Gaither Vocal Band

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article (or section) may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please help improve this article, especially its section layout, and relevant internal links. (help)
This article has been tagged since March 2007.

Gaither Vocal Band (1980-present) is a Southern Gospel Music group. Often incorrectly stated as 1981 (even by Gaither, himself) it was formed in 1980 on the spur of the moment before a concert with the song, First Day In Heaven. Not only did original bass singer, Lee Young confirm the date, one of their early performances of this song (with an explanation and introduction by Bill himself) can be found on the 1980 double record album, Live Across America. This arrangement is a little different than the one they eventually did on their debut album, the self titled The New Gaither Vocal Band in 1981. They chose this name because they didn't want to be restricted to necessarily 4 singers.

Lee Young was dismissed in 1982, and Jon Mohr was hired as the new bass singer. They then recorded the album, Passin' The Faith Along. Later, tenor Steve Green left and Larnelle Harris was hired. This group cut the New Point Of View album before Mohr left.

At this point the New Gaither Vocal Band became new, but dropped the "new" part of their name. Bill Gaither dropped to the lowest part (although they didn't call it Bass at the time), Gary McSpadden was moved down to baritone and Michael English was hired as lead singer. Although the previous album (New Point Of View) had been more contemporary than its predecessors, the album with this version of the group (One X 1) took it even further. After this album, Larnelle left and was replaced by a singer called, Lemuel Miller. The group did not record an album with Lemuel before he left. He was replaced by Imperials alumnus, Jim Murray. They cut one album (Wings) before Gary McSpadden left to devote more time to his solo career. Mark Lowry was tapped to replace him. Although Lowry admittedly didn't have the natural ear for the baritone part, or the experience, he added a great voice along with his comedy and soon made their sound more smooth. First planned to perhaps be their final album their gospel roots project Homecoming in 1991, caused most Southern Gospel fans to welcome the Vocal Band with open arms. A follow-up recording called Southern Classics cemented their relationship with fans.

Jim Murray left and was replaced by Terry Franklin whose tenor voice was heard on the aforementioned, Southern Classics. Later amidst controversy, Michael English left. He was replaced by Buddy Mullins. Terry Franklin soon left and was replaced by yet another Imperials alumnus, Jonathan Pierce (formerly known by his first and last name Jonathan Hildreth instead of his first and middle name as he has been known since joining the Vocal Band. Strengthened by the popularity of the Homecoming video series, the Vocal Band added Guy Penrod at lead and after Pierce's departure, David Phelps at tenor in the 1990s. After Lowry’s departure, The Imperials alumnus Russ Taff sang baritone for a couple of years. When Taff returned to solo work, Marshall Hall was his replacement. Wes Hampton succeeded Phelps in 2005.

During the 1990s and into the first few years of the 21st century, the Gaither Vocal Band mastered the art of mixing classic Southern Gospel with Country and Inspirational styles. This gave the group a broad fan base that reached beyond the typical domain of Southern Gospel. Despite the immense popularity of the Gaither Vocal Band, they’ve only had two number one songs on the Singing News chart. "Yes, I Know" held the top position from July to October of 1997, as did "I Will Go On" in November of 2006. Other popular tunes by the Gaither Vocal Band include "Let Freedom Ring", "Count On Me", "The Baptism Of Jesse Taylor", and "When Jesus Says It’s Enough. "The group routinely performs classic Southern Gospel songs including many written by Bill Gaither and/or Gloria Gaither like "He Touched Me", "I Believe In A Hill Called Mount Calvary", and "Sinner Saved By Grace."

1 Members
2 Producers of Gaither Vocal Band Albums
3 Discography
4 External links

[edit] Members

The Gaither Vocal Band - Complete List of Group Members

Bill Gaither, Baritone (1980-84); Bass (1984-present)
Lee Young, Bass (1980-1982)
Steve Green, Official Site, Tenor (1980-1983)
Gary McSpadden, Lead (1980-1984); Baritone (1984-88)
Jon Mohr, Bass (1982-1984)
Larnelle Harris, Official Site, Tenor (1983-1987)
Michael English, Official Site, Lead (1985-1994)
Lemuel Miller, Tenor (1987)
Jim Murray, Tenor (1987-1992)
Mark Lowry, Official Site, Baritone (1988-2001)
Terry Franklin, Tenor (1992-1994)
Buddy Mullins, Official Site, Lead (1994-1995)
Jonathan Pierce, Tenor (1994-1997)
Guy Penrod, Lead (1995-present)
David Phelps, Official Site, Tenor (1997-2005)
Russ Taff, Official Site, Baritone (2001-2004)
Marshall Hall, Official Site, Baritone (2004-present)
Wes Hampton, Official Site, Tenor (2005-present)

[edit] Producers of Gaither Vocal Band Albums

Keith Thomas - 1986
Billy Smiley - 1986-1988
Lari Goss - 1990
Ken Mansfield - 1990
Cheryl Rogers - 1993
Bill Gaither - 1993-present
Michael English - 1993-1994
Guy Penrod - 1995-2000
Michael Sykes - 1993-present
David Phelps - 2003