Richard Smallwood: A Remembrance
When I heard the news that Richard Smallwood passed away today, it was as if church bells stopped tolling.
When I heard the news that Richard Smallwood passed away today, it was as if church bells stopped tolling.
By Robert M. Marovich JGM is saddened to learn of the passing of Carnell Murrell. Here is a short bio we contributed to the Malaco Music Group website some years ago: Born in Detroit on June 25, 1962, gospel songwriter, group leader, musician and singer Carnell Murrell spent his early [...]
GRAMMY® Award winning choirmaster Donald Lawrence is reviving his mentor, the legendary late Edwin Hawkins’ annual Music & Arts Seminar that was birthed in 1979 and reimagining it for the 21st century as a bi-annual conference, Music + Arts Global.
“Wait” Kevan Peabody Twinkem Productions (release date: October 16, 2020) www.twinkemp.com By Robert M. Marovich Taking Proverbs 3:5-6 in part for his text, veteran gospel singer Kevan Peabody implores listeners on “Wait” not to despair but to trust and “wait on the Lord." To a traditional-flavored but sonically robust arrangement [...]
By Bob Marovich As many readers already know, gospel drummer, bass player, bandleader and producer Joel Smith passed away on September 8 at age 58. Smith cut his teeth on gospel music by accompanying his uncles Edwin and Walter Hawkins. In 1977, at age thirteen, he played drums on Edwin's [...]
Click on the image above to hear a streaming podcast of the January 20, 2018, episode of "Gospel Memories," which featured an hour-long tribute to the late Edwin Hawkins.
From a press release: A week after the death of four-time Grammy® Award-winning recording artist, Edwin Hawkins, The Edwin Hawkins Singers’ 1969 million-seller, “Oh Happy Day,” has charted at #1 on Billboard Magazine’s Gospel Digital Song Sales chart for the issue week ending January 27, 2018. The classic song had [...]
Photo Credit: Hawkins Gospel Conference website By Bob Marovich The Journal of Gospel Music has learned that Edwin Hawkins, whose arrangement of the nineteenth-century hymn "Oh Happy Day" became a crossover success and signaled the emergence of contemporary gospel music, passed away today (Jan. 15) in Pleasanton, California. Here [...]
Darnell Davis & the Remnant Live Again D Davis Entertainment / MVP Productions (release date: August 11, 2017) www.darnelldavismusic.com By Bob Marovich Those who know Darnell Davis’s story—those who don’t can read it here—will understand why the overarching theme of his new album with the Remnants, Live Again, is spiritual survival. [...]
By Bob Marovich From the outside, it appeared as if Darnell Davis was on top of the world. He and his gospel group, Remnant, had signed with a major label, RCA Inspiration. They earned Dove Award and Stellar Award nominations for their 2014 release, Moving Forward. The CD cover photo [...]