1^st

1899: Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey is born, Villa Rica, GA.

2^nd

1899: W. Herbert Brewster is born, Tenn.

1994: Marion Williams dies.

1998: Rev. Cleophus Robinson dies.

2013: Bishop Billy Bowers, of The Five Blind Boys Of Alabama, died in Birmingham, AL.

3^rd

1951: Twenty-Five thousand people attend Sister Rosetta Tharpe's wedding, Washington, D.C.

1962: Johnny Valentine of The Mighty Clouds of Joy is born.

4^th

2007: Bill Pinkney, the last surviving original member of The Drifters and founder of The Gospel Drifters, died in Daytona Beach, FL.

5^th

2008:  Bishop Charles Craig, who performed with his brother James Linsey Craig as The Craig Brothers, died in Detroit, MI.

6^th

1929: Arthur Crume of The Soul Stirrers is born, Portageville, Missouri.

1931: Della Reese of the Meditation Singers is born, Detroit, Mich.

2000: James Hill of the Fairfield Four dies in Nashville, Tennessee.    

2013: Bobby Hurd, Gospel Promoter, Radio and Television Host, died in Atlanta, GA.

2020: Reginald Funderburke, of The Soul Stirrers, Bill Pinkney's Gospel Drifters, and Reginald Funderburke & The Anointed Temples, died in Lancaster, SC.

2011: Gregory L. Burnside, of The Pilgrim Wonders, died in Little Rock, AR.

9^th

1901: Gospel composer Jester Hariston is born, N.C.

2002: James Harris of The Gospel Four of Memphis, TN dies.

1952: Elder Troy Jackson of Brothers and Sisters of Willacoochee, GA is born in Willacoochee, GA.

Rodney Bennet of Doc McKenzie and the Hi-Lites is born in Virginia.

11^th

2010: Bishop Walter L. Hawkins died at his home in Ripon, CA. 

2011: Bishop F. C. Barnes died in in Greenville, NC.

1986: Chester Feemster of the Salem Travelers, dies.

14^th

1972: Brother Joe May died in Thomasville, GA.

2008: Rev. Lawrence Roberts, longtime producer for Savoy Records, died.

15^th

1995: Bill Woodruff of the Sensational Nightingales dies.

16^th

1930: Rev. F. W. McGhee records "Fifty Miles of Elbow Room."

2019: Pastor Rose Marie Cameron, of The Angels Of Praise, died in Brunswick, GA.

2008: Michael Cook of The Mighty Clouds of Joy died in East Orange, NJ.

19^th

1949: The Roberta Martin Singers record "Old Ship of Zion."

20^th

1966: Peyton Bailey is born in Easton, MD.

2011: Kirby Powell of The Powell Tradition died in Robersonville, NC.

2013: Willie 'Block' Turner,  of The New Joyful Sounds of Selma, Alabama, died.

21^st

1953: Melvin Williams of The Williams Brothers is born in Smithdale, MS.

2003: Tommie Johnson of the Harmonizing Four dies in Richmond, VA.

2009: Horace Clarence Boyer, songwriter, music historian and member of The Boyer Brothers, died in Amherst, MA.

22^nd

2021: Roger Lee Whitehead, of Roger Whitehead & The New Gospel Express and formerly of The Brooklyn AllStars and The Gospel Drifiters, died in New Bern, NC.

23^rd

1955: Shrine Auditorium Gospel Concert is held.

2020: Mr. Gary Dixon, of The Singing Crusaders of Camden, SC, died in Elgin, SC.

25^th

26^th

1933: Rev. Charles A. Tindley dies.

1936: J. J. Farley joins the Soul Stirrers.

2008: Rosalyn Brunswick-McDuffie, former Donnie McClurkin background singer, died in Houston, TX.

2019: Mrs. Fanny Lumzy-Holmes, sister of The Lumzy Sisters, died in New Brunswick, NJ.

27^th

1924: Paul Owens of the Dixie Hummingbirds is born in Philadelphia, PA.

1984: Rev. C. L. Franklin dies.

2020: Richard Wallace, of The Mighty Clouds Of Joy, died in Tyler, TX.

1946: Lee Williams of The Spiritual QC's is born in Tupelo, MS.

2020: Reverend Isaac Heyward, Gospel Promoter, Radio Angel. and Gospel Music Historian, died in Mount Pleasant, SC.

2011: Promoter James Gamble (Mr. Blockbuster) died in Florence, SC.

2012: Bishop James Lenzy Craig, Sr., Pastor of Craig Memorial Tabernacle in Detroit and member of The Craig Brothers, died in Detroit, MI.
 

2003: Ron Freeman founder of Atlanta International Records dies.

2008: Margaret "Babe" Allison, lead singer and founder of The Angelics Gospel Singers, died in Philadelphia, PA.

2014: Phyllis Brown, of The Brown Sisters, died in Chicago, IL.

31^st

1915: Frances Steadman of The Stars of Faith is born in Baltimore, MD.

2009: Reverend Tryon Eichelberger, Radio Angel and founder of the gospel group All In The Family, died at Richland Memorial Hospital, Columbia, SC.

2014: Al "The Bishop" Hobbs, Chairman of the National Gospel Announcers Guild of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, Inc., died in Indianapolis, IN.

2020: Mrs. Lillye Mae White Sharper, Gospel Singer and the mother of Eric Sharper dies in Valdosta, GA.

Founded in 1960 by their father, Leon "Pop" Williams, in Smithdale, Mississippi, The Little Williams Brothers soon grew to become The Sensational Williams Brothers. They changed their name once more to The Williams Brothers, recorded their first LP in 1973 for Songbird Records, and garnered an instant hit with the song "Jesus Will Fix It." 

Rev. Lawrence Roberts was a longtime producer for Savoy Records.  It was his church choir -- the Angelic Choir of the First Baptist Church of Nutley, NJ -- that teamed with Rev. James Cleveland on the historic "Peace Be Still" recording session in September 1963.  That album took Cleveland and the Angelic Choir to new levels of popularity in the gospel music industry and helped make Savoy the "go to" label for gospel choirs for the next three decades.   (Bob Marovich, The Black Gospel Blog)