Updated: Inez Andrews of The Caravans dead at age 83

Inez Andrews, affectionately known as the High Priestess of Gospel, and the Songbird, died on the afternoon of Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at her home in Chicago. Andrews was 83 years old and had been receiving treatment for colon cancer. Andrews was born Inez McConico on April 14, 1929 in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1957, James Cleveland met Andrews in Nashville, TN, while Andrews was in the Gospel Harmonettes substituting for Dorothy Love Coates. Cleveland notified Caravans leader, Albertina Walker, about Andrews' powerful voice, encouraging Walker to successfully recruit Andrews to join the Caravans. A year later, Andrews led the group on their legendary hit, "Mary Don't You Weep". For 54 years, "Mary Don't You Weep" was arguably her most recognized, most recorded, and most requested song. Andrews left the Caravans in 1962 to lead her own group, the Andrewettes. Andrews returned briefly to the Caravans in 1966 and departed the group again in 1967 to go solo. During the 1970s and 1980s, Andrews recorded solo albums, garnering the crossover song "Lord, Don't Move the Mountain", and recording tunes such as "Stranger in the City" and "Just for Me."

Information about services for Inez Andrews can be found below:

Musical Salute

Thursday, December 27, 2012 – 7:00 P.M.

Funeral Service

Friday, December 28, 2012 – 10:00 AM Visitation

                                               11:00 AM Service

All services will be held at:

Apostolic Church of God

6320 South Dorchester Avenue Chicago, IL 60637
(773) 667-1500

Dr. Byron Brazier, Pastor

Andrews will be greatly missed.

Dwayne Lightsey interviews "Lady" Esther Ford

Esther Ford is one of the few gospel singers from the Golden Era still kicking and singing. As a matter of fact, she's the last surviving pre-summer 1958 member of the Clara Ward Singers. She's also making use of social networking, so you'll easily find her commenting on YouTube and posting on her Facebook page.

Dwayne "Rowoches" Lightsey was able to sit down with "Lady" Ford as she delivered life lessons, wisdom, and delivered constructive criticism of modern day gospel.

Check the video for yourself and listen to this living legend.

Dorothy Norwood's 1996 rendition of "Brick House"

In 1996, Caravans alum Dorothy Norwood recorded a version of the Commodores' 1977 hit, "Brick House", for the soundtrack to the motion picture, My Fellow Americans. For sixteen years, this recording has been largely forgotten, until YouTube user gsj612 uploaded the song on April 26th.  Since then, the recording has been shared across social networks and has gained a nice amount of views in that short period of time.

The song itself isn't much to write home about. Musically, it sounds like your typical mid 90s fare of the cheesy variety, and in the end, it's just one of numerous covers of "Brick House." The only difference here is this time, the artist who covered the song was one who got her start during the Golden Era of Gospel. Responses to the recording have varied. Some listeners thought the juxtaposition of the lady deemed in gospel circles as "the World's Greatest Storyteller" working it out to "Brick House" was hilarious, while others didn't think highly of the recording at all due to production values or disapproval of a gospel artist singing a secular song. My reaction upon first hearing the song was laughter, because when I hear the name Dorothy Norwood, "Brick House" doesn't come to mind, but rather "The Denied Mother", "Victory Is Mine" and "Old School Boulevard."

This shouldn't take anyone as a surprise, as this was not Dorothy's first time dabbling in the secular pool. Although her performance was purely gospel, Dorothy toured with the Rolling Stones as their opening act during a 30 state American tour in 1972, and introduced many people to her distinctive brand of gospel music who wouldn't have otherwise known about it.

Dorothy Norwood has enjoyed a long, storied career, from joining the Caravans in 1956, composing "Ride On, King Jesus" in 1957, going solo in the 1960s and enjoying numerous albums and concert appearances until the present day. Dorothy is still a crowd pleaser, and doesn't have much difficulty in pleasing her fanbase. Uncovering this song probably won't have a negligible impact on her career, but we'll probably have a few goofballs in the audience at her upcoming appearances shouting "sing Brick House!"

Click below to hear the rendition for yourself.

Whitney Houston's familial ties to Golden Era Gospel

It's no secret, Whitney Houston was not a stranger to gospel music. Whitney's voice matriculated in the church, she starred in the mid 90s version of The Preacher's Wife, and her last, known on stage performance was "Jesus Loves Me". Yet, her family's gospel origins stretch back to the late 1930s.

In 1938, Nicholas "Nitch" Drinkard (Whitney's maternal grandfather) formed a singing group in Savannah, GA comprised of his children Emily "Cissy", Anne, Nick, Larry, with sister Lee (mother of Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick) serving as their manager. This singing group was named the Drinkard Four, and later became known as the Drinkard Singers (or Drinkard Jubilairs by some accounts). By the 1950s, the family moved to New Jersey and the Drinkard Singers recorded a few singles between 1954 and 1956 for the Savoy/Regent, and Verve labels. On July 7, 1957, the Drinkard Singers made an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival. After the appearance, the Drinkard Singers recorded an album for RCA Victor in April 1958. This was the group's first appearance on a major record label. The Drinkard Singers continued to record through the 1960s for the Choice label and HOB Records.

Here are the Drinkard Singers in action from 1957 at the Newport Jazz Festival singing "That's Enough."

Funeral Arrangements for Min. Gene Viale

The funeral service for Min. Gene Viale will be held on Saturday, December 17, 2011 at 11am at Allen Temple. 8501 International Blvd. Oakland, CA 94621.

Here is audio of Min. Viale leading "Heartaches" with the James Cleveland Singers in 1965.

Happy 80th Birthday, James Cleveland!

December 5, 2011 marks what would have been James Cleveland's 80th birthday. One can only imagine what the gospel field might have been like today had he lived until now.

Here's a few songs to check out from his 40 year recording career, including his recording debut in 1951 with the Gospelaires as pianist and vocalist, and his last composition and recording in 1990 with the LA Gospel Messengers.

I've broken the list up into different phases of his recording career so you can hear how his style of arranging changed and adapted over the years. There's a 3-6 year gap between each song, and 2-3 songs per decade with exception to the 1990s.

1951 "The Lifeboat is Coming" by the Gospelaires

1955 "What Kind of Man Is This" by the Caravans

1961 "The Love of God" with the Gospel All-Stars

1966 "Christ the Redeemer" with the Walter Arties Chorale

1969 "Over My Head" with the Southern California Community Choir

1973 "Lord, Help Me to Hold Out" with the Harold Smith Majestics

1979 "God Is" with the Southern California Community Choir

1983 "This Time, I'm Going All the Way" with the NJ Mass Choir of the GMWA

1988 "He Knows How Much We Can Bear"with the LA Gospel Messengers

1990 "Always" with the LA Gospel Messengers

Happy Birthday, "King James!" We're sure you're having one heck of a celebration up in Glory with Prof. Dorsey, Mahalia, Roberta, Albertina, Clara, Sallie, Alex, Jessy, Gene, and the rest of your colleagues and mentors.

R.I.P., Min. Gene Viale, James Cleveland Singer

Min. Gene Viale, member of the famed James Cleveland Singers during the mid 60s, has died. He was 65 years old.

According to his personal website, Viale was born on October 31, 1946, and began singing at the age of five. In 1964, Viale joined the James Cleveland Singers and recorded two albums with them, "Heaven, That Will Be Good Enough for Me", and another album, which remains unreleased. Viale served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968, and was licensed to preach in 1967. In 1968, Viale released his first solo record, "What Color Is God", on the Checker label, and made his first appearance on Jubilee Showcase. Through the late 70s and early 80s, Viale toured the country with gospel singers and appeared on program with singers such as James Cleveland, Inez Andrews, Shirley Caesar, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, and Dorothy Norwood.

In 2007, Viale was ordained by The Fellowship by Bishop Yvette Flunder, and just last year, Min. Viale released a book titled "I Remember Gospel."

Viale touched many hearts and souls through his nearly five decades of recording, as seen by the posts from mourners and colleagues on his Facebook profile's wall. His loss is another devastating blow to the Golden Era Gospel community, which already lost tremendous voices like Delois Barrett Campbell and Jessy Dixon earlier this year. Viale was truly a Golden Era singer, having worked with singers such as Mahalia Jackson, Cassietta George, the Staple Singers, the Roberta Martin Singers, the Ward Singers, Doris Akers, the Caravans, the Gospel Harmonettes, the Argo Singers, Sallie Martin, the Barrett Sisters, the Davis Sisters, the Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and many more.

Information about the service(s) for Gene Viale will be posted as it becomes available.