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.

Jessy Dixon (1938-2011)

Internationally renowned gospel singer Jessy Dixon has died in Chicago at the age of 73. Dixon was born in San Antonio, TX, but relocated to Chicago with his family when he was a teenager. In the 1960s, Dixon was a member of the James Cleveland Singers and was featured as a studio pianist for Savoy Records. In the 1970s, Dixon toured with his own group, The Jessy Dixon Singers, and became a studio keyboardist for Chess Records and played behind both gospel and secular recordings. Some of Dixon's most popular songs included "I am Redeemed", and "Sit at His Feet and Be Blessed." Dixon was a leader in the Chicago Community Choir and was an inspiration to many current gospel artists, including Donald Lawrence. Dixon is survived by a brother and a sister. Arrangements are pending at this time.

O Johneron Davis, I finally found ya!

By: Joseph Middleton

It's been over a year since I released the original plea, but I am still searching for information on Johneron Davis, a longtime member of of the Caravans (1953-1962). Today, I received a wealth of information on her thanks to Libra Nicole Boyd and Rev. James Herndon of the Caravans (1959-1967).

Johneron was born on April 12, 1929, which is coincidentally just two days before Inez Andrews's birthday. According to Rev. Herndon, Johneron, a second soprano, was "wild about the Caravans" and was "a good soldier", singing in the group from their early days with early members such as Bessie Griffin, Gloria Griffin, Imogene Green, and Louise McDowell, until their early 60s heyday with Shirley Caesar, Inez Andrews, and Cassietta George. She left the group in the fall of 1962 and was replaced by Josephine Howard. Johneron died on August 4, 1965 at the age of 36 of cancer. She was buried at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, IL, which is the same cemetery where Emmett Till, Dinah Washington, and Roberta Martin are also buried.

Johneron married at some point and became Johneron Austin. At this point, it is not known if she married an Austin from the family of Rev. James Austin, husband of Roberta Martin, son of Rev. Lucy Smith, and father of Lucy Collier, aka, Little Lucy Smith. There's still more infomation to be found. Did she have children? Does she have any descendants? I hope the answers to those questions can be found soon. I know there are other Golden Era Gospel fans awaiting those answers, too.