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List of Wings Over Jordan Choir personnel

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The following is a list of personnel—conductors, singers, soloists and board members—involved with the a capella African-American spiritual–centered Wings Over Jordan Choir from its 1935 founding as the Gethesame Baptist Choir in Cleveland, Ohio, until 1978.

Conductors

Conductors and directors for the Wings Over Jordan Choir include:

  • James E. Tate (1935–38), director of the Gethesame Baptist Choir through their radio debut on WGAR radio and national pickup by CBS
  • Worth Kramer (1938–41), program director of WGAR, arranged and published much of the choir's repertoire, directed their 1941 Columbia Masterworks album
  • Willette Firmbanks Thompson (1935–41), pianist, assistant director under both Tate and Kramer, believed to be the first female director of a nationally known choir
  • Frederick D. Hall (1941–42), interim conductor, professor at Alabama State College
  • Gladys Olga Jones (1942), New Orleans native and Dillard University graduate who trained under Fredrick D. Hall
  • Joseph S. Powe (1942–43), conductor until leaving to join the United States Navy
  • Hattye Easley (1943–46), who also was a soloist; conducted the choir during their 1945–46 USO tour in Europe
  • Maurice Goldman (1944–45), shared duties with Hattye Easley and the choir's second white director after Worth Kramer
  • James Lewis Elkins (1946–47), led the choir through the initial part of their postwar tour and recognized by the New York Philharmonic as a guest conductor
  • Charles E. King (1946–47), later a director of the "Wings Over Hollywood" choir and the Cleveland-based "Kingdom Choir"
  • Gilbert F. Allen (1947–49), final conductor for the choir's CBS program, directed their RCA Victor records including "Amen"
  • Frank Everett (1949–78), conductor for the choir's "second generation" that continued performing after Rev. Settle's 1995 retirement and 1967 death
  • Kenneth Brown Billups (1950–57), conductor for the Legend Singers of St. Louis, which was designated as a satellite unit of Wings by Rev. Settle
  • Clarence H. Brooks (1950–64), conductor for the East Coast satellite unit of Wings

Singers and soloists

The following is a list of verified singers and soloists involved with Wings Over Jordan. Because of the total number of singers that were ultimately associated with the choir, either in their original incarnation or the varied satellite units that bore the "Wings Over Jordan Choir" name after 1950, a definitive list is almost impossible to compile.

Original roster

Former members have estimated that the choir originally had a roster of between 40 and 50 members in the summer of 1937, consisting of mostly unmarried men and women, with an age range between 17 and 30. Two 1957 Call and Post articles that covered a 20th anniversary reunion for the original members of Wings Over Jordan Choir listed the following singers:

  • Mabel Allen
  • Bertha Austin
  • Louis Lucas Baker
  • Rufus Baker
  • Paul Breckenridge
  • Robert Bullock
  • Ruth Wyatt Burke
  • Ralph Caldwell
  • Mary R. Carpenter
  • Alice Carroll
  • Clyde Spearman
  • Elizabeth Settle Carter
  • Jesse Chaney
  • Ezekiel Samuel Dearon
  • Hazel Lee Johnson
  • Helen Springs Dixon
  • Ben Dortch
  • Persie Ford
  • Gladys Hauser-Bates Goodloe
  • Grace Spearman Goodman
  • George H. Grant
  • Alice Harper
  • Norman Harris
  • Neil Harrison
  • Cynthia Hayes
  • Marvin Hayes
  • Leroy Johnson
  • William Johnson
  • Lucille Jones
  • Julia Kelly
  • William Kelly
  • Walter Malloy
  • David Martin
  • Lois Waterford Parker
  • Fred Parks
  • Rev. Henry Payden
  • Rev. Earl Preston, Jr.
  • Gwendolyn Settle Rates
  • Rev. Montgomery Rates
  • Lewis Richardson
  • Evelyn Freeman Roberts
  • Thomas Roberts
  • Anne Mae W. Ross
  • Glenn Thomas "Buddy" Settle
  • Imedla Herring Shaw
  • Gene Shell
  • Mildred Caslin Simmons
  • Martha Spearman
  • Helen Springs
  • Olive Thompson
  • Williette Firmbanks Thompson
  • Hazel Morris Warner
  • Cleva Webster

1942 partial roster

The following 11 singers were identified in an October 27, 1942, concert review in The Pantagraph out of a roster of 20:

  • Emory Barnes
  • John Carpenter
  • Dorothy Clark
  • Cecil Dandy
  • Hattie Easley
  • Gladys Hauser-Bates Goodloe
  • Thomas Hunter
  • Esther Overstreet
  • Joseph S. Powe
  • Clarence Small
  • Alice Thompson

1945 USO tour roster

Along with Rev. Glenn T. Settle, business manager Mildred Ridley and conductor Hattye Easley, the following singers took part in a ten-month tour in Europe to perform for overseas military personnel on behalf of the USO:

  • Sylvia Avery
  • John Carpenter
  • Rheda Chatman
  • Dorothy Clarke
  • Cecil Dandy
  • Ezekiel Dearon
  • Cynthia Groverly
  • Marvin Hayes
  • Mildred Hunter
  • Myrtle Jones
  • William Peoples
  • Rell Pierce
  • George Rates
  • Kenneth Slaughter
  • Sherman Sneed
  • Eugene Strider
  • Ellison White

1950 roster

The following singers were listed as members in a 1950 promotional booklet:

  • Sylvia Avery
  • Charles T. Blackburn
  • Ernest C. Bledsoe
  • Robert G. Brown
  • Joseph M. Cabiness
  • Walter T. Clark
  • Orlando Donan
  • Ruth Fomby
  • Eddie Givens, Jr.
  • DuWayne Griffin
  • Helen Hallums
  • Gerald L. Hutton
  • Amie Lee Johnson
  • Samuel R. Johnson
  • Pattie Jean Moore
  • Gussie Mae Southall
  • Olive Thompson

1951 West Coast roster

The following singers were listed in a September 27, 1951, concert conducted by Frank Everett, who primarily headed the choir's West Coast "satellite unit":

  • Thomas Brown
  • Walter T. Clark
  • Delores Cordell
  • Neil Harrison
  • Lorraine Jeffries
  • Barbara Mills
  • Christine Schooler
  • Travestine Underwood
  • Leslie Wells

1955 East Coast roster

These singers were listed in an October 3, 1955, concert conducted by Clarence H. Brooks, who headed the East Coast-based group:

  • Clarence H. Brooks
  • Edna Mae Brooks
  • Adell Emerson
  • James Green
  • Billye Mathews
  • Clementine Patrick
  • Alvin Washington
  • Bobbie Williams

Additional singers

The following are additional members of the choir in any incarnation that have been cited and verified elsewhere:

  • Sarah Alexander
  • Marian Anderson
  • Rev. Paschal R. Banks
  • Vivian Bradford
  • Samuel Brooks, father of actor Avery Brooks
  • Dorothy Farmer
  • Web Fleming
  • Elizabeth James
  • Oscar Lindsay
  • Steffan Long
  • Albert Meadows
  • George McCants
  • Hazel Morris
  • Rev. John H. Ogletree
  • Rosemae Ogletree
  • William Peebles
  • Mildred Pollard
  • Herb Reed, later with The Platters
  • Leonard Robinson
  • Yvonne Ross
  • Pinkey Scott
  • Mary Carter Settle
  • Helen Springs
  • Esther Sweet
  • Ronald Townson, later with The 5th Dimension
  • Edward M. Turner
  • Virginia Wright

Board of trustees

The following people were listed as members of the Wings Over Jordan Choir's board of trustees in December 1943:

Notes

  1. ^ The 1978 date of Frank Everett's departure as conductor is attributed to records and notes of the choir kept by historian Samuel Barber. Since no one replaced Everett, it can also be regarded as the year the choir disbanded.
  2. See Wings Over Jordan Choir § New business model.
  3. George H. Grant was an original member of the choir who died on June 9, 1940, from complications related to a stomach ailment.
  4. While Cleva was not noted in the 1957 Call and Post article listing the choir's original members, her obituary and additional interviews have noted her involvement in this period, thus she is included.

References

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Bibliography

External links

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