing now and then in personal appearances, and finally achieved rather belated Hall of Fame recognition in 2005.
Rosie Rozell
The final tenor I’ll mention here from the 1950s joined the Statesmen in the late 1950s after achieving a fair degree of regional popularity in the Southwest with the Tulsa Trumpeteers. Roland “Rosie” Rozell brought a different sound to the Statesmen than his predeessors Crumpler or Freeman, which some have called “soulful”. He quickly became popular in his own right with the Statesmen, and his crowning moment with the group was probably his 1960 rendition of “O What A Savior”, a version that has been copied by many a tenor singer to this very day, a tribute to Rozell’s distinctiveness and powerful style of singing.
Rozell’s career went well into the latter decades of the 20th century, with the Statesmen, his own group the Searchers, and the Masters V quartet with fellow legends Jake Hess, James Blackwood, Hovie Lister, and JD Sumner. There are some Statesmen fans who say that Rozell and not Crumpler was the finest tenor to sing with the Statesmen. Regardless, he was undoubtedly one of their best, and most popular.
In the 1960s, some of the aforementioned tenors (Shaw, Rozell, Parrish, and Hefner) were still among the best and most popular, though the decade would develop some more fine tenors of its’ own.
One of them, Georgia-born Willie Wynn, actually began his singing career in the late 1950s, but his big years of popularity were with the Oak Ridge Quartet/Boys in the 1960s. His charming personality and “way with a song” made him one of the most popular tenors ever with gospel music fans. This writer remembers one of the first time he ever saw a gospel quartet on television, and when he saw and heard Wynn, could not believe such a voice could come from a man! Wynn would sing into the 1970s with the Oaks, the Tennesseans, and briefly with the Statesmen as well.
Another tenor who became popular in the 1960s was Sherrill Nielsen, who was first featured with the Speer Family, then became one of the original Imperials when Jake Hess formed that group in 1963. Nielsen’s Bill Shaw-influenced classical style of singing was carried on by his replacement in the Imperials, Jim Murray, who stayed with that group into the 1990s, long after it had abandoned southern gospel for a more youth-oriented contemporary approach. Nielsen went on to sing with Elvis Presley, first in his backup group Voice, and later as a featured soloist. Presley was a big fan of Nielsen’s voice. Nielsen also sang with the Statesmen for a time. And Murray would later sing with Bill Gaither’s Gaither Vocal Band.
Another outstanding tenor of the 1960s was Iowa-born Duane Nicholson, whose strong operatic-styled tenor was the key ingredient in the vocal blend of the Couriers, who first became well-known in that decade. Nicholson continues to sing with his longtime Courier partners to this day as part of Dave, Duane, and Neil, having battled and overcome vocal difficulties in the 1980s. No less a gospel aficionado as Roy Pauley of the “Singing News” called Nicholson the outstanding tenor in gospel music in the 1970s.
Another popular tenor who emerged in the 1960s was Ron Booth, who became well-known first by singing with his cousins in the Toney Brothers. He would replace Horace Parrish in the Rebels in 1968 and continue to build a following with that famous quartet. Today, Booth is perhaps best known for being the patriarch of the Booth Brothers, on of today’s most popular gospel groups. And obviously he has passed on his talent for singing to his sons.
Two more tenors worth mentioning in the 1960s are the two men who filled that position with the Cathedral Quartet, Bobby Clark (who also was well-known for his days in the Weatherford Quartet in the early 1950s) , and Mack Taunton, a most gifted singer who was with the quartet in the last two years of the decade.
The 1970s saw a different type of popular tenor. The Kingsmen Quartet began their rise toward elite quartet status in the last half of that decade, and their most popular tenors in that time were Johnny Parrack, who had a lot of stage charisma, and Ernie Phillips, whose shrill sound turned off some fans, but endeared him to others who could perceive his sincerity in his singing style.
Probably the prime example of the latter type of tenor was Archie Watkins, who began his singing career with the Inspirations in the mid 1960s, and continued until about a year or so ago. Watkins had a very rural sound, but also had great projection, and his singing style touched gospel singing audiences in person and on the Inspirations’ TV appearances on the Gospel Singing Jubilee. It was perhaps summed up best by Les Beasley of the Florida Boys who, when telling promoter JG Whitfield about the Inspirations early in their careers, told Whitfield about Watkins by saying, “, nobody likes him but the people.” That ability to be liked by the people made Watkins perhaps one of the most popular quartet tenor singers of all time. Certainly the number of “Favorite Tenor” awards he’s won over the years is testimony to that.
Ernie Haase
Space forbids me from going into too much detail about the tenors of the 1980s, 1990s, and later, but among the most distinctive and popular ones have been Kirk Talley and Danny Funderburk (of the Cathedral Quartet) , Brian Free (of Gold City and Assurance) , and Ernie Haase (of the Cathedrals and Signature Sound) . In fact, Haase’s quartet, Signature Sound, has been compared to the Statesmen for their onstage personality and approach to entertainment in gospel music today.
Yes, there have been a lot of very good tenor singers in gospel quartets over the past 75 years or so, and no doubt even more are destined to take their place alongside the men mentioned in this article. And no doubt, part of the appeal of gospel quartet music over the years is the spectacle of people taking their voices to their limits in joyful celebration of the greatest message in the world.
No doubt I left out other fine tenors who made their marks in the world of gospel music. I assure you all that their omission was not intentional by any means. One can only put so much into an article, or dredge up so many memories. Your constructive input is always valued and appreciated, and your comments are always most welcome, especially if I’ve omitted anything! You can only make my articles better by so doing!
Next month, I will continue this series by discussing gospel music’s “leading leads”. Your suggestions for topics and singers I can mention are always appreciated as well. Feel free to e-mail me with those at
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) . See you next month!
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Written: 10/06/2009
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Category: SG History 101
Comments: 14
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John, there's no way you could possibly mention all of the worthy tenors here, especially since the tenor position is usually the one with the highest turnover... just ask Les Beasley. You named all of MY favorites, but two that deserve mention are: David Phelps, and Pat Hoffmaster. 
