RIP: Henry Jackson DMus – Singer, Musician, Songwriter, and Group Leader

By Robert M. Marovich

It seems as if the gospel music community has had more than its share of losses in the past month. One more–Henry Jackson DMus–who transitioned from labor to glory on September 18, 2025 at age 80.

Here are key details about Dr. Jackson from an interview I conducted with him in 2019 as part of my album notes research for the GRAMMY-nominated collecion The King of Gospel (Malaco Music Group).

Henry Jackson was born July 23, 1945, in Shreveport, Louisiana, but he moved to the Bay Area when he was four or five years old and was raised in San Francisco. Around 1963, Jackson had a group called the Gospel Voices; he recalled meeting Rev. James Cleveland for the first time when the Gospel Voices performed on a program at the Oakland Auditorium that featured Cleveland.

Jackson eventually moved to Los Angeles and in 1968 joined Harrison Johnson’s Los Angeles Community Choir, writing several songs for the choir. Jackson also sang with the L.A. All-Stars, a group that Gertrude Ward took on the road as the “Male Ward Singers.”

In 1971, Jackson accepted Rev. Cleveland’s invitation to join the Cleveland Singers. “[James] was in Detroit and called me and I immediately knew who he was,” Jackson recalled, years later. “He said, ‘I need a singer.’ And I’m scratching my head, ‘Well, I don’t know anybody to tell you.’ He just started laughing. ‘I want you to come, fool!’” Along with Jackson, the Cleveland Singers at that time were Odessa McCastle, Eugene Bryant, Ernest Hurskin, and Charles Barnett.

Jackson said he didn’t stay long with the Cleveland Singers because there wasn’t enough money for him in touring. Shortly after their tour, which lasted about about ten weeks, he decided to come home and eventually formed the Henry Jackson Company. Nevertheless, Cleveland produced an album for Savoy in 1980 called James Cleveland Presents a Portrait of Henry Jackson. “[Cleveland] liked me,” Jackson said. “He liked my gift and he always treated me fairly.”

The Henry Jackson Company made its first record for Stax’s Gospel Truth subsidiary in 1973 and subsequent albums in the 1970s for two other contemporary gospel imprints, Myrrh and Birthright. Keyboardist Ricky Grundy and vocalist Ray Parker Jr. made appearances on the later albums. “We were called contemporary because I had a 26-piece orchestra in those days,” Jackson said. In addition to recording his own solo albums, including 2019’s Good to Me, Jackson served for 22 years as accompanist for former Caravan Cassietta George.

Please keep Henry Jackson’s family, friends, and many fans in your hearts at this time.