Gospel
Karen Lafferty played an important role in the early growth and development of Contemporary Christian Music. She put music to the Bible verse Matthew 6:33 in 1974, thus creating the early and influential praise and worship song “Seek Ye First.” The song was released on Maranatha! Music, a Christian...
Zenobia looked forward to church every Sunday growing up in the Los Angeles area. She loved to sing and cut her teeth on the old gospel hymns. Zenobia pursued singing and was cast in the Broadway musical Hair, worked with director/choreographer Michael Bennett and became a successful backup singer...
Sam Moore and his singing partner Dave Prater helped put Stax Records on the map with their string of top hits in the 1960s. Their powerful performances inspired their nicknames of Double Dynamite and The Sultans of Sweat. They began recording together in 1965 and helped redefine soul music of the...
Cowboy Joe Babcock is a singer and songwriter whose career in country music spans over sixty years. As a vocalist he and Hurshel Wiginton formed a backup studio singing group called The Nashville Edition. With The Nashville Edition and on his own, Joe sang on thousands of recordings such as Marty...
Bob Watters was 12 years old when he picked up his banjo and began traveling for evangelists in and around his home state of Texas. He performed for tent shows and gospel revivals for a few years before he, at the age of 15, started providing some of the sermons. Along the way he performed with...
Joe Chambers was inspired by his older brother George to play guitar and write songs. The brothers, Joe, George, Willie and Lester, formed The Chambers Brothers and began singing gospel music. They went on to perform in clubs, folk festivals and large concert venues after adding songs with rock,...
Sebastian Mariné was encouraged to pursue music by his parents. The roots of his passion for music go back to when he was a small child singing Gregorian Chants in his family’s church in Spain. Music has always been a spiritual expression for him, something he conveys to his students at the...
Willie Chambers and his brothers fell in love with gospel music while growing up singing in church. Even though they received some strong criticism, they expanded the places where church music was heard, including night clubs and bars in the late 1950s and early 1960s. With the support of Pete...
Vasti Jackson is a fifth-generation music maker in his family! He started on drums and then switched to guitar which he began playing professionally by the time he was 12 years old. In 1978, at the age of 18, Vasti began working for Malaco Records as a studio musician playing on countless sessions...
Jewel Bass is known for singing backup on countless Malaco recordings since 1969 and with her own band, These Days. She started singing in church, influenced by her uncles who sang in a gospel group. After joining an R&B band that toured the East Coast, she began singing for Malaco Records in...