Gospel music has a long, and sometimes storied history in the United States, particularly in the South, sometimes painfully relating back to a dark period in U.S. history. Slaves brought to the U.S. were usually forced to leave behind nearly all material possessions. Most did, however, retain cultural traditions such as their vibrant, rhythmic communal music. During slavery, spirituals often became a form of work song to help boost spirits, seek comfort in God, and to convey sorrows and even secret messages (sometimes helping them to escape to the North and to freedom, particularly on the Underground Railroad).
Gospel music gained popularity throughout the U.S. among diverse audiences. According to Sandra Jean Graham, an Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at Babson College:
Spirituals evolved to become arranged concert music that was written down and sold in books and sheet music. They became more of a presentational experience with performers and observers. Through the rise of Pentecostal worship in the early 1900s, a difference emerged between spirituals and gospel music. According to Graham, “whereas spirituals focused on the afterlife as a source of eventual freedom, gospel songs focused on the here and now… how to get through each day.”
The Spirit of Memphis Quartet became considered (and continue to be considered) one of the finest and most influential groups to ever travel the Gospel Highway, still performing today after 9 decades of American gospel music! However, while the original members began performing prior to 1930, that is the year that the world-famous Spirit of Memphis Quartet emerged. In 1928, the four original members of Authur Wright, Luther McGill, James Peoples and James Darling from Memphis formed a gospel group called the T&S Singers. They began as sedately cool harmonizers in the “jubilee” style of gospel of the 1920s and 30s. This concert-style of spirituals were popularized by the Fisk Jubilee Singers in the late 1800s. After their tours, their spirituals became branded as “jubilee songs.”
In 1930, the four members of the T&S Singers changed the group’s name to the Spirit of Memphis Quartet. In 1927, after Charles Lindbergh became the first pilot to complete a solo, non-stop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris, France, members of the T&S Singers became enamored with the name of his famous single-engine high-wing monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis. The group became The Spirit of Memphis Quartet.
In 1934, Jethro Bledsoe (lead singer) and Robert Reed (tenor) joined the group. In 1939, Earl Malone (bass) joined the group. After a few recordings, in the early 1940s, after travel restrictions imposed during World War II, the group started traveling on the road, with James Darling rejoining the group to help facilitate their out-of-town engagements. Theo “Bless My Bones” Wade was the booking manager for the group until 1947 when he left the group to become a radio disc jockey at WDIA radio station.
By early 1948 and 1949, Silas Steele and Willmer “Little Axe” Broadnax were brought into the fold. Tenor Robert Crenshaw also joined the group, and then later found even greater fame as a member of the Five Blind Boys of Alabama. Silas Steele was already a gospel legend, with his appearances and recordings with the Famous Blue Jay Singers paving the way for all of the “hard” quartets and soul singers that were to follow in the coming decades.
With three great lead voices, Jethroe Bledsoe, Silas Steele and Little Axe, the group were now an unstoppable creative and spiritual force. Shortly before Christmas 1949 the Spirit Of Memphis, now signed exclusively to King Records, cut the first of six sessions in Cincinnati, the results of which included a bass-driven workout of “He Never Left Me Alone,” a beautifully blended “Blessed Are The Dead” and an utterly riveting “The Day Is Passed And Gone.”
By 1949, the group was signed exclusively to King Records. Two recording sessions in 1950 produced LPs, and a final King recording session was held in 1952. The first King session produced the triumphant harmonies of Brewster’s “How Far Am I From Canaan,” the soulfully conveyed “Calvary” and the incomparable “I’ll Never Forget.” Other sessions produced “Automobile To Glory” (with James Keels sitting in for bass singer Earl Malone), “Every Day And Every Hour,” “Sign Of The Judgment,” “Tell Heaven I’m Coming” and “Ease My Troubled Mind.”
For the final session, Earl Malone returned to the group and in tip-top form. Recording-wise, however, the Spirit of Memphis were woefully exploited. The label paid the group members small up-front fees, however the group’s members received no royalties. By 1952, Spirit of Memphis had signed with Duke/Peacock Records.
By 1950 the Spirit Of Memphis had become one of the highest-paid quartets in the professional ranks, commanding as much as $200 each week. Breaking from tradition, Memphis-based quartets took on the gospel compositions of Memphis songwriters such as those of Memphis Music Hall of Fame inductees Reverend W. Herbert Brewster and Lucie E Campbell. To counter the gloom of the Cold War, quartets started going out in brightly colored suits, developed fancy choreography and created programs that highlighted quartet competition to fill seats.
In June 1952 WDIA’s daily radio format began to include live broadcasts during the morning hours sponsored by Gold Medal Flour. The Spirit of Memphis regularly filled the 10:00 to 10:15 am slot. Groups like the Spirit of Memphis were bussed down to Mississippi or throughout Tennessee to perform. Theo Wade served as emcee and WDIA would rent the bus for transportation and pay for barbecue box lunches.
By 1956 the popularity of the classic quartets was beginning to wane. Silas Steele and Little Axe Broadnax had left the group. Joe Hinton, a new high tenor who had previously sung with the Blair Gospel Singers and the Chosen Gospel Quartet, joined the group. Hinton’s entry in Wikipedia comments how the million-seller “culminates in one of the most remarkable falsetto notes ever captured on disc.” Hinton passed away in 1968.
In 1958, Fred Howard (baritone/lead) joined and 1964 Brown Berry (bass guitar) joined. Other members who made a contribution to the group were Hubert Crawford, Percy Cole and Glenn Carr. In 1978, Jethro Bledsoe retired and Melvin Mosley was introduced to the group by Fred Howard and became the lead singer. As Malone became unable to maintain the booking assignments, Mosley was assigned by Malone to manage the group.
Under Mosley’s leadership
The Spirit of Memphis lost bass singer Jesse Allen in 2023. Surviving members at the time of their Memphis Music Hall of Fame induction include Brown Berry, Jimmy Allen, Jimmy Allen Jr., Willie Wilson, and Melvin Mosley.
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